A gentle wind can cool a summer day, but a strongwind can become a powerful hurricane of terrifyingforce. This idiom refers to something that floatslightly in the wind like the smell of freshly bakedbread. The reference, however, is not to a smell butto a sound. It seems the wind can sometimes causewhispered conversations to carry over long distancesand be heard by other ears that have no right tolisten.

柔柔清风可以整个夏季凉爽无比。但风若太大了，就可能成为一个具有破坏力量的飓风。这个成语是指轻轻漂荡在风中的某些东西——就像刚出炉的新鲜面包的香味。但是，这个成语指的不是气味而是声音。清风似乎有时可以将一些低语声从远处传来，并传到本来无权听到这些话的人的耳中。

So, when people hear information or gossip that perhaps they were not supposed to know, andespecially if they don't wish to reveal the source of that information or gossip, they maysimply say, "I got wind of it." Even when the source of information is not a secret, we can usethis idiom. It simply means to hear about something that is not yet general knowledge.

所以，当人们听到一些消息或八卦新闻的时候——他们也许本来不应该知道这些东西的——特别是当他们不希望透露这些消息或八卦的来源的时候，他们可以仅仅说：“这是我听到的风声。”甚至当这些消息的来源已经不是什么秘密了，我们也可以这样说。这个成语只是意味着，你听到的东西还不被一般人所知。