美国习惯用语第842:nip something in the bud

 美国习惯用语第842:将一件事物消灭在萌芽状态(音频)

nip something in the bud

我们办公室新来了个制片助理。这个女孩子刚走出大学校园，带着浓厚的工作热情，而且很有创意。美中不足的是，喜欢工作时间聊大天。为此，老板今天把她叫去谈话，希望尽早纠正她的这个坏习惯。这个例子用我们今天要学的习惯用语来描述十分贴切，叫：nip something in the bud.

Nip是掐断的意思。Bud是花蕾，萌芽的意思。nip something in the bud, 这个习惯用语意思是将一件事物消灭在萌芽状态，防微杜渐。

你现在一定明白了，老板找我们新来的那位制片助理谈话，就是要尽早把她喜欢聊天的坏毛病扳过来。He wants to nip her behavior in the bud. 以防日后发展到不可收拾的地步。

多年前，美国制药业曾经遭受过一次沉重打击，业界人士迅速采取行动，才在最短时间内恢复了元气。让我们一起听听有关介绍。

例句-1：In 1982, someone poisoned bottles of aspirin¹, killing² seven consumers. Fear spread across the country. Fortunately, drug manufacturers recalled all remaining stock and changed the packaging of their products to prevent tampering³ in the future. By nipping the crisis in the bud, their sales rebounded⁴ within a year.

这段话说：1982年，有人在阿司匹林的药瓶里下毒，造成七名消费者死亡，引起全国恐慌。好在制药公司召回了全部存货，采用新的包装方式，防止产品再被人下手脚。正是因为他们及时采取措施，把危机消灭在萌芽阶段，销售量才在短短一年内出现了反弹。

现在药瓶瓶口上的铝箔封口和塑料包装就是为了让用户对产品的安全放心。

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虽然下面这个例子听上去比较轻松，但是很多看似无关紧要的小事，也不能掉以轻心。让我们一起来听听。

例句-2：Like a lot of puppies, mine liked to beg for food every time I sat down to eat. If I'd let her continue, she would have become uncontrollable. My friend suggested that I fill a can with coins and shake it whenever she started to bark at me. That really nipped it in the bud. She soon learned to stay quiet. Since then, Lucy has developed into a very well-behaved dog.

这个养狗的人说：我的小狗Lucy 跟其他小狗一样，每次我坐下吃东西，它就来要吃的。如果我听其自然，肯定早就管不了了。我朋友建议我拿一罐硬币，她一叫，就摇罐子。这招还真管用，改掉了她的坏毛病，让她学会安静。从那以后，Lucy已经成了一只很懂规矩的狗。

这招还真灵，因为狗不喜欢噪音，所以用摇硬币的办法来驯狗十分奏效。

我真希望有什么好办法能让我侄子知趣点。自从上个月搬来我家住，他就一直无所事事，整天看电视。我暗示他出去找个工作，但是至今，I haven't been successful at nipping his laziness in the bud. 我还是没能把他懒散的坏毛病改掉。看来只好改变策略。

1 aspirin   

n.阿司匹林

参考例句：

• The aspirin seems to quiet the headache.阿司匹林似乎使头痛减轻了。
• She went into a chemist's and bought some aspirin.她进了一家药店，买了些阿司匹林。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 tampering   

v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句

4 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。