Two friends. She is a hopeless romantic who jumps into relationships quickly. He is afraid of commitment and tends to date many women at the same time.
一对好友。她是位无可救药的浪漫主义者，总是轻易就陷入情网。而他则惧怕承诺，是位喜欢脚踏多只船的花花公子。
What would happen if the two decided to be together as a couple — for 40 days?
如果这对好友决定做40天的情侣，结果会怎样呢？
Sound like the plot from a Hollywood movie? Actually, it’s a real-life experiment carried out by two young people in New York City.
听起来是不是很像好莱坞电影中的情节？事实上，这是一对来自纽约的年轻男女的亲身实验。
Jessica Walsh, 26, is a partner at a design firm. Timothy Goodman, 32, is an independent designer and illustrator. The two have been close platonic friends since 2008. While on a trip to Miami last year — Goodman was seeing several people at the time and Walsh was heartbroken over a breakup — they thought it might be interesting to confront their own relationship issues by analyzing their behavior while dating each other.
26岁的杰西卡?沃尔什是一家设计公司的合伙人。32岁的蒂莫西?古德曼则是一位独立设计师兼插画家。两人相识于2008年，从此便成为精神上的知己。在去年的一次迈阿密之旅中，古德曼艳遇不断，而沃尔什则为失恋心碎不已，两人突然有了一个有趣的想法：为何彼此之间不谈一场恋爱，通过行为分析来直面个人的感情问题。
Why 40 days? The explanation can be found on their website FortyDaysOfDating.com: “It’s been said that it takes 40 days to change a bad habit. In an attempt to explore and hopefully overcome their fears and inadequacies, Tim and Jessica will go through the motions of a relationship for the next 40 days: the commitment, time, companionship, joys and frustrations.”
为何要约定40天呢？在二人开设的“FortyDaysOfDating”网站上你可以找到答案：“据说40天你会改掉一个坏习惯。为了发掘内心恐惧与自身的弱点，并有望将其克服，蒂莫西和杰西卡将在接下来的40天里履行恋爱公事：承诺、时间、陪伴、得意与失意。”
Although they were certain both of them would learn something from the project, they had mixed feelings about how it would end: Would they fall in love with each other and have a real, serious relationship? And if that was not the case, could they still be friends?
尽管确信彼此都会从这场恋爱实验中有所收获，但对于这场恋爱的最终归宿，他们心中还是百感交集：他们会爱上彼此，然后认真谈一场恋爱吗？或者结局并非“皆大欢喜”的话，他们的友情还能继续吗？
They started the project in March, but Walsh and Goodman only began uploading regular posts on July 10 after their experiment had ended.
尽管早在三月这项“约会计划”便已启动，但直到7月10日他们的实验截止后，沃尔什和古德曼才定期地发布文章。
Their website is attracting between 200,000 to 300,000 visitors every day, according to Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. It’s not only because the two write well, the website itself is a piece of design artwork, including graphic illustrations, photos, and embedded videos.
据加拿大《环球邮报》报道称，他们的网站的日访问量高达20-30万。这不仅仅因为两人的文笔可圈可点，该网站本身就是一件设计精良的艺术品，上面有插画、照片和视频。
will inspire other people, but we would highly recommend it,” the pair said in an e-mail to The Huffington Post. “The experiment and the self-examination was very insightful. We came out learning an incredible amount about ourselves, and have both made positive changes in our lives. It’s important that we all find some time to work or reflect on our habits and fears.”
这对实验情侣在写给《赫芬顿邮报》的邮件中表示：“我们不知道这次（约会计划）能否给他人带来启示，但我们非常愿意推荐给所有人。这次实验加自省的过程非常深刻。最终我们了解到不可思议的自身价值，同时我们都在生活中做出积极改变。关键在于我们都要花时间来研究和反思自己的习惯和恐惧。”
Walsh and Goodman are keeping it a secret of what happened after the project ended. But in an interview with CNN, Goodman said: “I will say that I feel forever linked to her. I have this kinship with her because of it, regardless of what happened or if we’re together or we’re not.”
沃尔什和古德曼对于实验截止后所发生的事绝口不提。但在接受CNN采访时，古德曼说：“我只想说我和她永远都是心灵相通的。正因为这点，我们的关系才会亲密无间，无论发生什么，不管我们是否终成眷属，都是如此。”