It was a year ago and I was staying up really late for an exam when I received the following message from a friend: “Remember your crush back in high school? I think he’s in a relationship now.” 

一年前的一天，我正为一场考试熬夜到很晚，突然，一个朋友发来信息：“还记得你高中时的暗恋对象吗？他现在好像谈恋爱了”。

Right then I was unsure how to respond. My memory was immediately drawn back to those beautiful days. Back then I’d feel exhilarated just walking past his classroom window, and I’d work extra hard in finals so that my rankings could match his. 

我一时不知该如何作答，立刻回想起了高中时那些美好的日子。那时的我从他教室门前经过都会兴奋不已，那时的我在期末考试中加倍地努力，想让自己分数能与他相称。

Hearing about him made me realize just how long it has been since I last fell in love. I was shocked: how come that the romantic in me is dead? How did I become this cynic who hates it when people display their affection publicly? How come that I no longer believe in true love? 

忽然听说他的消息，让我意识到自己很久没有谈过恋爱了。我震惊地发现，内心的浪漫何时竟已埋葬？自己怎会变得如此愤世嫉俗，看到人们公开表达感情，也会感到厌恶？我怎么会再也不相信真爱了?

When I was a teenager, all the world was telling me that puppy love was immature, that I wasn’t old enough to understand what love means. But do I know any better now? 

十几岁的时候，全世界都告诉我，早恋是幼稚的行为，我的年龄还不足以让我理解爱的意义。但是现在，我对爱的理解比那时更好吗?

For me, love has become such a heavy topic because as a 22-year-old young woman I’m already struggling with my career path, my study, and my inner self. My social media is so bombarded with cute couples who are internet influencers and by advertisements for wedding rings. Social conventions keep telling me that love must come with dating, or even marriage. All these are just so overwhelming that love has essentially become a practical task, and not an easy one. You need to do it fast and do it right. This distorted idea of love has worn me down, and little by little, day by day has all but killed the romantic in me.

对我来说，爱情已经变成一个十分沉重的话题，因为一个22岁的年轻女性要在事业、学习和自我之间不断周旋。我的社交媒体上充满了新婚网络红人和婚戒广告。社会习俗告诉我，没有约会甚至婚姻，就不是爱情。这些习俗给人带来太多压力，以至于从本质上，爱已经变成了一项实际的任务，一项并不简单的任务，你得快速完成，还要做得正确。这种扭曲的爱情观折磨着我，一点一点，一天一天，扼杀了我内心的浪漫。

And it’s not just me. The functionality of love is such a hot topic these days. Sociologists everywhere seem to be analyzing big data collected through dating applications. Psychologists are offering couples therapy to salvage their faltering relationships. And then there are the biologists who delve into the so-called chemistry of love. It seems that we, as a society, are obsessed with making love more reachable and functional for everyone. 

很多人也有相似的感受。爱情的功能性已成为当今热门话题。世界各地的社会学家收集约会软件上的大数据，分析人们的行为。心理学家为夫妻提供婚姻治疗，试图挽救他们摇摇欲坠的夫妻关系。还有一些生物学家则专门研究所谓的爱情化学。似乎整个社会都痴迷于如何让爱变得更触手可及，更实用。

Still, we have a hard time finding love because we’ve forgotten the original meaning of love – the romanticism that has nothing to do with availability and utility. 

尽管如此，我们还是很难找到真爱，因为我们已经忘记了爱最初的含义——与可用性和实用性无关的浪漫主义。

However, it seems that during the COVID-19 pandemic, love is being redefined. It has been redefined by a couple of nurses who decided to postpone their wedding to fight the coronavirus. It has been redefined by the couple who, living on opposite sides of a lockdown border, made sure they saw each other every day. It has been redefined by an 87-year-old who took the most tender care of his infected wife. In a difficult time like this, they light up each other’s heart and bring warmth to us as well.

然而，新冠疫情期间，爱情似乎正被重新定义。为了抗击病毒，一对护士夫妇决定推迟他们的婚礼，他们重新定义了爱情；另一对夫妇被封锁线隔开，却必须每天相见，他们重新定义了爱情；一位87岁的老人悉心照料他感染病毒的妻子，他们重新定义了爱情。在这样艰难的时刻，他们点亮了彼此，也给我们带来了温暖。

Today is May the 20th, which is a beautiful day because when you say that date in Chinese it sounds similar to the Chinese for “I love you”. On this beautiful day, whether you’ve already found the special one, or are still to find him or her, you should put away all your cares and worries aside today. Search deep, deep down in your heart for your romantic ideal, and tell her or him how lucky you are to have that person in your life.

今天是5月20日，一个美好的日子，因为他听起来很像中文的“我爱你”。所以今天，不管你是否已经找到了那个人，都应该暂时把所有的担心和烦恼放在一边，在内心最深处寻找浪漫的那个自己，或者告诉TA：生活中有你，何其幸运。