Examples

　　例子

　　He tried to play it cool as much as he could but with the sweat running down his face, it’s obvious that he is very nervous.

　　他想尽可能冷静下来，但是汗水从脸上流下来，很明显他很紧张。

　　Don’t force yourself to play it cool – only do it if you really feel it!

　　不要强迫自己冷静下来 – 只有在你真正感觉到的时候才这样去做。

　　8. Play it by ear

　　随机行事;无计划地进行

　　When you don’t know how to prepare for something, you should play it by ear. This means that you take the situation into consideration and adjust as it develops.

　　当你不知道如何准备某事时，你应该随机行事。这就意味着你要考虑到眼下的情况并且随着事情的发展而进行调整。

　　This expression can be used for any situation; it doesn’t only apply to situations that you can hear.

　　这个表达可以用于任何情况，它不仅适用于你能听到的情况。

　　Examples

　　例子

　　The spies were used to playing it by ear.

　　间谍们习惯于随机行事。

　　Sometimes playing it by ear can get you really incredible results.

　　有时候随机行事会有意想不到的效果。

　　9. Play up

　　夸大;夸口

　　To play something up means to make the situation seem bigger, more important, more dramatic, or more extreme than it really is.

　　夸大某些东西意味着使情况看起来更大，更重要，更有戏剧性，或者更极端。

　　While it doesn’t mean deliberately lying about it, the term does mean exaggerating something – highlighting the details of it and making them seem more noteworthy.

　　虽然这不意味着故意撒谎，但是这个词确实意味着夸大一些事情 — 突出其中的细节，让他们看起来更加引人注目。

　　Examples

　　例子

　　Did he try just try to play up his success? He forgot that I have been with him every step of the way!

　　他只是试着去夸大他自己的成功吗?他忘记了我一直和他在一起!

　　Playing up your weaknesses is a surefire way to get your application rejected.

　　夸大你的弱点一定是使你的申请被拒绝的原因。

　　10. Play down

　　贬低;降低;减少

　　The opposite of playing up is to play down. Instead of making something bigger, playing down means to try to keep something on the down low, to keep it small, and to make it seem like a smaller deal than it really is. If someone is very humble, they are probably trying to play down their accomplishments.

　　Play up的反义词就是play down。Play down意味着试图将某事保持在低水平，使某事化小，甚至要比它的真实水平还要小而不是夸大它。如果某人非常谦虚，他们很可能试图贬低他们的成就。

　　Examples

　　例子

　　Wow, he really played down your qualifications! Your experience and education make you the perfect candidate for this job.

　　哇，他就是在贬低你的资历!你的经验和教育背景都说明你才是这份工作最好的人选。

　　Don’t play down your skills if you are trying to pitch your services to a potential client.

　　如果你想向潜在的客户推销你的服务，那就不要贬低你的技能。

　　11. Play ball

　　屈服;开始活动;开始赛球

　　Playing ball means to go with the flow, give in, or do what the other person wants you to do. Even if you would rather do something your own way, you might choose to give in because someone else, such as your boss or parents, insist on something else.

　　Play ball是指随波逐流，屈服，或者做别人想让你做的事情。即使你宁愿做自己想做的事，你也可以选择放弃，因为别人(如你的老板或父母)坚持要做别的事情。

　　Note that play ball also has the literal meaning of playing a sport, so do not get confused if you see it used in that context!

　　请注意play ball 也有做运动赛球的意思，所以如果看到这个词在这个背景之下使用，不要感到困惑!

　　Examples

　　例子

　　It looks like the boss wants us to do things her way. Alright then, let’s play ball!

　　看起来老板希望我们按照她的方式做事。好吧，我们屈服!

　　What else do you want me to do? I already said I would play ball!

　　你还想让我做什么?我已经说过我要打球了!

　　Sports

　　运动

　　When it comes to sports, there are a number of words that you can use to describe them. While we generally say playing sports, some sports, such as running, ballet, or swimming, use different words. We go running, do ballet, and go swimming.

　　谈到运动，你可以用许多词来描述它们。我们通常都说做运动，然而一些运动，例如跑步，芭蕾舞或者是游泳，我们用不同的词来描述它们。我们去跑步，跳芭蕾，去游泳。

　　Below are some sports that we play rather than go or do.

　　以下是一些运动，我们通常用play而不是go 或者do来形容。

　　Play badminton

　　打羽毛球

　　Play ping pong

　　打乒乓球

　　Play football

　　踢足球

　　Play soccer

　　踢足球

　　Play baseball

　　打棒球

　　Play tennis

　　打网球

　　Play hockey

　　打曲棍球

　　Play chess

　　下象棋

　　Play squash

　　打壁球

　　Play volleyball

　　打排球

　　Play basketball

　　打篮球

　　Play cricket

　　打板球

　　Play board and card games

　　玩滑板和纸牌游戏