No pains, no gains 不是地道英语谚语

No pains, no gains 这个说法充斥在整个中国的英语界，包括梁实秋主编的《远东英汉词典》和大陆的《新英汉词典》。其实，我们无法在英国和美国出版的词典里查到这个短句。正宗的说法是：No pain, no gain.


《麦克米伦高阶英语词典》：No pain，no gain （spoken）：used for saying that you have to work hard if you want to achieve something.


美国的McGraw-Hills Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs 有这个短句:

No pain, no gain. Fig. If you want to improve, you must work so hard that it hurts. (Associated with sports and physical exercise.)

--Player: I can’t do any more push-ups. My muscles hurt.

--Coach: No pain, no gain.  Come on, everybody! Run one more lap! No pain, no gain!



pains往往是别的含义：

Growing pains，winning gains.

Women emancipation brings gains--and pains.



wikipedia 上说:

no pain, no gain.

Nothing can be achieved without effort, suffering, or hardship;  often applied specifically to physical exercise: Some medical experts are concerned that those who follow the philosophy of " no pain, no gain'' in their sports training could be doing irreparable damage to their bodies. The proverb was first recorded in 1577 in the form '' They must take pain that look for any gain.''(1577  N. Breton   Works of Young Wit 33)

The more concise form '' No pains, no gains '' was used in 1648 as the title of a poem by Robert Herrick.

Variants of this proverb: There are no gains without pains; no sweat, no sweet