No Guts, No Glory!

Now, from VOA Learning English, it's time for Words and Their Stories.
現在是美國之音慢速英語詞彙掌故節目時間。

This program explores common expressions in American English.
該節目探討了美式英語中的一些常用表達。

Today we explore a word that does not sound very pleasant -- gut.
今天我們探討一個不太好聽的單詞--gut。

In the medical world, guts are the internal organs of an animal. It's a person's stomach or the part of the body that contains the stomach.
在醫學界，guts這個單詞是指動物的內臟。它指的是人的胃或是容納胃的身體部分（應該是指腹部）。

So, that's medically speaking.
所以醫學上是這麼講的。

But in our everyday conversations, "guts" mean many different things.
但是在我們的日常對話中，guts具有多種不同的意義。

In the United States, if you bust a gut you are laughing really, really hard -- so hard that your stomach starts to hurt.
在美國，如果說你笑到胃疼（bust a gut），意思是你笑得非常猛烈，猛烈到胃都開始疼了。

If you haven't busted a gut in years, maybe you should. It feels good to have a really good laugh.
如果你好多年沒這麼笑過了，也許你應該試試。大笑的感覺真好。

Now, just as our guts are inside of us, the inside parts of a machine are sometimes called guts, too. So, if you gut your computer, you take out all the pieces inside that make it work. 
正如胃在我們身體內部，機器內部有時候也被稱之為guts。所以，如果你給你的電腦開膛(gut your computer)，意思是你拿出了電腦內部的所有有用部件。

That's right, "gut" is also a verb.
沒錯，gut也是個動詞。

You can gut something, like a fish. This means you remove its internal organs before cooking it. You can also gut a building by removing everything from the inside. My friend who renovated her house, for example, gutted the entire structure first.
你可以取出什麼東西的內臟（gut something），例如一條魚，意思是指在烹飪前取出它的內臟。你可以gut a building，意思是拆除建築內部所有東西。例如我的朋友在翻新房子，他首先拆除了房子的所有內部結構。

The most important parts of a business deal or piece of legislation are also called the guts. And if you gut these things, you remove all the important parts. For example, you could say that after the council member gutted the legislation, it wasn't going to be nearly as effective.
商業合同或立法中最重要的部分也被稱之為要點(guts)。如果你抽除了這些要點（gut these things），也就是刪除了它的所有重要部分。例如，你可以說，在議員抽除這項立法的要點之後，它就沒那麼有效了。

Now, let's talk about you.
現在來談談你吧。

Within you are all your important thoughts, fears, dreams, feelings and secrets. If you spill your guts, you share these things with other people.
你的內心中有你的所有重要思想、恐懼、夢想、感受和秘密。如果你傾盡內心（spill your guts），是指你和別人分享內心的這些東西。

It's an informal saying but you can use it when talking about any situation. If your best friend has a date and shares all the details with you, she has spilled her guts. Perhaps at work, a co-worker spills his guts when he tells you that his bossy personality actually comes from a deep childhood fear of failing.
這是一種非正式用法，但是你可以在談論任何狀況時用到它。如果你最好的朋友跟人約會，並且告訴了你所有細節，她就是傾盡了內心。也許在工作中，一位同事告訴你，他的專橫性格實際上源於童年時期對失敗的深深恐懼，他就是傾盡了內心。

When spilling your guts, be careful. Remember, once you say something, you cannot take it back!
當你傾盡內心時可得謹慎。記住，話說出口就收不回去了。

Now, if you strongly dislike someone -- I mean really, really hate them -- you can say you hate their guts. You hate everything inside them. This is a very harsh statement and sounds a little childish.
如果你強烈不喜歡某人，我的意思是非常恨他們。你可以說你恨之入骨（hate their guts）。你恨他的一切。這是一種非常嚴厲的表態，聽上去有點幼稚。

You know, if you think about it, all those internal organs are important. They may not be pretty, but they keep us alive.
你知道，如果你想一想，所有內部器官都是非常重要的。它們可能不美觀，但是它們讓我們得以存活。

So, guts can also mean some really great things.
所以，guts還能指代一些非常偉大的東西。

For example, the word "guts" is an informal way of saying "bravery" or "courage." It takes guts to make a very difficult decision.
例如，guts這個單詞是勇氣的一種非正式說法。做出一項非常艱難的決定需要勇氣。

Let's say you want to move to a country where you don't know anyone and don't know the language. You want to make a big change and take a chance!
假設你想要搬到一個舉目無親並且不會說該國語言的國家。你想要做出重大改變並碰個運氣。

Your friends who have lived in the same town all their lives say, "Wow, that takes a lot of guts." For right now, they don't have the guts to make such a big change.
跟你一生都住在同一個城鎮的朋友說：「哇，這需要很大勇氣。」目前他們沒有勇氣做出這麼大的改變。

This is where we get our expression "no guts, no glory." This means that if you do not have courage to take a risk, you will not be able to achieve a goal or success.
這就是我們說的「no guts, no glory」（不入虎焉得虎子）。它的意思是如果你沒有勇氣冒險，你就無法實現目標或成功。

It might be scary. But you know in your gut that it's something you must do. Used this way, "gut" means a strong feeling about something.
這可能很嚇人。但是你知道，在你看來，這是你必須要做的事情。在這種用法中，gut是指對某些事情的一種強烈感受。

We can also use "gut" as an adjective. For example, your gut feelings are not based in logic or reason. Let's say I'm your best friend. When I hear about your plans to move away, my gut reaction is to ask, even beg, you to stay.
我們還能把gut用作形容詞。例如，你的直覺（gut feelings，即本能的感覺）不是基於邏輯或理由。假設我是你最好的朋友。當我聽到你要離開的計劃時，我本能的反應是要求、甚至是乞求你留下來。

But my gut also tells me that this is something you must do.
但是我的直覺也告訴我，這是你必須要做的事情。

So, I tell you to listen to your gut. Go chase your dream!
所以我告訴你相信你的直覺，去追求你的夢想吧！

After a year's time, I finally get the guts to do the same thing. We meet in Paris and then move to Russia to live for a year!
一年之後，我終於獲得勇氣去做同樣的事情。我們在巴黎相遇，然後搬到俄羅斯去住一年。

As we say, no guts, no glory!
正如我們所說的，不入虎穴焉得虎子。

And that's the end of this Word and Their Stories.
以上就是本期詞彙掌故節目的全部內容。

Is this body part, the gut, used the same way in your language? Let us know in the Comments Section.
胃這個身體部分在你的語言中也有同樣的用法嗎？在評論區告訴我們。

Words in This Story

bravery – n. the quality or state of having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty

courage – n. the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous

bossy – adj. tending too often to tell people what to do : often giving orders in a way that people do not like

personality – n. the set of emotional qualities, ways of behaving, etc., that makes a person different from other people

logic – n. a proper or reasonable way of thinking about or understanding something