She tried to smooth things out with her daughter-in-law, but the damage was done.她想尽力消除与儿媳的争执，但伤害已经造成。You might expect politicians to smooth things out when civil servants are being dilatory.公务员办事拖沓，你可能认为政治家会把事情顺利解决。The Chancellor is trying to smooth things over.总理正试图缓和局面。It's O.K. I smoothed things out.没事了，我已经把问题解决了。