新加坡：当爱已成“国”事|新闻上没提新加坡的事

　　爱情本是男女之间很私密的事，然而在生活节奏快、人口出生率低的新加坡，公民谈情说爱关乎国家发展前景。数据显示，新加坡去年适龄妇女的生育率跌至记录最低点，为1.24个孩子，排名世界倒数。要维持新加坡现有人口数量，适龄妇女的生育率需达2.5个孩子，但新加坡的生育率已连续28年低于这一水平。于是，上到政府总理，下到校园讲师，新加坡发起了一场“爱的运动”，鼓励单身男女坠入爱河、结婚生子，以保证新加坡人口维持在正常水平。
　　
　　It was like a college 1)mixer, a classroom full of young men and women seeking a recipe for
　　romance. They had assembled for the first class of “Love Relations for Life: A Journey of Romance, Love and Sexuality.” There was giggling and 2)banter among the students, but that was all part of the course as their teacher, Suki Tong, led them into the basics of dating, falling in love and staying together.
　　The course, in its second year at two polytechnic institutes, is the latest of many, mostly 3)futile, campaigns by Singapore’s government to get its citizens to 4)mate and multiply. Its popularity last year has led to talk of its expansion through the higher education system.
　　“We want to tell students, ‘Don’t wait until you have built up your career,’ ” said Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, the Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, at a news conference in March. “Sometimes, it is too late, especially for girls.”
　　The courses are an extension of government matchmaking programs that try to 5)address the twin challenges embodied in a falling birthrate: too few people are having babies, and too few of those who are belong to what Singapore considers the genetically desirable educated elite.
　　Last year Singapore’s fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.24 children per woman of childbearing age, one of the lowest in the world. It was the 28th year in a row Singapore had stayed below the rate of 2.5 children needed to maintain the population.
　　But even a replacement-level rate would not be enough for today’s planners. The government recently announced that it was aiming to increase the population by more than 40 percent over the next half-century, to 6.5 million from the current 4.5 million.
　　“Teaching our youth in school how to fall in love” is a good solution, wrote Andy Ho, a
　　senior writer at 6)The Straits Times, a government-friendly newspaper that does its best to help out in Singapore’s many campaigns. In 1991, for
　　example, when the government began offering cash bonuses to couples with more than two children, the newspaper printed tips for having sex in the back seat of a car, including directions to some of the “darkest, most secluded and most romantic spots” for parking. It suggested covering the windows with newspapers for privacy.
　　In 1984, the country’s master planner, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, declared that too few of the country’s most 7)eligible women, those with college degrees, were marrying and having children. He set up the Social Development Unit to address the problem, and since then the government has been the country’s principal matchmaker.
　　In addition to its tea dances and moonlight cruises, the agency acts as a lonely hearts adviser, with an online counselor named Dr. Love and a menu of boy-meets-girl suggestions on its Web site,
本文为全文原貌 未安装PDF浏览器用户请先下载安装 原版全文 　　www.省略.sg. “Guys, girls notice everything!” the Web site offers in one of its dating tips. “Comb your hair differently and they notice. Change your watch and they notice! Skipped your morning shower and sprayed on 8)deodorant to cover the smell―they notice! What does this mean? Well, bathe regularly, change something about yourself, be observant, and compliment the lady.”
　　In other words, said Annie Chan, director of a matchmaking agency, “Our government wants smart ladies to meet smart guys to get smart children.”
　　But in Singapore it is impossible to get very far from thoughts of money and the workplace. These guys may have other things on their minds besides romance and babies. Singaporeans quite seriously describe their society as being driven by a local concept called kiasu, a desire not so much to get ahead as to not lose out. That concept might be applied, for example, to a person who pushes ahead of everybody else to get into an elevator. This single-mindedness, in life as in elevators, seems to leave little room for social graces or for romance or procreation.
　　 “The E.Q. here,” said Ms. Chan, “can be 9)appalling.”
　　But even while working on the solution, Ms. Chan seems to be part of the problem. She is 39 and has been married for four years, but said she did not have the time or energy to have children.
　　It is a lot to ask of a college course to break attitudes like this. Three 20-year-old graduates of last year’s 10)inaugural course at Singapore
　　Polytechnic still seemed 11)imbued more with kiasu than romance. Despite everything their teachers had told them about multitasking work and love, none was in a relationship. And nothing they had heard in class seemed to have 12)dented their stereotypes about the opposite sex.
　　“I’m not open to relationships in school,” said Wei Shan Koh, a former student who works as a teacher’s aide. “Boys in school are not my 13)cup of tea. They are 14)male chauvinist pigs. They’re annoying and childish. And they won’t give in to you. They’re just not mature.”
　　Another former student, Tian Xi Tang, was quick to respond. “I think girls’ ideas are a bit childish, or you might say 15)girlie,” said Mr. Tang, who hopes to become an engineer. “It’s a matter of pride. Guys are more outspoken. We don’t like a girl to be more outspoken.”
　　Kamal Prakash, who hopes to be a lecturer in mathematics, gave voice to what appears to be the common theme here, among both young people and their elders. “I am not interested now in love relations because I want to continue my studies,” he said. “If I concentrate on love relations, I won’t be able to concentrate on my studies.”
　　
　　像大学在搞联谊会似的，教室里挤满了青年男女，在探寻获得浪漫爱情的秘诀。这是他们聚在一起上的第一堂课――《爱之于人生：恋、爱、性之旅》。其间学生们嬉笑、打趣，那也都是课程的一部分。他们的老师童素琪（音译）在教授他们学习约会、相恋以及维系感情的基本技巧。
　　在新加坡两间理工学院开设的这门课已经进入第二个年头，是继新加坡政府开展的许多旨在促进国民结婚生育的运动后又一最新举措，先前的大部分举措都收效甚微。而去年开设的这门课程则广受欢迎，并引发热论希望其能在高校系统内进一步推广。
　　“我们想告诉学生们，‘别等到事业有成才谈恋爱’。有时候，那太晚了，尤其对于女孩子来说。”新加坡社会发展、青年及体育部政务部长符喜泉在今年三月的一场记者招待会上说道。
　　这类课程是新加坡政府众多“红娘”举措之外的扩展，旨在设法对抗低生育率包含的两大挑战：愿意生孩子的人太少；愿意生的，极少是新加坡公认的基因优良且受过高等教育的精英阶层。
本文为全文原貌 未安装PDF浏览器用户请先下载安装 原版全文 　　新加坡去年适龄妇女的生育率跌至记录最低点，为1.24个孩子，排名世界倒数。要维持新加坡现有人口数量，适龄妇女的生育率需达2.5个孩子，但新加坡的生育率已连续28年低于这一水平。
　　然而，新加坡今日的规划者对用于维持现有人口数量的这样一个生育率甚至还不满意。新加坡政府最近宣布，其目标是在未来50年内实现人口数量超过40％的增长，从目前的450万增至650万。
　　“‘教在校青年如何坠入爱河’是个好办法。”新加坡《海峡时报》资深作者何安迪在报上写道。《海峡时报》是政府的喉舌，在新加坡众多运动中竭尽所能为政府摇旗呐喊。例如在1991年，新加坡政府开始向生育两个孩子以上的夫妇颁发奖金，《海峡时报》那时就曾刊登小贴士，指导大家如何在汽车后座上做爱，包括如何把车停到一些“最隐蔽，最僻静而又最浪漫的地点”，还建议用报纸挡住车窗，避免受干扰。
　　早在1984年，新加坡内阁资政、时任总理李光耀就说过，本国那些拥有大学学历的适婚女青年中结婚且生育孩子的人太少。他随即成立了社交发展署来处理这个问题，从此，政府就开始担当起国民的首要“红娘”。
　　除了举办茶舞会、月光游船活动之外，社交发展署还扮演“孤单人士”的心灵顾问，在其网站www.省略.sg上推出“爱情博士”在线咨询，还提供了一份男女约会指导手册。网站上有这样一条约会小贴士：“小伙子们，姑娘们注意所有细节！你换个发型，对方会留意到；你换块手表，对方会留意到；你早上不洗澡，只喷些香体露掩盖异味，对方也会留意到！那得怎么做？嘿，常洗澡，适时改变一下自己，注意细节，多赞美女性。”
　　某婚姻介绍所主管陈安妮（音译）说道，换句话说就是“我们政府希望聪明的女性约会聪明的男性，生下聪明的
　　孩子。”
　　但在新加坡，要撇开金钱和工作不考虑是不可能的。这些在校青年的脑子里除了浪漫爱情和孩子以外，还有别的东西要考虑。新加坡人严肃地描绘道，他们的社会正在被这样一种本国人称为“kiasu”的概念所驱动，即一种不需要排头也不能落后的愿望。那种概念可能适用于，比如，一个人推挤前面的每个人，只为挤进电梯。在生活中，就如在电梯中，这种一根筋的专注心态似乎把社交礼仪、谈情说爱、生儿育女都挤到一边去了。
　　“这里的人情商可真是（低得）令人震惊！”陈安妮说。
　　然而，正探寻问题的解决方法的陈小姐，她自己似乎也是问题的一部分。今年39岁的她已经结婚4年，但她说她一直没时间和精力生育孩子。
　　想要凭借大学里的恋爱课程来改变类似这样的观念，可不是一件容易的事。去年新加坡理工学院第一届恋爱课程的3名20岁毕业生，他们脑子里的kiasu思想就似乎仍重于对浪漫爱情的渴求。尽管在课堂上，他们的老师已告诉过他们，工作和爱情可以两不误，但他们三人没有一个在谈恋爱，而他们在恋爱课程中听到的东西似乎都无法削弱他们对异性的固有看法。
　　“我不赞成在校学生谈恋爱。”孔薇珊（音译）说道，她已毕业，现任教学助理。“我不喜欢学校里的男生。他们大男子主义、讨人厌、幼稚、不懂让步、不成熟！”
　　另一名往届毕业生唐天西（音译）则迅速回应道：“我觉得女生的想法有点幼稚，或者可以说是太‘小女孩’了。”希望成为一名工程师的唐先生说道，“男生说话比较直接，我们不喜欢女孩说话太直接，这可事关自尊心。”
　　希望成为数学讲师的卡莫尔・普拉卡什说的倒在年轻人和他们的长辈中具有代表性。“我目前对谈情说爱没什么兴趣，因为我想继续深造，”他说，“如果我把注意力放在谈恋爱上，就无法专注于学业。”
　　
　　
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