投石问路 tóu shí wèn lù testing the waters

Explanation

比喻谨慎小心地试探情况。

A metaphor for cautiously and discreetly probing a situation.

Origin Story

传说很久以前，在一个古老的王国里，有一支探险队要前往一个未知的危险森林。为了安全起见，队伍的首领决定先派一个侦察兵去森林边缘探路。侦察兵手里拿着一袋石头，每走一段路程，就随意地向树林中扔一块石头，仔细聆听树林中的动静，以此判断森林中是否潜伏着危险。侦察兵谨慎地前进，不停地投石问路，终于摸清了森林外围的情况，然后将信息反馈给队伍首领。队伍首领根据侦察兵的情报，制定了安全周密的行动计划，成功穿越了危险的森林，最终完成了探险任务，获得了丰厚的宝藏。

chuán shuō hěn jiǔ yǐqián, zài yīgè gǔlǎo de wángguó lǐ, yǒu yī zhī tànxiǎn duì yào qiánwǎng yīgè wèizhī de wēixiǎn sēnlín. wèile ānquán qǐjiàn, duìwǔ de shǒulǐng juédìng xiān pài yīgè zhēnchá bīng qù sēnlín biānyuán tànlù. zhēnchá bīng shǒu lǐ ná zhe yī dài shítou, měi zǒu yī duàn lùchéng, jiù suíyì de xiàng shùlín zhōng rēng yī kuài shítou, zǐxì língtīng shùlín zhōng de dòngjìng, yǐcǐ pànduàn sēnlín zhōng shìfǒu qiányú zhe wēixiǎn. zhēnchá bīng jǐnzhèn de qiánjìn, bùtíng de tóu shí wèn lù, zhōngyú mō qīng le sēnlín wàiwéi de qíngkuàng, ránhòu jiāng xìnxī fǎnkuì gěi duìwǔ shǒulǐng. duìwǔ shǒulǐng gēnjù zhēnchá bīng de qíngbào, zhìdìng le ānquán zhōumì de xíngdòng jìhuà, chénggōng chuānyuè le wēixiǎn de sēnlín, zhōngyú wánchéng le tànxiǎn rènwù, huòdé le fēnghòu de bǎozàng

Legend has it that a long time ago, in an ancient kingdom, an expedition team was about to go to an unknown dangerous forest. For safety reasons, the leader of the team decided to send a scout to the edge of the forest to scout the way first. The scout had a bag of stones and, every time he traveled a certain distance, he would throw a stone into the forest at random, carefully listening to the sounds in the forest to judge whether any dangers lurked in the forest. The scout advanced cautiously, constantly testing the waters, and finally figured out the situation on the outskirts of the forest. Then he fed back the information to the team leader. The team leader, based on the scout's intelligence, formulated a safe and detailed action plan, successfully crossed the dangerous forest, finally completed the exploration mission, and obtained a rich treasure.

Usage

用作谓语、定语；指试探、探测

yòng zuò wèiyǔ, dìngyǔ; zhǐ shìtàn, tàncè

Used as predicate or attributive; refers to probing and exploration

Examples

• 他们决定先投石问路，看看对方的反应再做决定。

  tāmen juédìng xiān tóu shí wèn lù, kànkan duìfāng de fǎnyìng zài zuò juédìng

  They decided to test the waters first, see the opponent's reaction before making a decision.

• 公司在推出新产品前，先进行市场调研，这是一种投石问路的策略。

  gōngsī zài tuīchū xīn chǎnpǐn qián, xiān jìnxíng shìchǎng diaoyán, zhè shì yī zhǒng tóu shí wèn lù de cèlüè

  Before launching a new product, the company conducts market research, which is a strategy of "testing the waters".

Related Idioms

• 试探

• 探测

Opposite Idioms

• 蛮干

• 鲁莽