Here are words of comfort for anyone who has spent more time than he should in online chat rooms—a British psychologist has found that courtships begun in cyberspace can very well lead to true love. Many "virtual" relationships thrive once online partners meet face-to-face because they already know each other so well through their online encounters, said Jeffrey Gavin, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bath. "Chat rooms don't lead to shallow and impersonal relationships," Gavin said in an interview. "They lead to really close relationships because people express themselves more freely and are more open and honest on the Internet." Gavin carried out in-depth interviews with 42 regular chat room users aged 19 to 26 years. Of the volunteers he studied, 29 reported close friendships or romantic relationships with people they met online, with 21 progressing to face-to-face meetings. One couple became engaged to be married. "What tends to happen is that, when they meet, it's a fairly smooth transition from online to offline because they know each other so well," said Gavin, who presented his findings to the annual conference of the British Psychological Society (BPS) in Blackpool.

　　以下这些话可令那些花了太多时间上网聊天的人得到些许安慰：一位英国心理学家发现网上开始的浪漫完全可能结出真爱之果。巴斯大学心理学讲师杰弗里·加文说，“虚拟”关系在网友见面后往往蓬勃发展，因为他们已经通过网上的接触对彼此有了相当的了解。“聊天室不会导向浅薄、疏远的关系，”加文在采访中说。“网上聊天会发展出真正亲密的关系，因为人们在网上会变得更开放、更诚实，会更自由地表达自己。”加文对42个19岁到26岁之间的聊天室常客进行了深入采访。在这些志愿者当中有29人报称他们与网上认识的人有亲密或是浪漫关系，其中21人发展到了当面会晤，有一对已经订婚。加文在黑泽的英国心理学会年会上陈述了自己的发现，他说：“通常情况是，网上关系会在双方见面后非常顺利地过渡到现实生活中，因为他们已相知甚深。”

　　Remarks：这个结论很值得怀疑：正是因为人们在网上以更为美好的面目出现，见面之日往往即是梦想崩塌之时——所以有“见光死”这个词的存在。