Play it by ear also means to decide what to do at the last minute instead of making detailed plans.

VOA: special.2009.09.13

I know you're bugged by my bad humor, but too bad. Maybe you're bugged by this, saying wait a minute, how does this thing stop? This is the kind of definition that your high school geometry teacher would have rapped your knuckles over.

我也知道你可能觉得我的冷笑话很烦，但是很不幸，可能你会觉得这个很烦,你会想等等,这个程序怎么停下来呢？,这就是你们高中几何。

麻省理工公开课 - 计算机科学及编程导论课程节选

And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther, all the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

就在那时候，一只近旁的乌鸫,唱起来，围绕着他，越发朦胧的，越来越遥远的,越来越遥远的，所有的鸟儿。

耶鲁公开课 - 现代诗歌课程节选

Today,Special English broadcasts thirty-minute programs by shortwave and medium wave sixteen times a day around the world.

VOA: special.2009.10.16

And then of course, the point of the skit is he presses the down button on the elevator and a minute and a half goes by while he's waiting for the elevator to come.

当然，这个滑稽短剧的笑点是,他按下了电梯按钮,花了一分半,等电梯。

耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选

A month earlier,twenty-six year old Zamperini had been one of the greatest runners in the world, expected by many to be the first to break the four-minute mile, one of the most celebrated barriers in sport.

VOA: special.2011.05.04

Well let's take a step back for a minute; that's one way of looking at Biomedical Engineering, by looking at sort of the things that you know about that have been the result of the work of biomedical engineers and talk more generally.

好的,话说回来,了解生物医学工程的一种方法就是,通过看一些你们熟悉的东西,它们同时也是,生物医学工程的研究成果,并对它们做一般意义上的讲解

耶鲁公开课 - 生物医学工程探索课程节选

But Spain surged into the lead 15 minutes later on two goals scored within a minute of each other by Spanish forward Daniel Guiza.

VOA: standard.2009.06.29

Brazil dominated the match overall, but trailed the United States until the final minutes of the game because of two early U.S.goals the first by Clint Dempsey in the 10th minute and the second by Landon Donovan in the 37th.

VOA: standard.2009.06.29