Meaning of the Idiom
dao ting tu shuo（to pick up what has been heard on the way）
In ancient times, in a village, there were two neighbors, one named Ai Zi and the other named Mao Kong.
Ai Zi is a very learned person, but his neighbor Mao Kong is just the opposite. He has no culture and looks down on Ai Zi very much, thinking that he is a hundred times better than Ai Zi. Therefore, he always wanted to prove that he was stronger than Ai Zi.
One day, Mao Kong told Ai Zi: “A duck lays a hundred eggs at a time”. Ai didn’t believe it. Mao Kong said, “It was born from two ducks.” Aiko still doesn’t believe it. Mao Kong then told Ai Zi, “Do you believe there is a piece of meat that is thirty feet long and twenty feet wide?” Ai Zi still didn’t believe it.
Ai Zi asked Mao Kong: “Whose is the duck you mentioned? Where did the meat fall?”
Mao Kong had no choice but to say, “Everything I say is what I listen to others on the road.”
道听途说
[dào tīng tú shuō]，指道路上听来又在道路上传播出去；比喻毫无根据的传闻。
出自春秋·孔子弟子及再传弟子《论语·阳货》。
例句
一切要用事实说话，切不可道听途说。
请别轻易相信道听途说的消息。
道听途说的消息往往是不可靠的。
Reading The Paragraphs!
Meaning of Words
Daily Language 