老派约会之必要

该怎么初次约会　实在极费思量
起初先推我两次　挫我气焰都正常
再约便说好　以里数换你奖赏

找一间小店吃饭　浪漫大戏开场
于烛光跟笑意里　谈谈童年　提及理想
吃到侍应生　静静话现已打烊

饭后未倦吗　跟我逛逛　再送你归家
我可以为你　关起手机　纯灵魂对话
怎知道霎眼　就谈到　赤柱了
错过了　你我的家

宁像个书生　初约佳人 （与你有种牵引）
蝴蝶满心飞　不过　未走近（胜过世间一见就吻）
多想　一见即吻　但觉相衬
何妨从夏到秋　慢慢抱紧

明月正偷窥　这对璧人（两个坐这么近）
何用太心急　一晚露底蕴（故作老派手却在震）
承袭　古典小说里　优雅的情感
情愿　待新婚才献吻

不急于一晚散尽　十万夜那温柔
一针针　跟你刺绣
年华悠悠　怎会闷透
访西厢　登红楼　仍携着你手

初邂逅
我喜欢双双　漫步在雾里
赶摊牌　实在是没趣
跟你这　一种老派鸳侣
只想约会到八千岁　微醉写诗作对　下去

宁像个书生　初约佳人（与你有种牵引）
蝴蝶满心飞　不过　未走近（胜过世间一见就吻）
多想　一见即吻　但觉相衬
何妨从夏到秋　慢慢抱紧

明月正偷窥　这对璧人（两个坐这么近）
何用太心急　一晚露底蕴（故作老派手却在震）
承袭　古典小说里　优雅的情感
谁狂热　会自焚

谁又要火速　私订终身（与你有种牵引）
甜蜜每日一小片比较动人（胜过世间一见就吻）
情是　今晚浅酌过　一世都微醺
重演　父母初相识　的气氛

我俩这天初约
逛遍市区所有路灯

与你有种恋爱预感

English #1 – Necessities Of Old-Fashioned Dating

Took great pains to work out how our first date should go
It’s normal that you’d first decline twice to deflate my ego
Then you’d say yes to my next invite – you’d be like my reward from redeeming mileage

We’d eat out at a small eatery, like how a traditional romance opera plays out
Talk about our childhoods and dreams amid the candlelight and laughter
Until the waiter whispers they’re closing for the day

Aren’t you sleepy after dinner? Stroll with me, then I’ll see you home
I’ll turn off my mobile for you, so our souls can engage
Who’d know that we’d arrive in Stanley1 in the blink of an eye? We’d talk so much
We’d just pass by both of our homes

I’d rather act scholarly on our first date (There’s something about you)
Butterflies flutter within my heart, yet we come no closer (Nobler than how people kiss on first sight)
Wanna kiss you on first sight so badly, but if we’re indeed a match
Why don’t we take a season’s time to slowly hold each other closer?

The bright moon peeps down on this beautiful couple (Both sit close to each other)
No need to be hasty and show my hand on the first night (Pretending to be old school, but my hands are shaking)
Taking on the elegance of the Classical Novels
I’d rather wait until we wed, before we kiss

There’s no rush to expend in one night a lifetime’s worth of tender love
If I can embroider with you stitch by stitch
How will the many years ahead be dull?
I’ll hold on your hand, while we visit the Western Bower and Red Chamber2

On our first encounter
I’d like to walk in the fog together with you
It’s no fun if I immediately show all my cards
An old school couple we are, you and I
Just wanna go out with you till we’re 8000 years old – staying tipsy, writing poetry, keeping each other company

I’d rather act scholarly on our first date (There’s something about you)
Butterflies flutter within my heart, yet we come no closer (Nobler than how people kiss on first sight)
Wanna kiss you on first sight so badly, but if we’re indeed a match
Why don’t we take a season’s time to slowly hold each other closer?

The bright moon peeks down on this beautiful couple (Both sit close to each other)
No need to be hasty and show my hand on the first night (Pretending to be old school, but my hands are shaking)
Taking on the elegance of the Classical Novels
Whoever is fanatical will ultimately burn themselves

Who hastens to be secretly engaged? (There’s something about you)
Sweetness is best enjoyed in small daily doses (Nobler than how people kiss on first sight)
Love is like sipping a cocktail that’ll leave you mellow for life
Let’s reenact the atmosphere when our parents first acquainted

We’re going on our first date today
We’ll go see all the city’s streetlights

Got a hunch that we’ll fall in love

1.Coastal town in southern Hong Kong.
2.Romance of the Western Chamber (or Romance of the Western Bower), and Dream of the Red Chamber, are two classics in Chinese literature.

Submitted by ardeitleoir

Author’s comments:
The name of the song, 老派約會之必要 (English: A Gentleman’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Dating), is inspired by the title of the book with the same name, written by Taiwanese author Li Weijing.

English #2 – Necessities of an old-fashioned dating

How should I start a first date, it just makes me feel overwhelmed [1]
You’re just pushing a few times [2] at the start, maybe quenching my flame is normal
Said yes if you ask for a date, using points to exchange for your prizes

Finding a little shop to dine in, the romantic drama opens now
In the candle light and the laugh, talking about our childhood, mentioning our ideal life
Eating till the server, quietly tells us the shop’s closed now

Are you not tired after the meal, just have a walk with me, and I will send you home
I can, only for you, switching off my phone, having a conversation with you with pure souls
How I can know in the blink of an eye, we have been talking till, we arrived at Stanley already
We missed, the homes of me and you

I would rather be a scholar, dating a pretty one at the first time (the two are sitting close to each other)
Butterflies flying around in my heart, however, we’re not close (It’s better than kissing in first-sight love in the world)
Always thinking, kissing after a glimpse, but I feel we’re matching
Why don’t we from summer to autumn, hugging tight slowly?

The bright moon is peeping at, this beautiful looking couple like jade (the two are sitting so close to each other)
Why am I so impatient, revealing what’s beneath in a night (A deliberate old-fashioned guy, however his hands are shaking)
Continuing, in the classical novels, all the elegant emotions
I rather, be kissing after our marriage

Not impatient that I have to scatter away in one evening, all the gentleness in a hundred thousand nights
Stitch by stitch, embroidering with you
All the delightful years, how will it be boring?
Visiting the West Wing [3] and the Red Building [4] , still hand by hand with you

Encountering with you the first time
I like to in pairs, wandering in the fogs
Rushing to confess [5], it’s really not fun
With you this, a kind of old-fashioned couple [6]
I just want to date you till I’m eight thousand years you, slightly drunk writing poems together, and continue on

I would rather be a scholar, dating a pretty one at the first time (the two are sitting close to each other)
Butterflies flying around in my heart, however, we’re not close (It’s better than kissing in first-sight love in the world)
Always thinking, kissing after a glimpse, but I feel we’re matching
Why don’t we from summer to autumn, hugging tight slowly?

The bright moon is peeping at, this beautiful looking couple like jade (the two are sitting so close to each other)
Why am I so impatient, revealing what’s beneath in a night (A deliberate old-fashioned guy, however his hands are shaking)
Continuing, in the classical novels, all the elegant emotions
Who when in extreme heat, will burn away himself

Who wants to, in the speed of flaming fire, have a secret marriage (I got a dragging connection with you)
Sweetly every day little by little will be more heart pounding (It’s better than kissing in first-sight love in the world)
Love is, when we drink a bit at night, being slightly drunk for a lifetime
Encoring, when my parents first met, that atmosphere

Me and you, dating for this day
Walking past all the street lights in the urbanized districts

A hunch that I will fall in love with you

Submitted by Alvis Chong

Author’s comments:
[1] 極費思量 literally means “extremely wasting my mind”
[2] 兩次 literally “two times”
[3] 西廂(West Wing) is where older women live traditionally
[4] 紅樓 (Red Building) is where rich women or prostitutes live traditionally
[5] 攤牌 means “lay one’s last cards on the table”, to show the last intentions in one’s mind. Probably referring to “confession” in this occasion?
[6] Also as “鴛鴦侶”, old way of saying couple in Chinese