The english we speak(BBC教學)第136期:To nip something in the bud 防患於未然
Helen: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Helen.
海倫：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目。我是海倫。William: Hi, I'm William. Today Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is opening.
威廉：大家好，我是威廉。今天漢普頓宮廷花卉展開幕了。音樂聲，鳥鳴聲
Helen: Oh, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show–the world's largest flower show! I've seen it on the news before. If only I had a garden!
海倫：哦，漢普頓宮廷花卉展，這可是世界上最大的花卉展覽！我之前在新聞上看到過。我要是有個花園就好了！William: Ah yes, you live in an apartment, don't you Helen?
威廉：是啊，海倫，你住在公寓裏，是吧？Helen: Yeah. So William, let me guess, today we are going to do a phrase relating to flowers and gardening?
海倫：對。威廉，讓我來猜猜看，今天我們要學習和花朵還有園藝有關的詞組嗎？William: Exactly.
威廉：完全正確。Helen: So...? What's the phrase?
海倫：那……？是什麼詞組呢？William: Er... Well, how about... how about... er. No, it's gone. It's no good. I can't think of a phrase right now.
威廉：額……嗯，這個……那個……嗯。不行，不好。我現在想不出來。Helen: Oh well. Let's just have a chat instead. I'm tired of learning new phrases anyway.
海倫：好吧。那我們就用聊天代替好了。不管怎樣我已經厭倦總是學習新詞組了。William: OK. Well, how are you Helen? How are the kids?
威廉：好吧。海倫，你怎麼樣？孩子們怎麼樣？Helen: Oh they are both really well. My little boy eats too much chocolate though!
海倫：哦，他們都非常好。不過我的小兒子吃的巧克力太多了！William: Oh really? Well, you want to nip that in the bud.
威廉：哦，真的嗎？嗯，你要防患於未然。Helen: Eh? Nip it in the bud?
海倫：什麼？Nip it in the bud？William: Nip it in the bud. If you nip something in the bud, you stop it before it becomes a problem. Listen to this example from a business context:
威廉：對，防患於未然。這個意思是你要在發生問題前阻止這件事。來聽一個來自業務環境的例子。Man: The last few deliveries we've had from this company have all had broken parts in them.
男：最近這家公司給我們發的貨幾乎都有破損。Woman: Well, we need to nip that in the bud. Tell them that unless their service improves, we're going to look for another supplier.
女：嗯，我們需要防患於未然。告訴他們，如果他們的服務質量還不改善的話，我們會另找供應商。Helen: So in that example, the man was complaining about poor service from a supplier. The woman wanted to nip it in the bud.
海倫：在這個例子中，男子在抱怨供應商的糟糕服務。而那名女子則希望防患於未然。William: That's right. She wanted to take steps to improve the service before it got even worse.
威廉：沒錯。她希望在問題更嚴重前採取措施改善服務。Helen: So where does this phrase come from William–to nip something in the bud?
海倫：那威廉，這個短語來自哪裏呢？Birdsong and music
鳥鳴聲和音樂聲William: Well, it comes from gardening, actually. A bud is the part of a plant that becomes a flower, a leaf or stem. If you nip something in the bud, you cut the bud off the plant before it has time to grow.
威廉：嗯，實際上是來自園藝。植物的蓓蕾會生長成花朵、葉子或是花莖。而這個短語就是指你在植物成熟前把蓓蕾剪掉了。Helen: Oh. That's not very nice.
海倫：哦，那不是很好。William: Well, gardening is a tough game, Helen. You have to nip things in the bud sometimes. You also have to kill slugs and snails.
威廉：嗯，海倫，園藝是件很難做的事。有時你必須要剪掉蓓蕾。你還必須要消滅蛞蝓和蝸牛。Helen: Eugh! I'm glad I don't have a garden.
海倫：啊！我真慶幸我沒有花園。William: Bye!
威廉：再見！Helen: Bye!
海倫：再見！重點講解：
1. if only
要是…多好；
eg. If only you had told me that some time ago.
要是你早些時候告訴我該多好啊！
eg. If only it were that simple!.
要是那麼簡單就好了！
2. be tired of sth.
厭煩的；厭倦的；
eg. Besides, you're probably tired of those old subjects anyway.
而且，無論從什麼角度你可能對舊的科目產生厭煩情緒。
eg. We were all tired of that tedious story.
我們不願意聽那個冗長乏味的故事了。
3. nip sth. in the bud
把…消滅在萌芽狀態；防（患）於未然；
eg. It is important to recognize jealousy and to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand.
重要的是要甄辨出嫉妒情緒並儘早消除這種心理，以免其一發不可收拾。
eg. We are setting up 'protection measures' designed to nip these obstructive schemes in the bud.
我們正在設立“保護措施”讓這些阻礙計劃被扼殺在萌芽狀態。
