Game of digital love

Have you got a date for Valentine’s Day? If the answer is no, you may want to consider turning to dating apps for help. It’s super easy: All you need to do is upload an attractive photo of yourself and add a short but interesting self-introduction.
情人节你有约了吗？如果没有，那么你可以考虑向交友软件求助。而整个流程简单极了：你所需要做的只是上传一张个人靓照，加上一段有趣的个人简介。

Dating apps are changing the courtship landscape, even if you have only a small circle of friends. Have a crush on someone? Just give them a “thumb-up” on their profile. If it’s not reciprocated, no big deal. You don’t really know each other, so you don’t need to feel embarrassed. Besides, there are plenty of fish in the sea.
即便你的朋友圈很小也没关系，交友软件也可以扩大你的交友范围。如果对某人一见钟情？就给他/她点个赞吧！如果对方没有回应，也没什么大不了的。事实上你们素不相识，所以也不用觉得尴尬。更何况，天涯何处无芳草。

You probably won’t meet “the one” through dating apps, but at least getting yourself out this way will open opportunities to meet new people.
尽管在交友软件上，你可能无法找到真爱，但至少这种方式可以让你结交到新朋友。

Some critics, however, say dating apps kill romance. Because they can match people based on their location, many people use dating apps as hook-up tools. They’re not interested in a serious relationship, but rather are looking for a short fling or even just a one-night-stand.
然而，有人指责交友软件扼杀了浪漫。由于这些软件可以根据地理位置定位自动匹配用户，所以在很多人手中，它们变成了“钓人”工具。他们无意寻找一段认真的感情，而是希望及时行乐，甚至只是为了“一夜情”。

Dan Slater, writing for The Atlantic, says dating apps are superficial and lazy. Dating apps make people believe there is always someone better out there and therefore they find it hard to commit to a relationship. What’s more, browsing through user profiles is not unlike browsing through commodities at a store. If you find a certain commodity unsatisfactory, you can simply replace it with another.
丹•斯莱特在《大西洋月刊》上写道：交友软件是种肤浅的偷懒行为。它令人们相信总有更好的人选等着自己，以致于难以投入一段恋情。而且，查看用户资料与在商场中浏览商品并无不同。如果你对某件商品不够满意，你只需要“换货”就好了。

In contrast, Jeffrey Kluger, writing for Time magazine’s website, says that although looking for romance on dating apps may seem like consuming products, our fundamental attitude toward love hasn’t changed that much.
而杰弗里•克鲁杰在《时代》杂志网站上表示，尽管在交友软件上寻找恋情看上去很像选购商品，但我们对于爱情的基本态度并未有太多改变。

The way people pursue romance is always changing, Kluger says, from generation to generation and even year to year. Western countries have seen many transformations in the last century alone. “There was feminism (women’s liberation) in the 1970s. There was the pill (contraception) in the 1960s and the back seat of the Chevy (casual sex) in the 1950s,” Kluger says.
克鲁杰表示，世世代代，年复一年，人们求爱的方式一直在改变。仅仅上个世纪，西方社会的求爱法则就发生了许多转变。“从上世纪70年代的女权解放运动，到上世纪60年代的口服避孕药，再到上世纪50年代的‘随意性行为’”。

Technology changes rapidly, but human beings do not. Admittedly, Kluger writes, some dating apps turn the whole dating experience into a kind of game. But gamification has always been a big part of the mating mix. Kluger writes: “Arm wrestling in a bar gamifies which man’s fitness display will best catch the eye of a woman.”
尽管科技与日俱新，但人类自身却少有改变。克鲁杰写道，不可否认，一些交友软件将约会变成恋爱游戏。但一直以来游戏都是求偶的重头戏。克鲁杰表示：“酒吧中男士通过扳手腕展现体魄，以吸引女性的目光。”

Shana Lebowitz, as a dating app user, has a more intuitive view on dating apps. Writing for US-based media website Greatist.com, Lebowitz points out that the impact of dating apps depends on the specific person using it. But for many people, they provide “a sense of hope and confidence that doesn’t come from going through old photos of you and your ex”.
作为一名交友软件的使用者，莎娜•莱波维兹对这类软件有着更为直观的看法。在为美国Greatist.com网站撰写的文章中，莱波维兹指出，交友软件所带来的影响因人而异。但对很多人来说，它们令你心中“充满希望和自信，而这是翻阅你和前任的旧照所办不到的。”

以上文章内容选自《21世纪英文报》，详情请见《21世纪英文报》1041期