Because of his bad habit, slobber, he always let an opportunity slip.

因为他的坏习惯（淌口水），他总是错过机会。

It was not so much that he wanted Mashurina to stay, as that he could not let an opportunity slip by of giving utterance to what had accumulated and was boiling over in his breast.

与其说他希望玛修丽娜留下来，还不如说他不能放过任何一个机会，说出他胸中积累的、沸腾的东西。