Michael Chugani 褚簡寧 - a tough nut to crack｜又中又英

Nuts are nutritional but high in fat and calories. That’s why you should eat nuts in moderation. If a certain type of food is nutritional it means it contains the good things necessary for health and growth. Potato chips and cookies are not very nutritional. To eat something in moderation means to not eat too much of it. If you drink alcohol, you should drink it in moderation. I love eating nuts but I never eat too much because they are high in calories. Years ago when I lived in Seattle, I used to buy raw nuts still in their shells. I had a nutcracker to crack open the nuts so I could eat the kernels inside the shells.

A kernel is the soft inside part of a nut which is edible. Most nuts have hard shells, such as walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. They are tough to crack even with a nutcracker but a walnut is an especially tough nut to crack. The literal meaning of a tough nut to crack means it is very hard to crack the nut. But a tough nut to crack is also a phrase with a very different meaning. If something is a tough nut to crack it means it is a problem that is very hard to solve. It can also mean a person who is difficult to deal with, hard to understand, or difficult to defeat. The expression “a hard nut to crack” has the same meaning.

When I was in school, mathematics was a tough nut to crack. I found it very hard to understand. Many people say Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is a tough nut to crack because she is difficult to deal with. Many media reports said President Vladimir Putin thought his Russian military could defeat Ukraine in a few days. He has now found out Ukraine is a tough nut to crack.
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堅果富含營養（nutritional），但也有很高的脂肪和卡路里，因此你應該適量地（in moderation）進食堅果。若某一種食物是 nutritional，意即它蘊含對健康和發育有益的營養。薯片和曲奇就沒甚麼營養（nutritional）了。To eat something in moderation意思是有節制地進食某物，不宜過量地吃。若你喝酒，你也應有節制地（in moderation）喝。我愛吃堅果，但我從不會吃太多，因為它們有很高的卡路里。我多年前住在西雅圖的時候，經常會買一些帶殼的生堅果，那時我有一個胡桃鉗去開生堅果，能吃到硬殼中的果仁（kernels）。

A kernel就是堅果中可以食用、較軟身的果仁。大部份堅果都有硬殼，例如核桃、榛子和杏仁。即使用上胡桃鉗，它們都硬得難以夾開，但核桃尤其是tough nut to crack。按字面解a tough nut to crack就是堅果非常堅硬，很難夾開；但 a tough nut to crack也是一個片語，有着迥然不同的意思。若某事物是 a tough nut to crack，意即那是難以解決的棘手問題；它也可以解作一個難相與、難以理解又或不好對付的人。習語“a hard nut to crack”亦有相同的意思。

我從前在學的時候，數學是 a tough nut to crack——它對我來說很棘手，我實在很難理解。許多人說特首林鄭月娥是 a tough nut to crack，因為她是個很難打交道的人。許多傳媒報道，俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾‧普京以為他的軍隊可以在幾天內擊敗烏克蘭，但他現在發現，烏克蘭並不那麼好對付（a tough nut to crack）。

中譯：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧