In a class I teach for adults, I recently did the “unpardonable.”

最近在我執教的一個成人班級里，我干了一件“不可饒恕的”事情。

I gave the class homework!

我居然給班上的學生布置了一份家庭作業!

The assignment was to “go to someone you love within the next week and tell them you love them.

任務是“下周之內要走到你所愛的人面前，告訴他們你愛他。

It has to be someone you have never said those words to before

此人必須是一位此前你從未對之說過此話的對象，

or at least haven''t shared those words with for a long time.”

或至少很久沒有與他們交流過這些愛意盎然的話語了。”

Now that doesn t sound like a very tough assignment, until you stop to realize that most of the men were over 35

聽起來這不像是一份苛刻的任務，直到你意識到這個班里多數男生已年逾35歲。

and were raised in the generation of men that were taught that expressing emotions is not “macho.”

何況在他們成長的那個年代，他們受到的是這樣的灌輸：流露情感沒有“陽剛之氣”。

Showing feelings or crying (heaven forbid!) was just not done.

人們不會輕易流露情感和哭泣(老天也不允!)。

So this was a very threatening assignment for some.

因此對某些人來說，這是一項令人生畏的任務。