Lonely teenagers in China who feel life is pointless and who struggle to find friends have taken to befriending the lowly vegetables as the perfect, undemanding companions.

 

在中国，寂寞的青少年们开始跟廉价的蔬菜做朋友，把它们当做完美的、不求回报的好伙伴。这些青少年普遍觉得生活没有目标，又苦于找不到朋友。

 

And the sight of them out 'walking' the cabbages in a bid¹ to battle loneliness is the latest way of meeting someone new - as cabbage walkers use their weird² pets as a way to start up conversations with each other.

 

最近，通过遛白菜来排遣寂寞成为他们结交新朋友的一种方式，遛白菜的年轻人之间可以用白菜来挑起话题。

 

A group of youths were recently photographed walking cabbages at a music festival named the Midi Music Festival in the Chinese capital Beijing.

 

最近在北京举行的迷笛音乐节上，有照片拍到一群年轻人在遛白菜。

 

Lui Ja Chen, 17, and one of the cabbage walking youths, said: "I feel I can transfer³ my negative thoughts about myself to the cabbage, go for a walk with it and come home feeling better about myself.

 

17岁的陈璐佳（音译）是其中之一，她说：“我觉得自己的负面情绪可以转移到白菜上，遛着白菜走一圈再回家让我感觉好多了。”

 

"If I see someone else it's easy to start up a conversation with them about their cabbage, and they are better than dogs as they don't bark, or start fights with other cabbages. It doesn't even need feeding, or leave a mess on the pavement⁴.

 

“如果我看到其他遛白菜的人，我们可以从白菜聊起来，而且白菜比狗好多了，它们不会叫，不会跟别的白菜打架，它们更不需要喂，当然也不会污染街道。”

 

"In fact afterwards, I can throw the cabbage away and feel that I have tossed⁵ my feelings out with it."

 

“事实上，遛完以后我就可以把白菜扔了，然后感觉我把不好的情绪跟它一起扔掉了。”

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