恋爱前的“培养感情阶段”

在正式确立恋爱关系之前，两人之间的交往都只能算是在培养感情。双方都有意发展一段恋爱关系，只是时机尚未成熟，所以还得先培养感情。因为是在恋爱关系之前的阶段，所以英文中用很形象的prelationship来表示这个阶段。

Prelationship is a relationship between people who are not yet but could become romantically involved. The two are probably seeing each other frequently and both have the intention to develop a romantic relationship. Maybe it is just a matter of time.
Prelationship指两人交往但还没有到正式恋爱的阶段。两人可能经常见面约会，并且都有意发展恋爱关系。或许只是时机还没有成熟。我们可以称之为“培养感情阶段”。

这个词是前缀pre和relationship的合成形式，表示是一段relationship开始之前的阶段。类似的词汇还有：prehistory（史前）、preschool（学前）、prepay（预付）等。

For example:

Mark and Stacy have been dating each other for three months but are still in the prelationship stage.
Mark和Stacy已经约会3个月了，但还是处在培养感情阶段（没有正式确立恋爱关系）。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）