交友快车：下班去相亲-英语点津

Chances are you spend a lot of time waiting for or riding the bus, alongside dozens of strangers in often uncomfortably close quarters. Ever spent that time wondering about the lives of those fellow travelers or even whether you may be compatible with that handsome stranger or pretty passenger?

你或许常常需要花许多时间在拥挤的陌生人群中等公车，或者和一群陌生人挤公交。你是否会忍不住去猜测那些陌生乘客的生活，甚至是想象自己可以和这些俊男或美女有一段难忘的邂逅？其实真爱可能就在其中。

Now a new service, dating around the Third Ring Road, answers the question of romantic possibilities by offering passengers a friendly atmosphere in which to meet other singles over the course of three-hour journey, starting every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 pm at Gongzhufen.

现在一项名为“爱在三环”的全新服务正好可以制造这样的浪漫邂逅，该交友班车每周二、四晚六点于公主坟站发车，在三个小时的车程中，活动组织者为那些单身乘客营造了一个很好的交友氛围，这样他们便可以结识其他的单身一族们。

The trip offers a relaxing space for busy office workers so they can make friends while efficiently using the service to commute home, the organizer Zhangpeng explained, saying they were inspired by seeing hundreds of people waiting to catch buses home in Guomao.

该活动组织者张彭表示，交友公车之旅一方面为那些平日忙忙碌碌的上班族提供了一个放松的交友空间，另一方面也为他们提供了便捷的乘车方式，节省了时间。他称该创意来自一群人在国贸扎堆等车的场景。

Zhang says that, with just over a month under their belt, they have still had trouble filling seats. the service had seen almost 100 passengers, four fifths of whom were female.

张彭回忆过去的一个月时间，他们仍然遭遇上座率较低的尴尬。该活动已接待了近百位乘客，其中五分之四是女性。

Nevertheless, Zhang says the general response has been skepticism.

但张彭也表示，人们对他们的举动普遍持怀疑态度。

Postgraduate student Hou Xiaosu, 24, is one of the doubters. "It's an interesting idea but I doubt if they will make money even after they've been operating for a while."

24岁的在校研究生侯晓苏（音译）提出质疑说：“这是个有趣的想法，但我怀疑该活动在运行一段时间后，会不会变成商业性质。”

"We will bear the cost [over 10,000 yuan a month] ourselves and stick to our free promise for at least one year," Zhang assured a magazine.

张彭在接受杂志专访时表示：“我们会自掏腰包来承担每月一万多元的开销，我们坚守无偿服务这个承诺至少一年的时间。”

Zhang recommends making a reservation on their website, which has a timetable of all 39 stops on the route - just pick your stop and an SMS will warn you of the love bus's imminent arrival; while registering, gender should also be marked so the numbers of successfully reserved male and female passengers can be organized.

张彭建议到，该活动可以进行在线预约，网站上有行车时刻表，全程共设39个车站。你只需要选择好你的车站，在交友公交将到时会有短信提示你。在注册信息时会要求填写性别，这样一来，组织者便可以对那些成功预订的单身男女进行详细安排。

There are also a few rules: girls are not allowed to sit next to each other. Passengers are issued with a "lollipop" they can use to show their interest or not as a new fellow boards the bus and makes his way down the aisle (a smiley face signals the green light). Declined men will then move on to the next girl, or if he totally fails, sit on his own.

该活动有几条规则：女生之间不能邻座；当有新乘客走过过道时，其他人可以用手中的“棒棒糖”牌子表达对方是否为自己的心动对象（“微笑的脸”表示邀请对方坐在邻座）。被拒绝的男生会走向下一个女生，如果没有人选择，他就只能独自坐在一边了。

Successful men will have to change seats every seven minutes while, at the instigation of former users, activities such as a winking game have been introduced, with prizes and forfeits. The current top prize is a woman's wedding veil, sponsored by a Suzhou couple who export wedding wear and wish to show support and encourage ladies to be proactive.

交友成功的男生每隔7分钟左右会交换一次座位，好多过往参与者都纷纷献计，表示中间可以穿插譬如眨眼游戏这样的小活动，并设置奖品及惩罚办法。目前一等奖是一套婚纱，该奖品由一对做婚纱出口生意的苏州夫妇提供，旨在鼓励女性积极参与。