中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
火車提速，網絡提速，建設提速……如今，男男女女的約會和戀愛也跟著大提速。今天我們就來說說現在很時髦的“閃電約會”，“閃電戀愛”，以及“閃婚”都是怎樣翻譯的。
假如你還覺得online dating（網絡交友）是時下最時髦的男女聯誼方式的話，那就太落伍了。美國現在最流行的就是speed dating。中文對此還沒有約定俗成的說法，所以speed dating 翻譯為“閃電約會”或“快速約會”也只是權宜之計。
Speed dating是由猶太人的一項習俗或儀式衍生而來的，它的目的只有一個，那就是在最短的時間里，認識最多的異性。
Speed dating is a method of meeting potential partners in which each participant has only about 5 minutes to talk to each of his or her dates before being moved on to the next one. At the end of the event, paticipants decide which dates they would like to see again.
參加閃電約會的人通過一連串約5分鐘的簡短交談可以和較多的異性進行一對一的接觸。活動結束后，參與者再向自己感興趣的異性提出再次見面的邀請。
HBO影集《欲望城市》第三季Don't Ask, Don't Tell這一集，就是在演Miranda參加閃電約會。以下是speed dating的例句：
In an episode of Sex and the City, Miranda goes speed-dating, only to discover that her law career is a turn-off to the guys。
而德國則開設“相親特快”，幫助人們speed dating。
Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national railway operator, has announced a speed-dating ride on the eve of Valentines Day aboard its so-called "Flirt-Express" train to help hopeless romantics find a partner. Lonely hearts are encouraged to ride the train's special speed-dating carriages serving 15 stations in 10 major cities and flirt with a passenger every 5 minutes until he or she finds a potential sweetheart。
德國國有鐵路運營商聯邦鐵路公司近日宣布，情人節前夕將開設“相親特快”，幫助單身男女在旅途中閃電約會，找尋“另一半”。相親乘客將從德國10個主要城市的15個車站登上該列車特設的“閃電約會”車廂，可每隔5分鐘更換談話對象，直到找到意中人。
Time is money. “閃電約會”后，不妨繼續“閃電戀愛”——whirlwind romance。
Whirlwind是旋風的意思，旋風迅疾且難以預測，所以a whirlwind romance is a romance that happens very quickly and quite unexpectedly。A whirlwind romance 就是那種突然而快速的戀愛，換句話說，就是閃電式的羅曼蒂克。來看看下面這段對話：
A: Is Claire still going out with Peter?
B: Oh no, they split up about a month ago. They were together about two months, were madly in love, and then it all went wrong。
A: Oh, a bit of a whirlwind romance then eh?
而如果戀人在認識之后不久就結婚了，你就可以用flash marriage（閃婚）來表示。
However, the 'flash marriage' model has aroused heated public debate. "Will such marriages be long-term and stable," many white-collar employees asked.
但閃婚模式引發了人們的熱議。許多白領發出這樣的疑問：“這樣的婚姻會持久而穩定嗎？”
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（改編自：新浪教育，英語點津編輯）
