Paper over
就北韓核武問題上,美國和中國持不同看法,有報章指paper over their differences on North Korea。
Paper over字面語解:用紙覆蓋,當然另有深層用意,表示“掩蓋、粉飾”。比喻為牆壁上有裂縫或污漬,你用壁紙將其蓋上就看不出來了。即用紙隱瞞一些倉促或漏洞、遮掩一些錯誤或裂縫等,引申為掩飾分歧、隱藏矛盾。習近平和特朗普開會時不想就這問題談得太敏感,所以就說paper over our differences。
paper over the cracks就是形容人在面對問題時,找不到解決之道,只好將它掩蓋起來,自欺欺人。
E.g. The two sides managed only to paper over the cracks on some issues, but eventually the boss realized there was a problem.