Helen: 大家好，歡迎收聽 BBC 地道英語節目，我是 Helen.

William: Hi, I'm William. Today Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is opening.

Music, birdsong

Helen: Oh, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 世界上最大的花展！我在新聞上看到過。If only I had a garden!

William: Ah yeah, you live in an apartment, don't you Helen?
你住在公寓中，對吧？

Helen: That's right. So William, let me guess, today we are going to do a phrase relating to flowers and gardening.
是的。William，讓我猜下，今天我們要學一個與花和園藝有關的短語。

William: Exactly.
完全正確。

Helen: So...? What's the phrase?

William: Er... Well... How about... er... no... it's gone. It's no good, Helen. I can't think of a phrase right now.

Helen: Oh well. 我反正也不是很想學新短語，我們聊聊天算了吧。

William: So how are you Helen? How are the kids?
Helen你最近如何？孩子們還好吧？

Helen: Yeah, they're both really well. My little boy eats too much chocolate though!
他們都很好，但是我的兒子吃得巧克力太多了。

William: Oh really? Well, you want to nip that in the bud.
真的嗎？你想防患于未然？

Helen: Eh? 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.

Helen: To nip something in the bud 意思就是在什么事情成為問題之前，早早地消滅于萌芽狀態， 防患于未然。

William: Listen to this example from a business context:

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Example

Man: The last few deliveries we've had from this company have all had broken parts in them!
這個公司郵遞來的最后幾個包裹里面都有壞的部件。

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.
是啊，我們需要防患于未然。告訴他們如果他們不提高服務質量，我們就找別的供應商了。
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Helen: 那么剛才這個例子中，那位先生抱怨供應商服務態度不好，他的同事認為應該 nip it in the bud, 她想早點采取行動以防問題變得更糟。 那么 William 這個短語 to nip something in the bud 是從哪里來的呢？

（Music, birdsong）
William: Well actually, it comes from gardening Helen. A bud is the part of a plant that becomes a flower, leaf or stem.
事實上，它來自園藝。芽是植物的一部分，它能變成花，葉或莖。

Helen: Ah, a bud 就是植物剛剛冒芽的那一部分。

William: So if you nip something in the bud, you cut the bud off the plant.

Helen: To nip something in the bud 直接的意思就是在植物剛長芽的時候就把這個萌芽給剪掉。That's not very nice!

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.
園藝是個累活。Helen，你有時候需要把發芽見到。你也需要殺死鼻涕蟲和蝸牛。

Helen: Eugh! I'm glad I don't have a garden.

William: Bye!

Helen: Bye!