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

最近在我执教的一个成人班级里，我干了一件“不可饶恕的”事情。

I gave the class homework!考试大论坛

我居然给班上的学生布置了一份家庭作业!

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

任务是“下周之内要走到你所爱的人面前，告诉他们你爱他。

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

此人必须是一位此前你从未对之说过此话的对象，

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

或至少很久没有与他们交流过这些爱意盎然的话语了。”

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

听起来这不像是一份苛刻的任务，直到你意识到这个班里多数男生已年逾35岁。

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

何况在他们成长的那个年代，他们受到的是这样的灌输：流露情感没有“阳刚之气”。

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

人们不会轻易流露情感和哭泣(老天也不允!)。

So this was a very threatening assignment for some.

因此对某些人来说，这是一项令人生畏的任务。