若不是性命攸关
“If my life wasn't at stake,”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“What I said today was just an expedient measure.”
若不是 性命攸关
“If my life wasn't at stake,”
“I had no other choice if I wanted to survive.”
In Chinese philosophy, 'quanyi' (权宜, expediency) permits an individual to temporarily deviate from moral rigidity when surviving an existential crisis (性命攸关).
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
if not for; were it not for
Used to introduce an indispensable conditional factor that excuses or explains an unusual outcome.
a matter of life and death
A formal idiom used to describe critical situations where someone's survival is directly on the line.