◊ To play it by ear is to do something without special preparation.没有特别准备地做某事；见机行事
I don't know how they'll react to our proposal, so we'll just have to play it by ear [=improvise, (informal) wing it] and hope for the best.我不知道他们对我们的建议会做出怎样的反应，所以只好走一步看一步，尽量往好处想。