#008: heart-warming/暖心(nuǎnxīn)
the season when the spring flowers bloom/
春暖花開的季節
Heart-warming/暖心(nuǎnxīn)
As the spring sun generously shines on, everything seems to wake up from the long winter. People on the street look joyful with a smile on their face. Everyone grabs the chance to soak up the sun, sitting outside, even the cats do not want to lose the chance by bashing the sun on the windowsill lazily. The spring sun makes everyone so happy out of no reason. This pleasure that the warm spring sun brings about, when it comes to describing a person, for example, someone who is sweet, caring and considerate as if they emit the warmth like the warm spring sun, is called nuǎnnán, or nuǎnnǚ. If someone does something to make you feel heart-warming, the act can be called an act of “nuǎnxīn”, which literally means “warm (nuǎn,暖)” and “heart (xīn,心)”. If someone says sweet words to you which are heart-warming, and these words can be called “暖心話”. It’s also heart-warming that people send help in your hour of need. The phrase “xuě zhōng sòng tàn /雪中送炭” literally means "to send charcoal in snowy weather”.
春陽不吝惜地照耀大地，萬物似乎皆自慢慢冬日甦醒過來了。街上的人們看起來愉悅，滿臉笑意。大家抓緊機會坐在外面曬太陽，連貓也見機不可失，懶洋洋地在窗台旁做日光浴。春天的太陽讓每個人無來由地心情愉快。這和煦春陽帶來的愉悅，若是用來形容一個的人的話， 便如同一個貼心，有同理心且體貼的人，像和煦的春陽一般散發出溫暖的熱度，這樣的人被稱為「暖男」或是「暖女」。要是有人做了一些讓你覺得特別暖心的事，這個舉動在中文裡用「暖心」來形容。要是有人說了一些話，讓你覺得心裡暖暖的，這樣的話便是「暖心話」。還有一種暖心是在你有困難時，有人雪中送炭。「雪中送炭」字面上的意思就是在寒冷的雪天送炭來。
At the beginning of each spring, the warmth of the spring reminds me of a lovely conversation from Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. This conversation between the two main characters is quiet heart-warming. When being asked by his crush, Midori, how much he liked her, the male character replied that his affection toward her resembled the likeness toward a spring bear cub. This bewildered female character, so he explained to her what kind of likeness was exactly the likeness toward a spring bear cub.
每年春初，春天的溫暖常使想起我村上春樹《挪威的森林》一書中的一段對話。這一段男女主角之間的對話讓人讀了讓人覺得特別暖心。女主角問男主角有多喜歡她，男主回答自己對女主的喜歡就像是對春天的小熊的喜歡一樣。這樣的形容讓女主有點摸不著頭腦，對春天的小熊的喜歡究竟是什麼樣的喜歡。
Haruki Murakami’s spring cub/
村上春樹春天的小熊
“You’re walking through a field all by yourself one day in spring, and this sweet little bear cub with velvet fur and shiny little eyes comes walking along. And he says to you, “Hi, there, little lady. Want to tumble with me?’ So you and the bear cub spend the whole day in each other’s arms, tumbling down this clover-covered hill. Nice, huh?”
“Yeah. Really nice.”
“That’s how much I like you.”— Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
「春天的原野裡，你一個人正走著，對面走來一隻可愛的小熊，渾身的毛活像天鵝絨，眼睛圓鼓鼓的。他這麼對你說道：「你好，小姐，和我一塊兒打滾玩好嗎？」接著你就和小熊抱在一起，順著長滿三葉草的山坡咕嚕咕嚕滾下去，整整玩了一天。你說棒不棒？」
—村上春樹《挪威的森林》
sweet guy/暖男(nuǎnnán) &
hardcore straight man/鋼鐵直男(gāngtiě zhínán)
A current of warmth flows through after reading this conversation. The male character is a “nuǎnnán (sweet guy)”. “Nuǎnnán (sweet guy)” means that those who are sweet and careful, and often put themselves in other’s shoes. The word, “nuǎnnǚ (sweet woman)”, is not as frequently heard or used as its male counterpart. In general, girls are brought up to be more gentle, sweet, and considerate. “Nuǎnnán (sweet guy)” stands a sharp constrast to “gāngtiě zhínán (hardcore straight man)” . “gāngtiě” means “iron and steel”, and “zhínán” means “straight man”. It can also be translated into “hardcore straight man”. When they are dating, the “gāngtiě zhínán” usually have the following characteristics in common. They are direct and straightforward, insensitive and not flexible, practictal and not romantic, quiet and reserved, and not good at reading women’s mind. They usually make who are dating them annoyed and amazed at the same time.
看完了這一段對話讓人覺得心裡有一股暖流，覺得男主角真是一個暖男。「暖男」意思說的是那種貼心細心，常為他人著想的男孩子。相較之下，「暖女」一詞，也許因為文化的差異，比較少見。在一般觀念中，女孩通常被教育成要更溫柔貼心、更善解人意。和暖男相對的是「鋼鐵直男」。「直男」的意思就是英文的「straight man」，異性戀男生，「鋼鐵直男」則可以翻譯成「hardcore straight man」。在交往時，鋼鐵直男通常有一些共同點，比方說個性很直，不太懂得變通，務實不浪漫，個性老實木訥，不太懂女生心思，常讓交往對象覺得又好氣又好笑。
Straight man cancer/
直男癌(Zhí nán ái)
The definition of “gāngtiě zhínán (hardcore straight man)” is quite subjective, but it doesn’t necessary imply a derogatory sense. Although the behaviours or ways of thinking of these men sometimes make their dates or partners not know whether to laugh or cry, but it’s kind of adorable. Compared to the “gāngtiě zhínán (hardcore straight man)” who do not take the hint but still want to pay attention to their dates or partners, men is “zhí nán ái/(Straight man cancer)” implies derogatory sense, which is similar to words such as “male chauvinist”, “sexist” in English.
每個人對「鋼鐵直男」這個詞的定義其實挺主觀的，而且這個未必帶有貶義，雖然有時候他們行為或是思維讓跟他們交往的對象有點哭笑不得，但其實還蠻可愛的。相較於不解風情但是仍然願意注意交往對象的鋼鐵直男，「直男癌」就帶點著貶義，相當於英文中的「大男人主義者/男性沙文主義者」、「性別主義者」，說的是認為男性比女性優越的人。
The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting/心裡的溫暖防止身體的腐蝕
When something or someone sends a chill to your heart, perhaps you will find yourself feel warmer from inside by thinking of that fuzzy, adorable, and harmless spring cub. The book,《The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting: A French Recipe for a Long Life, Well-Lived》has an interesting tile and fits the book well. What commonalities that people who age happily shared are discussed in this book, and it seems that the warmth of heart has positive effect on prevention against dementia. I will end this post with a beautiful proverb that the author, Marie De Hennezel, quoted in her book, “Break open the heart of men, and there you will find a sun.” Let’s be the little sun to ourself so that we can warm ourselves as well as others.
要是覺得心寒的時候，也許想著村上春樹所描述的那毛茸茸，可愛無害的春天小熊，心裡也會不自覺地暖起來。有一本書的書名很有趣，也取得很貼切，《The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting: A French Recipe for a Long Life, Well-Lived》，前半句意思是「心裡的溫暖防止身體的腐蝕」，書中探討一些快樂變老的人的共同點，以及心裡的溫暖對於預防失智有一定的作用。文末我想以作者 Marie De Hennezel在書中引用了一句諺語做為結尾，「打開一個人的心，在裡頭你會找到一顆太陽。」讓我們做自己的小太陽吧，不但可以溫暖自己，也可以溫暖他人。
If you are interested in this topic, here are some articles to read.要是你對這個話題有興趣，這裡有些文章可閱讀。
鋼鐵直男 https://www.storm.mg/lifestyle/3952277?page=1
鋼鐵直男的九個特徵 https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/112036738
直男癌
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/52234696
The books “Norwegian Wood” and “The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting: A French Recipe for a Long Life, Well-Lived” are available for order on bookdepository.com and other websites: