Snow Wonder

When the snow finally comes to Helsinki (the rest of Finland is often white weeks before) the landscape totally reverses and ground becomes lighter than the sky. The ice hotel is rebuilt anew every year with 30,000 tons of snow and 4,000 tons of ice.Ice blocks are cut from the Torneälven River in late autumn and the ice hotel gradually takes shape over the next few months. 

 

 

The design is based on the architecture of the mediaeval cathedral. Temperatures in the icehotel vary between -4 to -9 degrees c even when outside temperatures drop below -30c.But by late april the suns rays begin to take their toll and by june the ice hotel has returned to its liquid state.

How Seasons Come Out

Long long time ago, the world was regardless of seasons, hot and cold.The ground was not welled, withour harvest,people were frozen to death or starved to death.
    Just when people were worried, a very old man said: "I heard the Jade Emperor rules the world of all things, we beg the Jade Emperor, tell him to drop something to eat."
     People felt justified, so they knelt on the ground prayed together. The Jade Emperor heard the noises and asked the civil and military ministers: " What's the problem?"

    One minister said: "The world is neither hot nor cold, people live without food or drink, without clothes they were even naked. They pray to you, ask you to rescue them."
    Jade Emperor heard this, then commanded the gods hot and cold take in charge of human's day.
    The gods hot and cold are brothers. The God cold has a bad temper. When he was a mad, the wind was strong and the earth would be immediately under the snow, a lot of people freezing to death, people called him the winter. However the other brother has mild temper, people called him the summer.The Jade Emperor ordered the gods to take turn of half the year.
    This went on for many years, one day the Jade Emperor went to see the Nantianmen play, but saw the people on earth like chaos, so asked the minister. Minister said: "The God of hot and cold change the charge.Now it is suddenly replaced by the cold of God, the world is not prepared, people rushing to home, a lot of them are frozen to death along the way."
    Emperor thougt that is not appropriate to order hot and cold to the gods to live in the world, three months for a return to classes, intermittently for three months. In this way, the world appeared only seasons.

The hot COLD WAR

In the picture United States President Ronald Reagan (left) and President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev meet in 1985

The Cold War (Russian: Холо́дная война́, Kholodnaya voyna, 1947–1991) was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after World War II (1939–1945), primarily between the Soviet Union and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, particularly the United States. Although the primary participants' military force never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, extensive aid to states deemed vulnerable, proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, conventional and nuclear arms races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.

Book covers

Here below there are some book covers in which appare both concept of hot and cold.

"Not feeling cold in snowing days" 雨雪而不寒

During the Warring States (475-221 BC), Yanzi was an outstanding prime minister of the state of Qi. The following story is recorded in ‘The Stories of Yanzi’.

Once during the reign of King Jing (?-490 BC) in the State of Qi, it had been snowing for three days without break. The King, dressed in a white fox fur cape, was sitting in a porch on one side of the palace.

Yan Zi (? – 500 BC), the Prime Minister, came to see the King. After he stood before the King for a while, the King spoke to him, ‘Strange, it has been snowing for three days without break, but still I don’t feel cold.’ Yan Zi asked, ‘Is it actually not cold?’

The King smiled. Yanzi spoke out again, ‘I have heard that the ancient kings of virtue knew that the people were hungry while they themselves were full, that the people were cold while they were warm and that the people were exhausted by hard work while they were in comfort and at leisure. How could Your Majesty know nothing of these?’

The King said, ‘Well said and I appreciate it.’ So he ordered that clothing and food be provided to the hungry and cold, regardless of their nationality and family background. There was also no need to write down their names. All government officials were given two month food supply and the sick two year food supply.

On hearing the case, Confucius said, ‘Yanzi knows what he wants and King Jing does what he does best.’

Hot gets a little cold

HOT GETS A LITTLE COLD by Cyndy Lauper

Heaven, You say it could be heaven ... But I don't really know ... Lovers come and go ...
When hot gets a little cold. Infatuation is just the great anticipation, Of starring in that picture show, Let's wait until the credits roll ... When hot gets a little cold. I could get carried away but not anymore ... What was it I heard you say you love me 'cause I'm strong, I hope that you're not wrong. Heaven, you say it could be heaven, Well I don't really know ... I'll try not to let it show, When hot gets a little cold ... When hot gets a little cold ... When hot gets a little cold ...


 

Beauty is Never Afraid of Cold

When talk about the seasons, summer always represents the hot and passionate, but winter because of the weather, remind people of cold and desolate. However, it is not always true, passionate people are everywhere, no matter the time and temperature.

Tierra del Fuego vs Iceland

Finally, there is another case in which we find the opposing concepts of hot and cold that is in the name of some places such as "Tierra del Fuego" which is the official name of a province in the Argentine Patagonia and the "Land of ice" as it is called Iceland.

Deserts

 In geography there is another place where there is opposition between hot and cold deserts. In fact, there is the hot deserts (such as the Sahara) and cold deserts (such as Antarctica). 

The two picture below show the difference of those deserts.

 

Global warming

A very important aspect, especially in recent years, is global warming. The great increasement of the temperature determines changes in the earth in particular the melting of ice.

Below is a picture of how the temperature has been raised from 1885 to 2007.

 

God of fire in polytheistic civilisation

We could also find the concept of hot in mythology in many polytheistic civilizations. Infac they call in different ways the god of fire for example: Gibil (Sumerian mythology), Agni (Hindu), Svarog (including sun, sky and metallurgy in Slavic mythology) Nusku (Babylonian and Assyrian) and Hephaestus (Greek mythology).

Icarus & Dedalus

In reference to the concept of heat is the myth of Icarus. In Greek mythology, Icarus (the Latin spelling, conventionally adopted in English; Greek: Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, Etruscan: Vikare) is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings constructed by his father. He ignored instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and fell to his death.

Arts: Ice/Water

Nele Azevedo, a Brazilian artist creates hundreds of sitting figures out of ice. All of them were put seated on the stairs - - the installation lasted till the last one melted in the heat of the day. 

This amazing installation of 1,000 melting men was done in collaboration with the WWF to highlight global warming.

Kimi Raikkonen: Iceman's Fast and Furious

When hot and cold have been used to describe people, the images can always be people sexy and friendly or cool people.

The famous Finnish racing driver Kimi-Matias Räikkönen,nickname Iceman. When he is driving, he always acts cool and calm, but from his love of racing and speed, it's never too difficult to find the fire inside his passionate heart.

Cold Fever

Cold Fever (Icelandic: Á köldum klaka) is a 1995 Icelandic film directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. It is a road movie set in Iceland and was the first of Friðrik's films to be made in the English language. The movie depicts the travels of a Japanese man across Iceland. It was jokingly promoted as the best Icelandic-Japanese road movie of 1995.

Hirata (Masatoshi Nagase) is a successful Japanese businessman whose plan for a two-week winter holiday in Hawaii to play golf changes when his elderly grandfather (Seijun Suzuki) reminds him that he should go to Iceland.

Hirata’s parents died there seven years ago, and the seven year death anniversary is a significant event in Japanese culture. Hirata must perform a ceremony in the river where they died after drowning in an avalanche - the drowned must be fed by the surviving family members if they are to find peace.

Hirata goes to Iceland - to Reykjavík. His final destination is a remote river on the far side of the island. He encounters one mishap and misadventure after another. He first accidentally gets on a wrong bus filled with German tourists traveling to see the hot springs. He also confronts a language barrier, since he cannot speak any Icelandic, and knows very little English. After his first day's misadventures, Hirata decides to purchase an ancient, bright red Citroën DS to make the journey. During the long drive, Hirata meets several strange people along the way. These include the mystical woman who sells him the car, that only plays one radio station, a woman who collects photographs of funerals, two American hitchhiker/fugitives (Lili Taylor and Fisher Stevens), who turn out to be armed and dangerous whom proceed to steal his car. Nearing his destination, Hirata meets an old man (Gísli Halldórsson) named Siggi, the owner of a local lodge who teaches Hirata how to drink the most potent alcoholic beverage in Iceland.

After explaining his determination to travel to where his parents died, Hirata is aided by Siggi who borrows a pair of Icelandic horses from a local farmer, and the two of them travel on horseback to Hirata's destination. After riding across an ice cap glacier, over a ridge and into the valley where Hirata's parents died, he dismounts and tells Siggi that he must go on alone to complete his journey. After traversing a rickety bridge to the river, Hirata arrives at the river bank where he performs his cleansing ceremony at last.

"Blow Hot and Cold" 朝三暮四

The idiom ‘blow hot and cold’ refers to changing one's mind easily, as in Peter's been blowing hot and cold about taking an overseas holiday. This expression comes from Aesop's fable (c. 570 BC) about a man eating with a satyr (ancient god who roamed the woods and mountains) on a winter day. At first the man blew on his hands to warm them and then blew on his soup to cool it. The satyr thereupon renounced the man's friendship because he blew hot and cold out of the same mouth. The expression was repeated by many writers, most often signifying a person who could not be relied on.

In Chinese, the proverb Zhao San Mu Si (literally means Three at Dawn and Four at Dusk), has the same meaning. The proverb comes from a story told by Lie Zi who lived in the Warring States period (476 – 221 BC).

Once upon a time, in the state of Song, there lived a man who kept monkeys. He was very fond of monkeys and kept a large number of them. He could understand the monkeys and they could also understand him. He reduced the amount of food for his own family in order to satisfy the monkey‘s demands. After a while his family did not have enough to eat, so he wanted to limit the food for the monkeys.

But he was afraid that the monkeys would not submit to him. Before doing that he played a trick on them： “If I give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, would that be enough?” he asked the monkeys. All the monkeys rose up in a fury. After a while, he said, “If I give you four chestnuts in the morning and three in the evening, would that be enough?” All the monkeys lay on the floor, very happy with this proposal.

Originally this proverb was used to mean a fool can be tricked by changing the appearance but now it has evolved into meaning unreliable person who is inconsistent or changes his mind easily.

Climatic differences

The most obvious concept of hot and cold found in the geography and climate. Heat and cold affect life on earth. Depending on the temperature grow different kinds of living beings, which over the centuries have adapted more and more.

Hot | synonyms

Hot
1. very high in temperature
baking, blazing, blistering, boiling, broiling, burning, calescent, close, decalescent, febrile, fevered, feverish, feverous, fiery, flaming, heated, humid, igneous, incandescent, like an oven, on fire, ovenlike, parching, piping, recalescent, red, roasting, scalding, scorching, searing, sizzling, smoking, steaming, stuffy, sultry, summery, sweltering, sweltry, thermogenic, torrid, tropic, tropical, very warm, warm, white
antonyms: cold, cool, freezing, frigid
2. spicy to taste
acrid, biting, peppery, piquant, pungent, racy, sharp, spicy, zestful
antonyms: mild, moderate
3. passionate, vehement
angry, animated, ardent, aroused, distracted, eager, enthusiastic, excited, fervent, fervid, fierce, fiery, furious, ill-tempered, impassioned, impetuous, indignant, inflamed, intense, irascible, lustful, raging, stormy, temperamental, touchy, violent
antonyms: calm, indifferent, unfeeling
4. new, in vogue
approved, cool, dandy, favored, fresh, glorious, groovy, in demand, just out, keen, latest, marvelous, neat, nifty, peachy, popular, recent, sought-after, super, trendy, up-to-the-minute
antonyms: old, old-fashioned, out, unpopular
5. sensual
aroused, carnal, concupiscent, erotic, lascivious, lewd, libidinous, lustful, passionate, prurient, salacious
antonyms: turned off

Metaphors

Here are some metaphors with references to hot and cold.

• "Fa caldo come all’inferno"  ("It's hot as hell")
• "Una vecchia fiamma_un vecchio amore"  ("An old flame")
• "Una calda accoglienza"   ("A warm reception")
• "C'è la Siberia qui_qui c'è molto freddo"  ("There Siberia here_here is very cold")
• "Uno sguardo di ghiaccio"   ("An icy stare")
• "Sei freddo come ghiacciolo"    ("You're as cold as ice")
• "Hunka' hunka' burnin' love"
• "There's a fire in my heart and you fan it"
• "The news inflamed her temper"
• "That is a hot curry"
• "Boiling mad"
• "A feverish pace"
• "I'm so hot for her and she's so cold"
• "Frozen with fear"
• "When winter is its coldest, a warm, heavy coat is a suit of armor"
• "The winter winds are a stinging, icy slap in the face"
• "Our once warm and sunny yard is now an arctic tundra"

Things

Below are some pictures of objects that contain both concepts of hot and cold.

Hot'n'Cold | Katy Perry

HOT'N'COLD by Katy Perry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X75mry1LcFg

You change your mind, Like a girl changes clothes, Yeah you P.M.S, Like a bitch, I would know, And you over think, Always speak cryptically, I should know, That you're no good for me, Cause you're hot then you're cold,  You're yes then you're no,  You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, You're wrong when it's right, It's black and it's white, We fight we break up, We kiss we make up,You, you don't really wanna stay no, You, but you don't really wanna go, You're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, We used to be, Just like twins, So insync, The same energy, Now's a dead battery, Used to laugh, About nothing,  Now you're plain boring, I should know, That you're not gonna change, Cause you're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, You're wrong when it's right, It's black and it's white, We fight we break up, We kiss we make up, You, you don't really wanna stay no, You, but you don't really wanna go, You're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, Someone call the doctor, Got a case of love bi polar, Stuck on a roller coaster, And I can't get off this ride. You change your mind,  Like a girl changes clothes, Cause you're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, You're wrong when it's right, It's black and it's white, We fight we break up, We kiss we make up, You're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, You're wrong when it's right, It's black and it's white, We fight we break up, We kiss we make up,You, you don't really wanna stay no, You, but you don't really wanna go, You're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down.

Measurement

The colors can represent the temperature and calorie,so when you see the color, you can tell it is hot or cold. The picture rapresents a particular material called Moving Color.

Bible

Also in the Bible we can find hot and cold contrast,which is used to represent the contrast between natural elements and also in the manner of speaking "neither cold and hot".

Genesi 8,22

Finché durerà la terra,seme e messe,freddo e caldo,estate e inverno,giorno e notte non cesseranno.
As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Apocalisse 3,15

Conosco le tue opere: tu non sei né freddo né caldo. Magari tu fossi freddo o caldo!
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

Apocalisse 3,16

Ma poiché sei tiepido, non sei cioè né freddo né caldo, sto per vomitarti dalla mia bocca.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

Fire or Ice, Which is Stronger?

 Hot and Cold are represented by fire and ice. Here we have some scenes from the comic X-Men, the Human Torch and Iceman who are fighting with each other, which means the hot and cold are always opposed.

Dictionary (Chinese)

 

rè

〈形〉

 (1) 温度高

 (2) 情意深厚

 (3) 形容羡慕并想得到。如:热眼(热切的目光);热念(热切的愿望)

 (4) 满腔热情;热心肠。

 (5) 喧闹;热闹。

 (6) 亲热。如:热火(亲热);热落(亲热);热络(亲热;热和)

 (7) 很受人关注或欢迎的。如:热门货;热门

〈动〉

 (1) 加温;使之热。如:热化(受热而熔化);热饭(给饭或饭菜加热)

 (2) 烧,烧灼。如:热灼(灼热;火烫);热焰(火焰)

 (3) 烦躁。如:热躁(焦躁;焦急);热恼(谓焦灼、苦恼)

 (4) 激动

〈名〉

（1）物体内部分子不规则运动放出的一种能

（2）生病引起的高体温

（3）某些事物风行

lěng

〈形〉

 (1) 温度低

 (2) 又如:冷香(清雅的香气);冷泉(清凉的泉水)

 (3) 冷清;冷落;

 (4) 冷遇;对人冷淡。如:冷脸(冷淡无表情的面孔);冷肠(不热心于世事);冷心冷面(态度冷淡,对人没有感情)

 (5) 生僻;冷僻;少见。如:冷字(生僻 不常见的字);冷着(冷招);冷 眼(别人看不见的时机)

 (6) 突然,乘人不备。如:冷箭

 (7) 不畅销

〈动〉

 (1) 冷却;温度变低。如:冷冻;制冷(用人工方法取得低温);冷藏

 (2) 遭到冷落。如:冷视(轻视;冷待);冷语(讥笑讽刺的话);冷面孔
 〈名〉
  (1)姓


Dictionary Reference 

Definition (English)

Hot

Origin of HOT: Middle English, from Old English hāt; akin to Old High German heiz hot, Lithuanian kaisti to get hot. First Known Use: before 12th century.

1 a : having a relatively high temperature b : capable of giving a sensation of heat or of burning, searing, or scalding c : having heat in a degree exceeding normal body heat.
2 a : violent, stormy <a hot temper> <a hot battle>; also : angry <got hot about the remark> b (1) : sexually excited or receptive (2) : sexy c : eager, zealous <hot for reform> d of jazz : emotionally exciting and marked by strong rhythms and free melodic improvisations. 3 having or causing the sensation of an uncomfortable degree of body heat <hot and tired> <it's hot in here>. 4 a : newly made : fresh <a hot scent> <hot off the press> b : close to something sought <hot on the trail>. 5 a : suggestive of heat or of burning or glowing objects <hot colors> b : pungent, peppery.  6 a : of intense and immediate interest <some hot gossip> b : unusually lucky or favorable <on a hot streak> c : temporarily capable of unusual performance (as in a sport) d : currently popular or in demand <a hot commodity> e : very good <a hot idea> <not feeling too hot> f : absurd, unbelievable <wants to fight the champ? that's a hot one>. 7 a : electrically energized especially with high voltage b : radioactive; also : dealing with radioactive material c of an atom or molecule : being in an excited state. 8 a : recently and illegally obtained <hot jewels> b : wanted by the police; also : unsafe for a fugitive. 9 fast <a hot new fighter plane> <a hot lap around the track>

Cold

Origin of COLD: Middle English, from Old English ceald, cald; akin to Old High German kalt cold, Latin gelu frost, gelare to freeze. First Known Use: before 12th century.

 1 a : having or being a temperature that is uncomfortably low for humans <it is cold outside today> <a cold drafty attic> b : having a relatively low temperature or one lower than normal or expected <the bath water has gotten cold> c : not heated: as (1) of food : served without heating especially after initial cooking or processing <cold cereal> <cold roast beef> (2) : served chilled or with ice <a cold drink> (3) : involving processing without the use of heat <cold working of steel>.  2 a : marked by a lack of the warmth of normal human emotion, friendliness, or compassion <a cold stare> <got a cold reception>; also :<the movie leaves me cold> not moved to enthusiasm b : not colored or affected by personal feeling or bias : detached, indifferent <cold chronicles recorded by an outsider — Andrew Sarris>; also : impersonal, objective <cold facts> <cold reality> c : marked by sure familiarity :pat <had her lines cold weeks before opening night>.  3 conveying the impression of being cold: as a : depressing, gloomy <cold gray skies> b : cool.  4 a : marked by the loss of normal body heat <cold hands>; especially : dead b : giving the appearance of being dead : unconscious <passed out cold>.  5 a : having lost freshness or vividness : stale <dogs trying to pick up a cold scent> b : far off the mark : not close to finding or solving —used especially in children's games c : marked by poor or unlucky performance <the team's shooting turned cold in the second half> d : not prepared or suitably warmed up.

 

Dictionary Reference