中國功夫的「五祖拳」，講求以柔濟剛，對付威猛激烈。現代國際關係，講究國家文化的軟實力 soft power，多於軍力財力。國家經濟高速發展，也希望可以成功軟着陸 soft landing。
SOFT 有3個最常用的意思：
- NOT HARD 不硬，柔軟 ，引申出如下不少用法 。
- NOT STRICT 不嚴厲， this usage is usually disapproving 含貶義, such as you are not severe or strict enough with something or somebody : a parent who is too lenient on his child 溺愛縱容過份的家長 or a government who is soft on crime，政府打擊罪犯的態度軟弱，對付犯罪的行為手軟，通常都含貶義。
- TOO EASY 太容易, again this meaning is very often disapproving, 例如太安逸的生活: They get too used to the soft life at home and don’t like to move around 他們過慣了家里的安逸生活不想勞碌奔波。
Everyone has a soft spot
If you have a soft spot in your heart for someone or an animal 表示你特別喜歡或十分在乎某人或某隻寵愛的動物, you have a fondness for someone, something, or an animal : Mary has a soft spot for kittens. If you soft pedal something 表示你對某事低調處理，輕描淡寫，把重要的部份刻意輕輕帶過 you deliberately treat something less serious and fail to emphasize the important parts 。If you soft soap somebody 表示你為某人刻意說好聽的奉承話，向他大灌迷魂湯；soft soaper 指奉承的拍馬屁者、諂媚的人；to soft soap is to flatter to gain something 和 to apple-polish 同義。
Soft job 是輕鬆的工作 an occupation that is easy to do; soft option 是最輕鬆最省事的選擇 an easy choice among more difficult alternatives; soft touch 是耳朶軟、輕信而容易上當的人 a gullible person, a likely victim of a scheme。
A soft hearted person is kind, sympathetic and emotional 心腸軟的，富同情心的人，而 hard headed is unemotional, determined and practical 堅定而不感情用事 ，精明冷靜，講究實際；soft centred 是軟滑夾心的，例如 a chocolate with a soft mixture inside, 而 somebody having a soft centre usually refers to a person who is not really as severe as he seems to be 表面嚴厲但心腸軟的人；soft drinks do not contain alcohol 不含酒精的軟飲料, 而 hard liquor 指 spirit 烈酒 such as whisky, gin , rum and vodka because in North America, the term hard liquor is used to distinguish distilled beverages 用蒸餾法釀製的酒類 from undistilled ones which are implicitly weaker；a hard drinking person 則指大量飲酒的豪飲客。
Hard-boiled egg 暗喻難以相處
Hard-boiled 表示 tough 强硬的, 不動情的。雞蛋煮得老硬了也可以說 hard-boiled, 煮得嫩而僅熟的蛋 soft-boiled eggs ，蛋黃呈半流質狀態更好吃 because the egg yolk is still soft or liquid。口語上 hard boiled egg 也可暗喻一些難相處的人，或手段厲害的傢伙；hard-boiled 另一個意思是 unemotional，不流露感情的 not showing much emotion : 所以美國冷靜寫實的偵探小說便泛稱為 hardboiled fiction, a tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective fiction。
傳媒近年來最流行的說法是 play hardball 強硬態度，強硬爭取想獲得的東西，就算用到無情或不當的手段，也在所不惜。硬球 hardball 和棒球 baseball 同義，與體積更大的軟球 soft ball 對比。To play hard to get 即是某人渴望從你處得到他難以得到的東西，例如同意書或許可證 ； hardball politics 便是強硬政治，showing the politician’s determination 出手果斷的政治手段。Hard core refers to the most active and those of an organization that will not change their beliefs or behaviour 中埾份子，核心⻣幹人物。
HARD 除了堅固、硬淨、費力之外，也有艱難、不易的意思: hard to believe, hard to say 屬於這一類：hard times 指艱難時世 difficult situation; hard up 通常指一個人等錢用，經濟發生困難，生活拮据； a hard nut to crack指棘手的問題 difficult problem to solve 也可指難以對付，不易說明或馴服的人 a person who is difficult to deal with or to influence。
（逢星期二、五刊出）
