对答如流

• It is one of my faults , that though my tongue is sometimes prompt enough at an answer , there are times when it sadly fails me in framing an excuse ; and always the lapse occurs at some crisis , when a facile word or plausible pretext is specially wanted to get me out of painful embarrassment
  我有一个缺陷，那就是尽管我口伶俐，对答如流，但需要寻找藉口的时候却往往一筹莫展。因此某些关键时刻，需要随口一句话，或者站得住脚的遁词来摆脱痛苦的窘境时，我便常常会出差错。