Burning Ears

　　When someone is speaking ill of another out of that person's hearing, it is said that the person's ears are burning or tingling; then superstition supposes that when a person' s ears burn, it is a sign of some distant malevolence. This belief can be explained by the assumption that there exists a kind of universal fluid that could carry the curse and "touch" ears at a distance, even though it was out of range of hearing. The more common-sense explanation seems a better one. When someone yells at or insults you in your presence, in the metaphoric sense, it is to say that he "burned" your ears. Or when we are rebuked, we frequently blush with embarrassment. Reasoning backwards, then, we can assume that ear burning always has the same cause and that words spoken about us behind our back can embarrass us just as much as those spoken to our faces.

　　Note:

　　speak ill of sb 说某人的坏话
　　tingle 皮肤有刺痛的感觉
　　malevolence 恶意，敌意
　　assumption 假设
　　universal fluid 万能的流体
　　common-sense 常识的，有生活经验得来的
　　yell 呼喊，叫喊
　　in the metaphoric sense 在比喻的意义上
　　rebuke blush 训斥，斥责
　　embarrassment 尴尬
　　reason 推理，论断