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I've found the length of my feet, so I'd better nip it in the bud!
我知道自己有个坏毛病，所以要趁早改掉这个坏毛病！
【Andrew's Note】To nip something in the bud is to stop it just as it is starting. The phrase comes, of course, from gardening, where one often has to remove a few buds so that a plant will produce more beautiful flowers."To nip something in the bud" 指某事刚刚开始就要阻止它。当然，这个短语与园艺有关，因为人们常常要剪掉多余的花蕾，这样整株植物就可以开出更美丽的花朵儿。[1] I hold Marston in high esteem. To tell you the truth, I learn a lot from our daily conversations. He helps me not merely in English but also in something more important that I will never forget until I go to meet Karl Marx.
[1] 我非常敬重马斯顿。说实说，我从我们之间的日常对话中学到了不少的东西。他不仅在英语方面帮我，而且还在其他更重要的方面帮助我，去见马克思之前，我将永远也不会忘记这些。
[2] Marston invited me for dinner only a few days after he came to our college. We talked about a world of things.
[2] 马斯顿来我们学院才几天就请我共进晚餐。我们真是无话不谈。
[3] We could enter into smooth conversations and communicate with each other with ease. However, my speech left something to be desired, which drew Marston's attention. God knows why I peppered my conversations with so many "perhaps". I must have gone so far that he decided to put me right.
[3] 我们谈话顺畅，交流轻松愉快。然而，我一说话总是会留下一点点缺憾, 这引起了马斯顿的关注。谁知道怎么搞的，那天我在谈话中夹杂着那样多的“或许（可能）”之类的词语。我一定是用得太多了，所以他决定帮我纠正过来。
[4] So in the middle of the dinner, he toasted to me again, "To our friendship forever! I can't find it in my heart to find fault with you today. But I'd like to point out your Achilles' heel, bro. You use 'perhaps' more than I have heard in the past ten years. It strikes me that you show your uncertainty and lack of confidence all along. So I hope you can delete that word from your vocabulary. I am sure you can understand what I mean here. OK, from today on, each time when I find you revert to （回复；回到） that silly word again, I will give you a hint. I bet you can nip it in the bud, and the sooner, the better."
[4] 所以，在吃饭的中间，他再次向我祝酒：“ 祝我们之间的友谊万古长青！今天我不忍心要挑你的毛病。但是，兄弟，我得指出你的一个致命弱点。你用的“或许”比我在过去十年间所听到的还要多。你给我的印象总是不确定或缺少自信。所以，我希望你能从你的词汇里把这个词删除掉。我确信你理解我的用意。好了，从现在起，每当我发现你再用那个词，我就给你暗示。我确信你能趁早改掉这个坏毛病，改得越快越好。”
[5] Ever since then, I almost have given up the word in my daily conversations. If I really want to show my uncertainty or doubts, I just avail myself of another word, i.e. "probably".
[5] 自那时起，我几乎在日常交流禁用这个词。真要表达不确定或疑虑的意思，我会用别的词，即"probably"。
[6] I was so fortunate in having a friend like Marston who could know me like he knows himself.
[6] 我非常幸运有像马斯顿这样的朋友，他知我如知己也！
。你自己定夺：质量还是垃圾？董先生，心急吃不了热豆腐。”
