It means to treat a person kindly or gently, especially in a situation where you might be expected to be angry with him.

VOA: special.2010.08.29

Because of that, each person is in a different situation-- it's a very complicated world and we have many different risks.

因为各人所处环境不同-,这个世界很复杂,所以我们也面临着许多不同的风险。

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

In countries like India, the reports tend to emphasize, to a greater degree, the situation that the person found himself in that might have driven him to commit a murder.

但在印度这样的国家，很大程度上，报道着重于，迫使凶手犯下谋杀案的,实际情况。

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选

You might say a person is as cool as a cucumber if he never seems to worry about anything and stays calm in a stressful situation.

VOA: special.2011.02.13

The second one, I guess, involves an active choice of pushing a person down which I guess that person himself would otherwise not have been involved in the situation at all.

我认为第二种情况，牵涉到主动选择推人,而被推的这个人,本来跟这事件一点关系都没有。

耶鲁公开课 - 公正课程节选