With her roommates out on a date, Meng Xiangying was alone in her dormitory on Sunday afternoon. At 3 pm the 22-year-old economics major at Lanzhou University took out a few snacks and started watching her favorite TV series.
一个周日的下午，室友们都各自出去约会了，宿舍中只留下孟湘英（音译）一个人。下午三点，这位22岁，兰州大学经济系学生拿出几袋零食，开始追自己喜欢的电视剧。
At the same time, Hu Yuntian at Nanjing Tech University started to watch the same video, eating the same snacks. “It’s like we’re together,” says the 22-year-old. This is the couple’s way to bridge the distance.
同一时间，南京理工大学学生胡云天（音译）也在追同一部剧，吃着同样的零食。22岁的他说：“就好像我们在一起一样。”这对异地情侣用这样的方式来缩短彼此间的距离。
Long-distance relationships can be challenging, but like Meng and Hu, many college students find ways to make it work.
尽管异地恋并不轻松，但像孟湘英和胡云天这样的大学生情侣们找到许多战胜距离的方法。
He Yi, 22, is an English major at Tsinghua University. After being together with her boyfriend from Xi’an Electronic and Engineering University for three years, she concludes that their strategy is good communication. “We use WeChat and QQ every day to share our experiences and thoughts,” She says. “When we’re physically apart, it’s important to maintain an emotional bond.”
22岁的清华大学英语系学生何怡（音译）和就读于西安电子科技大学的男友交往了三年的时间。她总结到，他们维持恋情的策略便是保持良好的沟通。“我们每天通过微信和QQ来分享各自的经历和想法，”她说，“分隔两地时，维系情感纽带变得十分重要。”
Apart from daily communication, Ma Guixia loves to keep things special. Every now and then, the 21-year-old clinical medicine major student at Soochow University surprises her boyfriend by showing up at his university unannounced. “I want to keep our spark alive,” says Ma. “Besides, when I visit him, I can experience his life, which gives us something to share and talk about.”
除了日常沟通意外，21岁的苏州大学临床医学系学生马桂霞（音译）还喜欢做一些特别的事。她会意外现身男友的大学，为他送上惊喜。“我想保持这份激情，”马桂霞说，“除此之外，我去探望他时还可以体验他的生活，这样我们边有共同话题可聊了。”
Meng also benefits from such surprises. “I always remember how touched I was when my boyfriend sent me a wedding dress for my birthday,” she says. When she participated in a study exchange program in Italy, the good memories helped her get through the even longer distance and time difference.
孟湘英也遭遇过这样甜蜜的惊喜。她说：“我永远都忘不了，收到男友送的婚纱作为生日礼物的自己当时有多么的感动。”当她在意大利参加交换生项目的那段时间里，这段美好的记忆帮助她克服更远的距离，甚至是时差。
But Liu Donghua, chief psychological consultant at an Anhui-based consulting company, believes that trust is the foundation of long-distance love. “Though frequent communication and special ways to express love can keep a long-distance relationship fresh, without setting the same goals and trusting each other, lovers can hardly be faithful and understandable to each other,” she says.
而来自安徽某咨询公司的首席心理咨询师刘东华（音译）则认为信任是异地恋的基础。她说：“通过频繁沟通和用特别的方式来表达爱意可以保持异地恋的新鲜感。如果没有共同目标和信任，恋人们很难忠于并理解对方。”
“One of my friends fought a lot with her boyfriend and they eventually broke up because they didn’t trust each other,” says Meng. “I don’t want that to happen to us, so I talked to Hu and we agreed on our long-term plans.”
“我有一个朋友经常和男友吵架，最后因为缺乏信任而分手，” 孟湘英说，“我不想这样的事情发生在我们身上，所以经过一番交谈，我和男友制定了的长远计划。”
They’ve decided to pursue master’s degrees in Beijing together, which will finally bring an end to their three-year long-distance relationship and mark the beginning of a closer one.
这对情侣决定一起在北京读研，这就意味着他们即将为三年的异地恋画上句点了，并开始一段更为亲密的恋情。