for the excuse(pretext) that XXXXXX 比如说，他以没时间为由拒绝了我 he refused me for the excuse that he doesn't have time. 其实以XXXX为借口有好多的表达方法，其他的还有 under the cloak of XXX, under the veil of XXX 口语中最常用的就是第一个，后面的比较formal
