教你谈恋爱

Singapore Lovers Told to Do It by the Book

Singapore is handing out booklets to singles with tips on how to plan the perfect date, the Sunday Times said. The eight-page booklet offers practical tips such as: "If you have a dog, why not take a stroll with the pooch...Just make sure that your date is not afraid of dogs." "We aim to empower singles by helping them with basic courtship skills, showing them that it'sreally a natural process," Tan-Huang Shuo Mei*, director of the government's Social Development Unit (SDU), was quoted as saying. The SDU is one of two bodies the government has set up to encourage marriage in a tiny city state grappling witha low birth rate. "This is so typically Singaporean," the paper quoted one former SDU member as saying. "It seems as though we need people to tell us what to do and how to do it."

* 新加坡华人姓名中的“Tan”并非普通话拼音，其对应的姓多为“陈”，故译为“陈”。《星期日泰晤士报》报道，新加坡正在向单身公民们分发关于如何安排完美约会的小册子。这本8页的小册子提供了实用的约会技巧，例如：“如果你养了一只狗，干吗不带着它一起散步呢……不过你得确定你的约会对象不怕狗。”报纸援引新加坡政府社会发展署（SDU）主任陈黄淑梅（音）的话说：“我们向单身人士传授基本的求爱技巧，告诉他们恋爱是一件非常简单自然的事情，以此来鼓励他们。”这个小小的城市国家正在和低出生率作斗争，政府设立了两个机构来鼓励婚配，SDU是其中之一。“这是典型的新加坡特色，”报纸援引一位前SDU成员的话说。“好像我们需要别人来告诉我们该做什么以及怎么去做似的。”

Remarks：鼓励生育恐怕应该从社会福利政策着手。政府虽然是民之父母，也不必要表现得如急着抱孙子的老太太一般吧。