职场英语每日一句•人物性格篇 第35句

IBM had approached him first, so he would just play along for now.

是IBM先找上门来的，所以他也就顺水推舟，先跟他们敷衍一下啦。

字里行间

play along 原意是"伴奏，随唱"。这儿引申为顺着对方的意图，或当时的气氛，并不十分认真地应付一下。上海方言中，似乎也有类似的用语：捣浆糊。

for now 意为"现在，暂且，临时"。

弦外之音

工作中，常常有这样"非得随大流"的必要。一个不感兴趣的会议或报告，大家都去，你也就勉强眼着去就是了；一个并不怎么出色的同事，大家都赞不绝口，你也就口是心非地凑合几句。这些都是play along，叫做见风使舵，顺水推舟。
男女社交关系中，也常有如此的情况:

I don't think they're going steady yet. He is just playing along.
我想他们俩还并没有确定关系。他只是在敷衍罢了。

活学活用

1. I think I should play along with them for a while and see what happens next.

我觉得应该跟他们敷衍一会儿，然后再看下一步会怎么样。

2. I don't think he is seriously interested in our project. He is just playing along, because he sees some possible benefit for himself down the road.

他这个人不见得真对我们的项目感兴趣。他只是现在从旁附和着，认为这项目说不好今后会给他带来什么好处。