Today I would like to talk to you about a person to whom isn't easily to make advances. What's it ? Let listen to a simple situational dialogue and find it . A : Do you like your new manager?

B : No, he's a hard nut to crack. A : Why?

B : He's too strict with us.

【答疑解惑】

It is " a hard nut to crack ". In this phrase, hard是艰难的意思，nut是坚果的意思，crack是压碎，使分裂的意思。A hard nut to crack 是指很难掰开的坚果。However , in this dialogue, the speaker makes use of figure of speech. It refers to the manager who isn't amiable so that his underlings don't like him and be kind of afraid of him. 在这个对话中，说话者采用了一种比喻的修辞方式来说他的经理不是那么和蔼可亲，对他有几分畏惧之感。Yeah , we can see that how we should bear ourselves as a leader. It is really hard to be a pleased leader. I have an intimate knowledge of it.

【视野拓展】

Let's look at a sentence: Many students said the Reading Comprehension was a hard nut to crack. 许多学生都说考试的阅读部分真够难的。In this sentence, it refers to " a difficult examination question in study ". 在这句中，指的是(在学习上的) 难题。Another sentence is : He is too optimistic about his ability to solve the problem - it is a hard nut to crack. 他太自信自己处理这个问题的能力了，这个问题可是个啃骨头的问题。In this sentence, a hard nut to crack refers to something that is hard to handle. 这句话中是指 ：难以应付，对付，处理的事情，棘手的事情。Let's look at a dialogue:A : I don't understand Tim. He never smiles and laughs. B : I know! He's a hard nut to crack. A : 我真是不理解Tim，他这人从来不笑。B : 我知道。他是个难以被人了解的人。In this sentence, it means a person who is not easily to be learnt about for a particular reason.

【总结】

All right , we've learned so much that it put me under the table. Let's have a summary. A hard nut to crack 是个名词性短语，to crack 动词不定式 作定语修饰前面的名词 nut. 译为难以掰开的坚果，通常人们用之比喻为： （学习中的）难题；（生活工作中的）棘手的事情，难以对付、处理、应付的事情；（生活工作中的）难以亲近而被别人了解的人；（生活工作中的）那已对付的人。