假设你的好朋友从老家相亲回来，你赶紧八卦一下相亲的结果，你的朋友说 "I think it's ready to test the water and start dating"，看来这次相亲很成功！可是这里的"test the water"是什么意思呢，和水有关系吗？其实英文短语"test the water"的英语释义为"to find out whether something is likely to be successful before you do or try it"，翻译过来就是“试水、试探”的意思，我们来看几个例句：
- A: "Have you started on your new book?" - “你开始创作你的新书了吗？”
- B: "Yes, I've written three chapters and I've sent it to the publishers to test the water." - “是的，我已经写了三章，而且已经送去出版商那里试读了”
- A: "Oh, what perfume are you wearing? It's lovely." - “哇哦，你喷的是什么香水？非常迷人。”
- B: "Oh thanks. It's just a sample a company sent me. They're testing the water to see if people like it." - “谢谢夸奖，有家公司送我的样品，他们正在测试人们是不是喜欢它。”
- A: "How is your project going?" - “你的项目进行的如何了？”
- B: "It's early days; we're still testing the water. " - “它现在还处于早期阶段，我们还在摸索。”
短语"test the water"可能出自于小朋友的洗澡水。在把小朋友放到洗澡盆里之前，总是要用手先试一试水温是否合适，防止太烫或者太凉。现在遇到做事情之前需要先试水的情况，都可以用"test the water"来表示。
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