今天我们要讲两个和“耳朵”，也就是ear有关的成语。中国人经常说那些不听劝告的人对别人的话总是"一个耳朵进一个耳朵出"，把它们当作"耳边风"。美国也有完全相同的说法：

It goes in one ear and out the other.

左耳进右耳出；耳旁风

例句1：

"I told Sally it was foolish to marry that man, but it went in one ear and out the other. Now she wishes she'd listened to me. He drinks and gambles and she wants to leave him."

我早就告诉沙利不要那么笨，去和那个人结婚。可是，对于我的话，她是一个耳朵进一个耳朵出。结了婚她才知道那人又喝酒又赌钱。现在她后悔当初没听我的话，想要和他分手啦。

例句2：

"How many times have I told you to get to work on time. But my words just go in one ear and out the other. So I don't have any choice but to fire you."

"我告诉了你多少次上班要准时。可是，你对我的话老是一个耳朵进一个耳朵出。现在，我没有办法了，只好解雇你了。"

下面再讲一个与ear相关的习惯用语

play by ear

随机应变，见机行事

Play就是“玩”的意思。可是，play by ear的意思并不是"玩耳朵"。

这个词汇的来源和音乐有关系。它原来指的是那些会弹钢琴或某种乐器，但是却不会看五线谱的人。每当他们要弹奏某个曲调时，他们只能凭着上一回听到的记忆来弹。可是play by ear现在已经成为日常用语了，意思是做一件不是提前有计划的，而是临时决定的事情。

例句1：

"I haven't had a chance to prepare any notes so all I can do is start talking and play it by ear."

"我今天没有什么准备，所以就只好讲到那儿就算那儿了。"

例句2：

"I am not sure if my wife wants me to go shopping with her on Sunday. If she decides to go with her sister instead, then I can play tennis with you. Let's just play it by ear."

"我还不知道星期天我太太是否要我陪她去买东西。要是她决定和她姐姐一起出去，那我就能和你去打网球。我们就瞧着办吧!"

内容选自：VOA美国之音