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Most of us know balloons from festivals and fun fairs, where they are colorful and amusing, but in the 19th century, before airplanes were invented, balloons were used in wartimes to spy on the enemy position.
我們大多數人都知道，人們在節日或游樂園里會放飛豐富多彩的氣球。但在飛機發明之前的19世紀，氣球在戰時被用來對敵人位置進行偵探。
One or two men would go up with a telescope in a balloon tied to the ground with a rope.
一到兩個人會帶著望遠鏡進入氣球，升到空中，而氣球則綁在地面的繩子上。
However, because the enemy might fire a cannon at them, this was dangerous.
然而，因為敵人可能用大炮向他們開火，因此這相當危險。
So before men would go up in a balloon, they would first float (or send up) a trial balloon without any men in it to test the situation.
所以，在偵查人員進入氣球之前，他們會首先放起（或發射）一個試探性氣球（里面沒有任何人）來試探一下情況。
If the enemy tried to shoot that trial balloon, the men would not go up.
如果敵人試圖攻擊這個試探性氣球，偵查人員就不會再坐上去了。
From this origin, today we use this idiom in any situation where we want to measure public reaction or opinion before committing a lot of money and effort to some project.
正是來源于此，在我們給某個項目投入金錢或精力之前對公眾的反應或意見進行試探的情況下，都可以使用這個成語。
