幾句句子的翻譯 - 翻譯

最近自己在翻譯Jeffery Archer的短篇小說"An Eye for An Eye"
遇到幾句不太會翻...
煩請各位擅長英譯中的大大幫忙看一下^^

1. I was chopping up some wood for the stove before I prepared my breakfast.
在準備早餐前，我砍了一些木頭，要放到火爐裡燒的。
(覺得自己這句的翻譯有點累贅)

2. My husband thought it was rats, so he told me to get a large quantity of
strychnine to finish them off. "Once and for all" were his own words.
「我丈夫猜是老鼠造成的，所以他叫我買很多番木虌鹼回來，把牠們殺死。
『一勞永逸』是他講過的話。」
(這邊我是不確定"once and for all"的翻法)

3. He knew his timing had to be exact, because he had become uncomfortably
aware that he was dealing not only with a clever woman, but also an
extremely cunning one. Mind you, he reflected, anyone who had lived for 11
years with such a man as Bruce Banks would have had to be cunning simply to
survive.
他知道時機一定要抓得很準，因為他不自在地察覺到，他面前的這個女人不但
聰明，而是非常狡猾。不過，他後來想想，要能跟布魯斯這種男人一起生活十
一年絕對要有點本事，狡猾成了她的生存之道。
(這句我翻了很久都覺得翻不好，特別是後面部份...)

麻煩大家指教了....

--