play up

基本解释

Everyone in this living-history site likes to play dress-up, and visitors are no exception.
每个来到这个现存历史古迹的人都会感到像是在化装舞会，连游客也不例外。
Attitudes to love and marriage continue to change since the first Marriage Law was introduced in 1950, and have to play catch-up with people's evolving love lives since then.
自1950年中国第一部《婚姻法》颁布之后，人们的婚恋观念一直在转变着；该法自诞生之日起就一直伴随恋人们的脚步，与时俱进着。
It has ample room to play catch-up with rich economies by adding to its capital stock, importing foreign technology and boosting productivity by shifting labour from farms to factories.
中国通过增加资本存量，引进国外技术以及通过劳动力从农到工的配置来拉动生产效率的方式追赶发达经济体的空间还很大。

It is setting up 13 centers they call Child-Friendly Spaces, where children can play with other children, and get counseling.
Now we're going to play just a little bit of pop music-- Not too laud cause this really hipped up.
现在我们将放一段流行音乐,不要放得太响
耶鲁公开课 - 聆听音乐课程节选
And the schools play a major role in this and thus all these kids who grew up speaking patois or Provencal or Gascon-- I forgot Gascon, around Bordeaux, they can sing the Marseillaise in acceptable French as they march off to be slaughtered.
在这里面学校扮演了主要角色,所以这些说着,方言或者普罗旺斯语或者加斯科涅语的孩子们,我把加斯科涅语忘了,在波尔多附近,他们操着勉强能接受的法语唱着马赛曲,上前线等待被屠杀
耶鲁公开课 - 1871年后的法国课程节选

Along with talk of seeking "self-sufficiency" in rice, a strange-enough national notion in an age of global trade that has helped Asia-Pacific play catch-up to the West, even worse ideas have floated up.
FORBES: Magazine Article

If you play up something, you emphasize it and try to make people believe that it is important.