一到过年过节，单身的朋友们都会很困扰。各类聚会都会成为家人和朋友逼问“个人问题”的绝佳场合。为了应付这样的情景，不少人在过节的时候会临时找个异性朋友做挡箭牌，好躲过家人朋友们的盘问。在英语里，这样做临时挡箭牌的朋友叫做safety date。
Safety date is a person that accompanies you to friend's or family event, in order to a) give the appearance that you are seeing people and not isolated from society, b) avoid being set up on blind dates by well meaning friends.
Safety date(暂译为“临时伴侣”)就是去参加朋友或家庭聚会的时候临时带去的男/女伴，这样做的原因有二：一是为了让人们看到你并没有让自己与世隔绝，还是在跟人交往的；二是为了杜绝朋友们善意安排的相亲的活动。
For example:
Jack brought a safety date to his aunt's dinner party. He did this because his aunt considered herself an “accomplished match maker.”
杰克带了个临时伴侣去参加她姨妈的聚餐。他这样做是因为他姨妈一直自诩为“成功的红娘”。