每日英语：Singles Day in China

Singles Day in China is the celebration -- or mourning -- of being unattached. Started by students in Nanjing in the mid-1990s, the date was selected in observation of its four solitary digits: 11/11.

mourn：哀伤，哀痛　　　　unattached：独立的，未订婚的　　　　

While relatively obscure in most other countries, Singles Day is likely to increase in prominence as more single men in China are unable to find female partners. According to a recent study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, more than 24 million Chinese men could find themselves without spouses by 2020.

obscure：模糊的，晦涩的，昏暗的　　　　spouse：配偶，夫妻

Celebrating Singles Day comes in many forms across the Asian nation, and like Christmas and Valentine's Day, it has become a multi-million dollar industry.

The Fig Tree, a luxury pastry school in downtown Beijing, is offering a chocolate truffle-making course to foster "fun, flirting, measuring and mixing, " among singles on Thursday.

pastry：点心，糕点　　　　truffle：松露　　　　flirting：打情骂俏，调情

"Baking brings people together, " said Lin Zhong, school owner and pastry chef. "[We] invite the city's singles ... for an education in flirting and chocolate making."

For those with more adventurous tastes, Beijing's flagship amusement park Happy Valley is hosting a day of activities for singles, featuring games that include a singing contest entitled "Bachelor's Love Song." Another activity in store: a dedicated area in which singles can "confess their true feelings."

All of this mingling comes at a price. For every male who buys a full price ticket for $25, he may bring one female along at no cost.

Shenzhen's theme park, Splendid China, which boasts miniature replicas of many of the country's most famous landmarks, will host a vegetable hunting contest, much like an Easter egg hunt, to encourage singles to meet. The vegetables, mostly cucumbers and tomatoes, will be hidden throughout the park in a scaled-down Great Wall and bite-size Forbidden City.

miniature：缩图，微型的，小规模的