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习语

Play it by ear 是什么意思?临时决定等于没准备吗?

Play it by ear 表示到时看情况再决定,也与凭听觉演奏有关。它和 wing it 都没有预先定好做法,为什么后者更容易显得冒险?

Play it by ear 表示根据事情的发展,到时候再作决定。无法或不想提前计划时,可以用它表达“先看看情况再说”。字面用法也很常见:play a song by ear 指听过曲调后、不看乐谱来演奏。习语用法偏口语,作文中 be flexible 更合适。

什么情境适合说 play it by ear?

练习在对话中灵活使用英语词汇

开始学习

play it by ear; let's (just) play it by ear; play + a song/tune + by ear

  • The weather in the mountains changes quickly, so we'll play it by ear and decide each morning.
  • We'll see how tired the kids are after lunch and play it by ear from there.
  • She can't read music, but she can play almost any song by ear.

修改原因

修改前We haven't made any plans for Saturday, so we'll play it on ear.

修改后We haven't made any plans for Saturday, so we'll play it by ear.

这里容易用 on,但无论是习语还是凭听觉演奏的字面意思,介词都用 by:play a song by ear。原句只把 on 改成 by。

Cambridge Dictionary

Play it by ear 强调不提前定死计划,根据情况作决定。近似表达 wing it 则强调没做准备就临场应付,希望顺利过关:I hadn't read the book, so I winged it in the seminar。前者常显得灵活合理,后者更带冒险意味。

动手练习

We haven't booked any hotels for our road trip; we'll ___ and stop wherever we like.

(play it by ear / be all ears)

查看答案

play it by ear — 旅行者没有订旅馆,打算沿途看到喜欢的地方就停下,因此选 play it by ear。Be all ears 表示认真听,而这里讨论的是旅行安排,不是听别人说话。

给朋友写一条关于尚未安排的周末的消息。说明决定取决于什么,并提出两种可能的活动。

Let's play it by ear on Sunday: if it's sunny, we can cycle to the lake, and if it rains, we'll watch a film at my place.

练习把新词用准确

用正在学的词造句。LetsWords 检查用法和语法,提供修改与母语解释,再通过复习巩固。

制定练习安排

按英语水平和学习目标练习,查看修改及错误解释。