Let's play it by ear 看情况吧
Larry和李华在商量下星期三有没有时间去听爵士音乐。
LH: Larry, 我看到一张爵士音乐会的海报。我很想去。怎么样,你下星期三有没有空去听呢?
LL: I don't know. I have several papers due next week and I'm not sure if I'll have time. Let's play it by ear, okay?
LH: 哇,你下星期得交好几份报告啊?那肯定没有空了。哎,你刚才说: Let's play it by ear。你想玩什么啊?玩耳朵?
LL: No! "To play something by ear" is to wait and see if something is possible and to be flexible rather than set any firm plans.
LH: 噢,play something by ear就是想做一件事,可是又不能确定是否可能,只好到时候看情况再说,就像中文里说的“看情况而定”!
LL: Right. I just can't make any definite plans right now, so I prefer to play it by ear.
LH: 所以你刚才的意思是,你要再等等看能不能及时写完报告,然后才能确定能不能去音乐会! 对了,你不是答应我下星期六去博物馆吗?你还能去吗?
LL: Oh, I forgot that I promised to go with you. Can we play that by ear, too?
LH: 你怎么把答应我的事都给忘了!我特别想去那个博物馆!你不能去也得早告诉我吗!
LL: Just because I want to play it by ear doesn't mean that we definitely won't go. It just means that I'm not certain.更多信息请访问:http://www.engbus.cn/
LH: Larry,下回你要约我上那儿去,我也学你说:Let's play it by ear, 到时候再说!
LL: That's not fair, Li Hua. It's not my fault that I can't make any definite plans because I have so much work to do.
LH: 好啦,说真的,这也不是你的错。那我们也只好看情况再说了!
LL: All right, I'll call you the day before the concert to let you know if we should get tickets, okay?
LH:到音乐会前一天再告诉我,那还买得到票呀! Let's play it by ear!