21st Century Romance 愛在微博時代－看BBC學英文

21st Century Romance 愛在微博時代

Reading 1: Can a Tweet Ever Be a Grand Romantic Gesture?

一條微博資訊能否成為一個經典的浪漫之舉？

Picture the scene. It is dark except for the dim yellow candlelight; it is silent except for the scratching of a pen. A young lover pours out his heart in a letter to his loved one, who, days later, tears it open with a beating heart and in the strictest privacy.

The love letter has an important place in our cultural imagination, but does it have a place on social networking sites and microblogs? What is the shape of 21st century courtship?

The end of 2010 saw the kindling of a romance between the Australian cricketing star Shane Warne and the British model Elizabeth Hurley on the social networking site Twitter.

Hurley and Warne didn't just update their relationship status. The celebrities exchanged flirtatious messages in public, before Hurley had announced the end of her marriage to Arun Nayar.

So can a tweet ever count as a grand romantic gesture? Judge for yourself, with this recent message from Hurley to Warne about her parrot Ping Pong:

"Baby Ping now says 'Hello Darling' and 'Hello Little Girl'. Sweet!"

But although the pair have flirted openly online, in real life they still enjoy their privacy. Special screens around Warne's home prevented photographers from snapping the couple during Hurley's visit to Australia last week.

Glossary 辭彙表

dim 昏暗的
candlelight 燭光
scratching 劃或刮東西的聲音
to pour out one's heart 傾訴衷腸
loved one 喜愛的人
social networking sites 社交網站
microblog 微博
courtship 求愛期、追求愛人的階段
the kindling of a romance 點燃愛情之火
flirtatious 調情的
tweet 微博信息
grand romantic gesture 經典的浪漫之舉
screen 屏風、遮蔽隔板
snapping 拍攝、拍照片

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