I happened to find this piece when I was browsing my email archives. I feel that the meaning is very real and enlightening so I hope to share with you. I have translated them into English for those people who does not understand Chinese. It’s not easy task as I’ve to translate them words by words meanwhile not lose the same meaning as it’d intended.

This piece is basically about the different stages of approaches on love, the emotional process of dating and some real life stories. But perhaps, I could just break it into two part for easy digestion. So sit back and slowly enjoy through the first part of this dating & relationship thesis.

爱的感觉，总是在一开始觉得很甜蜜，
The feelings of love, is always very sweet in the beginning,
总觉得多一个人陪、多一个人帮你分担，
You always feel that there another one person accompany you, to share your burden,
你终於不再孤单了，至少有一个人想著你、恋著你，
You don’t feel lonely anymore, at least there someone who misses you, thinking of you,
不论做什么事情，
No matter what you do,
只要能一起，就是好的，
As long as both of you are together, it good enough,
但是慢慢的，随著彼此的认识愈深
But gradually, as you know each other better
你开始发现了对方的缺点，
You started to discover each other flaws,
於是问题一个接著一个发生，
The problems seems to come after one another,
你开始烦、累，甚至想要逃避，
You started to feel tired, annoy and even trying to avoid the problem,
有人说爱情就像在捡石头，
Someone has related ‘love’ as like picking up stones
总想捡到一个适合自己的，
You always wanted to pick up the best one which is suitable for you
但是你又如何知道什么时候能够捡到呢？
But when will you know that you will pick up that stone
*她适合你，那你又适合她吗?
Even if she is suitable for you, are you suitable for her?
其实，爱情就像磨石子一样，
In fact, love is just like grinding a stone,
或许刚捡到的时候，你不是那么的满意，
Maybe you won’t treasure this stone at first
但是记住人是有弹性的，
But the memories won’t fade
很多事情是可以改变的，
Many things can change
只要你有心、有勇气，
If you have the interest and courage
与其到处去捡未知的石头，
Save the trouble of picking up unknown stones
还不如好好的将自己已经拥有的石头磨亮磨，你开始磨了吗？
And start using the stone that is securely in your hands now?
很多人以为是因为感情淡了，
Many people used the excuse of faded feelings
所以人才会变得懒惰。
So they became lazy
错！
That’s wrong!
其实是人先被惰性征服，
It’s due to the people being overwhelmed by laziness
所以感情才会变淡的。
That causes the feelings to fade

*在某个聚餐的场合, 有人提议多吃点虾子对身体好， 这时候有个中年男人忽然说「十年前，当我老婆还是我的女朋友的时候，她说要吃十只虾，我就剥二十只给她！ 现在，如果她要我帮她剥虾壳，开玩笑！我连帮她脱衣服都没兴趣了，还剥虾壳咧！

At a social gathering, someone suggested that eating prawns is good for health. At this time, a middle-aged man came up and said “Ten years ago, when I was still dating my wife, I peeled twenty prawns for her when she only wanted ten. Now, she can forget about that if she wants me to peel for her. I am not even interested in taking off her clothes now!”

*听到了吗？明白了吗？
What do you think of the story? Did you understand it?
难怪越来越多人只想要谈一辈子的恋爱，却迟迟不肯走入婚姻。
This is the reason why people are only interested in dating and not marriage.
因为，婚姻容易让人变得懒惰。
Marriage will cause people to become lazy.
如果每个人都
If everyone is
懒得讲话、
Lazy to talk,
懒得倾听、
Lazy to listen,
懒得制造惊喜、
Lazy to create surprises,
懒得温柔体贴，
Lazy to be caring,
那么夫妻或是情人之间，
Then the relationship between any type of couples
又怎么会不渐行渐远渐无声呢？
Will definitely start to fade
所以请记住：
So please remember
有活力的爱情，
A lively relationship
是需要适度殷勤灌溉的，
Needs lots of attention and energy
谈恋爱，更是不可以偷懒的喔！
Dating is not for lazy people!

Stay tune for the final part of this love, dating and relationship thesis that could change your insight of love.