sounding line

基本解释

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
也不要用杖竿和響帶去探測你的知識的淺深。
lonely-beast.spaces.live.com
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure; And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
但不要用秤來衡量你的未知的珍寶，也不要用杖竿和響帶去探測你的知識的淺深。
I once met a countryman who raised the subject of climate forecasting and he gave me a very nice sounding line, but with a very cold and chilling result.
我曾經也遇到過一個在國內搞氣候預測了，他給了一個很好看的曲線，給出來一個很驚悚的結果。

They can take their time in ordering without one of our guys on the other end of the phone line maybe sounding impatient.
FORBES: Domino's Global Growth Feeds Pizza Chain's Rising Success

a line marked off to indicate its length and having a sounding lead at one end. It is dropped over the side of a vessel to determine the depth of the water