Friends英语赏析【106】take the heat off 停止批评

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Monica: Ross, could you come and help me with the spaghetti, please?
Ross: Yeah. (They go to the kitchen.)
Mrs. Geller: Oh, we're having spaghetti! That's.... easy.
Monica: I know this is going to sound unbelievably selfish, but, were you planning on bringing up the whole baby/lesbian thing? Because I think it might take some of the heat off me.

莫妮卡：罗斯，能过来帮我做意大利通心粉吗？
罗斯：好的。
盖勒夫人：哦，我们是要吃意大利通心粉呢！这个…容易。
莫妮卡：我知道我可能很自私，但你是否打算提孩子还有女同性恋的事情？因为，这样可以让他们少说我两句。

【世博视角】

Bring up是指打开关于某件事情的话题，比如，跟女朋友谈了两年恋爱了，就是无法开口提结婚的事情，担心她会因此而离开我：

We have a great time together, but I am just afraid to bring up the marriage and family topic. She might leave me.

为什么担心呢？因为她说过：It’s the end of a woman’s life when it comes to bringing up children. 这个地方的bring up就是抚养孩子的意思了。在老友记里面，莫妮卡想让罗斯提起离婚的事情，这样，莫妮卡的母亲就不会老盯着她找她的茬了。所以，take some of the heat off me中的heat指的就是adverse comments or hostile criticism，严厉的或者敌意的指责和批评。Take the heat off someone就是停止批评或指责某人。一般说来，公众人物比较害怕媒体的攻击，如:

Heat from the press forced the mayor to resign.
来自媒体的指责迫使市长提出辞呈。