雙語趣味閱讀：有備胎的人

雙語趣味閱讀：有備胎的人

　　Do you have a special someone who, mainly through social media, implies you might have a romantic relationship someday in the future? Congratulations, you’re in a back burner relationship.

　　你的生命里是不是有這么一個特殊的存在，你們通過社交網絡保持聯系，他/她會曖昧地向你表示，也許未來的某一天你們會發展成男女朋友?那么，恭喜你，你也是有備胎的人了!

　　The term “back burner relationship” comes from the phrase “put something on the back burner”, meaning to put something aside for the time being until you’re ready to give it your full attention. The term is used in a recently published study authored by US psychologists Jason Dibble and Michelle Drouin. A back burner, in their definition, is “a person with whom one is not presently committed and with whom one maintains some degree of communication, in order to keep or establish the possibility of future romantic and/or sexual involvement.”

　　“備胎(關系)”一詞來自短語“把某事置于次要地位”，意為將某事暫時放在一邊，待你準備好后再集中精力去處理。該詞最近被美國心理學家杰森•迪布爾和米歇爾•德勞因用在其發表的研究中，并將其定義為“沒有(男女朋友的)承諾，卻與其保持某種程度的聯系，以備日后可以發展成男女朋友或是炮友。”

　　Back burner relationships are nothing new. Keeping in touch with alternative romantic prospects is common. From a biological and evolutionary point of view, exploring all potential mates available can help one to be sure to get the best deal. But there are some interesting findings in Dibble and Drouin’s study. One is that social media makes it much easier to maintain back burner relationships.

　　這種備胎關系并不稀奇，與可能發展成戀愛關系的人保持聯系也十分常見。從生物學與進化的角度來看，與盡可能多的異性保持聯系有助于找到最佳伴侶。但是迪布爾與德勞因的研究卻有一些有趣的發現，其中之一就是：社交網絡讓發展備胎變得更容易。

　　Modern technologies help

　　現代科技推波助瀾

　　According to The Huffington Post, the two researchers recruited 374 young men and women with the average age of 21. Some of these people were currently in an exclusive romantic relationship, and some were not.

　　據《赫芬頓郵報》報道，這兩位心理學家招募了374名平均年齡21歲的男女進行研究，他們中一些人已經有了男/女朋友，一些人還是單身。

　　The researchers asked them to report how many back burners they had, whether they talked to them platonically or were more flirty, and what technology they used to keep in touch with these people. Those who were currently in relationships also completed assessments of their investment in and commitment to their relationships, and rated how appealing they thought their back burners were.

　　研究人員詢問他們共有多少備胎?與備胎聊天的方式是純潔的柏拉圖式，還是更為露骨的調情?他們都是通過哪些技術平臺與備胎們保持聯系?那些已經有男/女朋友的人也被要求對自己在這段感情中的投入和承諾做出評價，同時對備胎們的吸引力進行打分。

　　The most frequent ways that people kept up with their backburners were through texts and Facebook. Forty-five percent of participants reported texting backburners, 37 percent reported talking to them on Facebook. Thirteen percent of people talked on the phone to the person they were stringing along, and the rest used e-mail, Skype, or Twitter.

　　(調查發現)短信與Facebook在人們與備胎聯系時，使用頻率最高。其中45%的受訪者使用短信，37%則通過Facebook與備胎聊天，還有13%則是直接給他們的備胎打電話，其余的人或通過e-mail，或用(視頻聊天軟件)Skype、Twitter與備胎取得聯系。

　　What surprised the researchers was that there was no significant difference between the number of backburners kept by people in relationships, and the number kept by single people. The whole group reported having an average of 5.5 back burners, more of whom they communicated with in a platonic as opposed to a romantic way.

　　令研究者驚訝的是：有男女朋友的人和單身者所擁有的備胎數量差別不大。受訪者每人平均擁有5.5個備胎，而他們與備胎的交流更多的是柏拉圖式的聊天， 而非談情說愛。

　　The study proves that modern technologies make it easy to communicate with back burners. Before, you would need to meet in person or write a letter to maintain the relationship, leaving a “paper trail”. But now, all you need to do is leave some nice words on your back burner’s social media page and it’s not exactly “cheating” on your partner.

　　這項研究發現，現代科技使聯系備胎變得更容易。以前，你需要與TA見面或是通過寫信才能維持關系，留下點“書面記錄”。而現在，你只需要在備胎的社交平臺主頁下說點甜言蜜語就夠了。嚴格來說，這甚至都不算“欺騙”自己的男/女朋友。

　　Biological 生物學的

　　Evolutionary 進化的

　　Recruit 招募，征集

　　Exclusive 專有的，大量

　　Platonically 柏拉圖式地

　　Flirty 調戲的，曖昧的