" Afraid" softens the blow ever so slightly.

" 恐怕" 这个词十分缓和语气。

Soften the blow. Right, anything else?

缓解冲击，好吧。还有别的事吗？

So is he kind of softening the blow a little?

所以他对你的打击有点缓和了吗？

Luckily, I have all this fat to soften the blow.

还好我有脂肪来缓解冲击。

There are steps Western governments could take to soften the blow.

西方政府可以采取一些措施来减轻打击。

To soften the blow, you can frame negative feedback as an opportunity for improvement.

你可以把负面反馈作为一种改善的机会，以减轻其打击感。

To " soften the blow" you could add " I was really looking forward to it! "

为了缓解一下，你可以说：“我真的很期待呢！”

So, to " soften the blow" and that idiom means to make a bad situation less serious.

因此，为了“缓解一下”，这意味着让糟糕的情况没有那么严峻。

" That kind of stinks" ? Why aren't you more upset? Did I soften the blow too much?

什么叫" 有点恶心" ？你应该要更不爽啊，我刚才给你缓冲太多了吗？

The EU executive plans to raise more than 140 billion euros to soften the blow to consumers from soaring energy prices.

欧盟行政部门计划筹集超过 1400 亿欧元，以减轻能源价格飙升对消费者的打击。

But we're softening the blow by saying " sorry" , yep.

但我们通过说“对不起” 来减轻打击， 是的。

Well, to soften the blow, he introduced me to Peter.

为了减轻对我的打击 他把彼得介绍给我了。

We have an expression: " to soften the blow" (blow).

我们有一个表达：“软化打击”（打击）。

That can be either wishful thinking or something to soften the blow of bad news.

这可能是一厢情愿的想法，也可能是为了减轻坏消息的打击。

A reduction in interest rates would soften the blow of tax increases.

【blow】减息对增税带来的打击将起到缓和的作用。

Sick pay also helps soften the blow to demand which, along with a supply shock and a general panic, is hitting economies.

需求下降再加上供应冲击和普遍的恐慌对经济造成打击，带薪病假也有助于减轻这种影响。

That would have been a good time for you to soften the blow. That shirt brings out the blue in your eyes.

现在就很适合你给我做心里缓冲啊，这T恤能衬托出你那深邃的蓝眸。

We can't fight progress, but we must find ways to soften the blow.

不能因循守旧 但必须循序渐进。

To soften the blow, the People's Bank of China (pboc) duly lowered interest rates, as other central banks would do.

为了减轻打击，中国人民银行（PBOC）像其他央行一样适时降低了利率。

So if someone is going to give you bad news, they will try to soften the blow – to soften the news.

所以如果有人要告诉你坏消息，他们会尽量减轻打击——缓和这个消息。