背景介绍：Andy得罪了魔鬼上司而遭到刁难，在无法挽救的情况下她灰心地想要辞职，于是打电话给男友Nate.

Nate: Quit? Are you sure?
要辞职？你确定吗？
Andy: I failed. She's gonna fire me. I might as well beat her to the punch.
我完了。她肯定会炒我鱿鱼，还不如自己先辞职算了。
——《时尚女魔头》

beat someone to the punch: 这个片语也写作beat to the draw，意思是“比另一方/其他人反应更快、更快采取行动”，例如：
The new salesman tried to serve one of my customers, but I beat him to the draw.
新来的推销员想抢我的客户，不过我比他快一步。
He beat me to the punch and arrived at the interview first.
他先我一步，首先到达采访地点。