There are many places a young man can go for romantic advice--friends, family, and if the worst comes to the worst, the internet.

关于爱情，年轻人可以从很多地方得到建议--朋友、家人，再不济也可借助互联网。

Now, desperate bachelors are taking dating tips from a nine-year-old boy.

而如今，绝望的单身汉们都在向一名九岁的男孩学习约会技巧。

Alec Greven, from Colorado, is the author of How To Talk To Girls. The book, which started as an elementary school project, has become a New York Times best-seller.

美国科罗拉多州的亚历克·格雷文写了一本名为《如何与女孩交谈》的书。这本书起初只是亚历克的一次小学作业，而现在已经登上了《纽约时报》的畅销书榜。

"I just observed around the playground how boys mess up and what mistakes they make," said Alec. "A lot of boys made the wrong conversations."

亚历克说："我只是在操场上观察男孩子和女孩子在一起的时候都搞糟了哪些事情，犯了哪些错误。很多男孩子的交谈方式都有问题。"

Alec believes showing interest is the key to winning a girl's heart. He said: "Your goal is to make sure she does most of the talking so then you can't mess up."

亚历克认为：要赢得女孩子的芳心，关键是要表现出感兴趣。他说："你要做的是确保她在交谈中占主导地位，这样事情就不会搞砸。"

In his book, Alec suggests that men find a cool role model to base their behaviour on. "The best choice for most boys is a regular girl." he said.

在书中，亚历克建议男性要为自己选择一个言谈举止的好榜样。他认为，"对于大多数男孩来说，最好是选择一个普通女孩。"

Alec also offers advice for when relationships don't work out so well.

亚历克对于相处不顺的情况也提出了建议。

On breaking-up, he said: "You say something like, 'I don't think this is really going to work but would you like to be friends'." On being dumped, he replied: "I say, life is hard, move on. If you can't get over it, it's ruined."

比如分手时，他认为："这种情况下应该说'我认为我们俩在一起不合适，但能让我们继续做朋友吗'之类的话。"如果是被甩了，则回答："我会说生活就是如此艰难，继续生活吧。要抛开过去，否则你的生活就毁了。"

Despite his junior love-guru status, Alec says there are no ladies in his life, aside from his mother. "I'm a little too young for all that dating and everything," he said.

虽然身为年少的爱情专家，但亚历克说自己的生活中除了母亲还没有其他女士。他说："约会及诸如此类的事情对我来说还太早了点。"

Alec is working on several follow-ups to How To Talk To Girls. How To Talk To Moms, How To Talk To Dads and How To Talk To Grandparents are already in the pipeline.

亚历克正计划写《如何与女孩交谈》的续篇：《如何同母亲交谈》，《如何同父亲交谈》以及《如何同祖父母交谈》都在加紧构思撰写。
关键字:市民英语
生词表: