【句子】Why don't we play it by ear? 【Desperate Housewives S02E03】
【发音】/waɪ/ /dəʊnt/ /wiː/ /pleɪ/ /ɪt/ /baɪ/ /ɪə(r)/
【发音技巧】don't we类似不完全爆破的处理;play it连读;it by失去爆破;
【翻译】咱们为什么不顺其自然、随机应变呢?
【适用场合】
今天学一下这个短语:
play it by ear
当然宾语it换成别的词也可以。
这个短语的字面意思可以表达:“不看乐谱就可以直接凭记忆弹奏一首曲子”,
to play music by hearing and remembering it, not by reading it
eg: She can play the piano by ear.
她可以不看乐谱,光靠耳朵听和记忆来弹奏钢琴。
eg: Wow, George is such a talented piano player! The way he can play pieces by ear after hearing them just once is so impressive!
哇,乔治弹钢琴真的有天赋!他听了一次的曲子就能靠记忆不看谱子弹出来,真的太牛了吧!
eg: Just because he can play by ear doesn't mean he's a great songwriter.
他能不看乐谱,凭借听力和记忆来演奏,并不能意味着他就是一个很好的作曲家。
eg: If I could play by ear, I wouldn't have to take lessons—or practice!
要是我能只靠耳朵和记忆演奏,我就不用去上课了,也不用练习了!
通过最后这俩例句,你们会发现,play后面不跟宾语,也是没有问题的。
但在口语中,它可以引申一下表示:
to deal with something without previous planning or instructions
或者
to decide how to deal with a situation as it develops rather than by having a plan to follow
“随机应变;见机行事;根据情况来临时决定怎么处理,而不是提前做好计划和预案”;
eg: I'm not sure how many people are expected. We'll just have to play it by ear.
我不确定会有多少个人--我们到时候见机行事吧。
eg: I don't know what they'll want when they arrive-we'll have to play it by ear.
我也不知道他们来了会想要什么,到时候咱们见机行事吧。
eg: A: "Are we meeting at noon on Saturday?"
B: "Around then. I have to run some errands in the morning, so let's play things by ear."
A:我们是周***午见吗?
B:差不多是那个时候,我那天早晨会有点事儿,所以到时候再联系。
【尝试翻译以下句子,并留言在文章留言区】
He never prepared his presentations. He always played things by ear.