Last night a group of us were at a bar when we were accosted by the glowing appearance of a smiling, extremely good-looking man. He dazzled us with his sparkling blue eyes and sharp, inspiring jawline, and then he opened his mouth and revealed himself to be British.
昨天晚上，我們一群人在酒吧里遇到一位前來搭訕的帥哥，他熱情洋溢，微笑迷人，英俊瀟灑。我們都被他那明亮的藍(lán)眼睛和棱角分明、鼓舞人心的下巴迷住了。后來，他一開口，我們就知道了，原來他是一位英國人。

We were beside ourselves. What is it about British men that makes women comfortable enough to openly giggle about them in their presence? The accent certainly plays a role—it softens them, making them seem sensitive and accessible. (Perhaps too sensitive and accessible.) But it is also probably something about that apologetic confidence; it's not the aggressive, in-your-face manliness the American people imbibe from a young age. And indeed, this week, the UK-based market research firm YouGov released statistics that confirm some of these romantic fantasies about British men: They increasingly think masculinity is bad and don't really associate themselves with it.
我們都沉醉其中。英國男人身上有什么特質(zhì)使得女人們能非常舒服地在大庭廣眾之下對他們咯咯笑呢？口音肯定是一個(gè)原因——口音有柔化效果，讓他們顯得細(xì)膩而親切（也許太細(xì)膩太親切了）。但很可能也跟他們那種一臉歉然的自信有關(guān)；他們不像美國人從小就學(xué)著要有闖勁，要有直來直去的男子漢氣概。事實(shí)上，英國市場研究公司YouGov本周公布了一些統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)，揭示了英國男人謎之熱辣的真相：越來越多的男人覺得“純爺們”是個(gè)壞詞，不希望跟這個(gè)詞聯(lián)系起來。

According to the statistics, which surveyed 819 men and 873 women, 42 percent of British men aged 18-24 have a negative association with masculinity. In older age groups, that percentage drops sharply. (So Hugh Grant is probably not among the more enlightened.) What's more, British men are much less attached to the concept of masculinity than American men; when asked to rate themselves on a scale from 0 (completely masculine) to 6 (completely feminine), 42 percent of American men considered themselves masculine, while only 28 percent of British guys did.
他們調(diào)查了819名男性和873名女性，數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在18歲到24歲的英國男性中，有42%的人認(rèn)為純爺們是貶義詞。在年齡稍大的人群中，這個(gè)比例下降了很多（所以休·格蘭特很可能不在更為開明的那一組）。而且，與美國男人相比，英國男人更不愿意接受純爺們這個(gè)概念。當(dāng)要求他們用0~6為自己打分時(shí)（0代表純爺們，6代表純娘炮），42%的美國男人認(rèn)為自己很爺們，而英國男人中只有28%的人這么認(rèn)為。

Is there something about American culture and priorities that yield more masculine dudes? "It's intersectional as hell for me—but mainly because I really do identify as an American in terms of culture, as well as identifying as a man," said Harry Cheadle, a VICE US editor who identified himself as a 1 on the masculine-feminine scale. "There are more or less universal markers of masculinity, like being strong and sporty and relatively unemotional and not gay, but you see some national differences. UK men are definitely expected to dress better than American men. (I think?)"
那么是不是美國文化所看重的一些東西造就了更多美國爺們呢？VICE雜志的一位美國編輯哈里· 奇德爾說：“我對此無法茍同，但那主要是因?yàn)閺奈幕嵌葋碚f我是美國人，而且我也認(rèn)為自己夠爺們。關(guān)于純爺們，或多或少有一些普遍標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，比如要強(qiáng)壯，熱愛運(yùn)動，不那么情緒化，以及不搞基，但是國與國之間又有區(qū)別。比如大家往往覺得英國男人要比美國男人穿衣品味好，或者只是我這么認(rèn)為？”他在“爺們-娘炮”量表中給自己打的分?jǐn)?shù)是1分。

Another VICE UK editor outlined some further masculine archetypes. "There's definitely a very British set of masculine tropes/stereotypes," he, a 3, said. "Football-watching pub lad or Northern hard man who used to work in a mine or whatever. I fall more into the Blur era, Damon Albarn-y, artsy, soft, middle-class southern grouping than the Noel Gallagher, Northern hard man thing. Overall I fear people see me as more Hugh Grant—a bit wet and awkward." One of the sexier qualities of British men is how they speak English like it's a different language.
另外一位VICE雜志的英國編輯則更深入地指出了一些爺們的典型。這位給自己打了3分的編輯說：“我們有一種非常英式的純爺們概念/刻板印象，比如在酒吧里看球的家伙或者在礦井里賣力工作的北方人之類的。我自己更接近Blur樂隊(duì)的達(dá)蒙·奧爾本，是有點(diǎn)藝術(shù)家氣質(zhì)的、溫和的南方中產(chǎn)階級，而不是像諾爾·加拉格那樣的北方硬漢?？偟膩碚f，我很怕別人認(rèn)為我更像休·格蘭特那種有點(diǎn)軟弱又笨拙的人。英國男人更為性感的一點(diǎn)在于他們口中的英文就像另外一種語言。”

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