The young man had thought the old man was only joking about building a hotel for him, but the old man kept his word.

年轻人以为老夫妇只是开个玩笑说为他建个宾馆，可这个老人兑现了自己的话。

youdao

Maybe she's only joking, but personally what's she doing, not permissible for me.

可能这个小女孩只是在开玩笑，但就我个人来讲，是不允许这个行为的。

youdao

During a spell as the World Bank's chief economist, he circulated a notorious (and only semi-joking) memo, leaked to The Economist, calling for pollution to be exported to the third world, which had too little of it.

ECONOMIST: Larry Summers��s little prize