How Singapore’s government-run dating service works

新加坡政府运营的约会服务是如何运作的

How Singapore’s government-run dating service works, and why it won’t solve the nation’s dating woes. Here are the 30+ questions in the matchmaking tool that Singapore is deploying on government workers. 新加坡政府运营的约会服务是如何运作的，以及为什么它无法解决该国的约会困境。以下是新加坡在政府工作人员中部署的配对工具中包含的 30 多个问题。

Those signing up to the FirstDate pilot programme must first complete a questionnaire of over 30 questions. Three years after the demise of the Social Development Network, it looks like a new government-run matchmaker is back on the cards for Singapore. 报名参加“FirstDate”试点计划的人员必须首先完成一份包含 30 多个问题的问卷。在社会发展网络（Social Development Network）解散三年后，新加坡似乎又重新启动了政府运营的媒人服务。

Earlier this month, a pilot programme by GovTech called FirstDate was announced, with government workers set to be the first batch of daters. If this sounds familiar, that’s because I was the first to report on GovTech testing the waters with this idea all the way back in April for The Straits Times. 本月初，新加坡政府科技局（GovTech）宣布了一项名为“FirstDate”的试点计划，政府工作人员将成为首批约会对象。如果这听起来很耳熟，那是因为早在四月份，我就曾率先在《海峡时报》报道过 GovTech 正在试水这一想法。

How will the matchmaking work? What questions are even in the matchmaking questionnaire? (Read on for the full list) 配对将如何运作？配对问卷中到底有哪些问题？（请继续阅读以获取完整列表）

On FirstDate’s website, one line stands out: “FirstDate uses a Nobel prize-winning framework called the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage Algorithm”. It’s a brow-raising detail because, despite the name, the algorithm has almost nothing to do with marriage, but more on this later. 在 FirstDate 的网站上，有一行字格外引人注目：“FirstDate 使用了一种名为‘盖尔-沙普利稳定婚姻算法’（Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage Algorithm）的诺贝尔奖获奖框架”。这是一个令人惊讶的细节，因为尽管名字如此，该算法与婚姻几乎没有任何关系，稍后会详细说明。

The dating service will use Singpass to verify the identity of users, match people in cycles (you get only one match each cycle), and share contact details only when both users agree to their match. 该约会服务将使用 Singpass 验证用户身份，按周期进行匹配（每个周期仅获得一个匹配对象），并且仅在双方都同意匹配时才会共享联系方式。

To get a sense of how the matchmaking works, here’s the questionnaire that the government workers signing up must fill out. The questions are a mix of close-ended and open-ended ones, across 8 categories, spanning topics like interests and passions, lifestyle and daily habits, and communication and relationship style. 为了了解配对是如何运作的，以下是报名参加的政府工作人员必须填写的问卷。这些问题涵盖了兴趣爱好、生活方式与日常习惯、沟通与恋爱风格等 8 个类别，包含封闭式和开放式问题。

These are the questions: 以下是问卷问题：

• What are you into these days? (pick up to 5 out of a checklist of items like gaming, film and cinema, volunteering, cafe-hopping, etc) 你最近喜欢什么？（从清单中选择最多 5 项，如游戏、电影、志愿服务、探店等）
• Now, spill! What do you actually love about your hobbies? (open-ended, optional) 现在，坦白吧！你真正喜欢你爱好的原因是什么？（开放式，可选）
• What cuisines do you eat on repeat and never get sick of? (pick up to 3 out of a checklist) 你经常吃且百吃不厌的菜系是什么？（从清单中选择最多 3 项）
• Which restaurant do you keep going back to and why? (open-ended, optional) 你经常光顾哪家餐厅？为什么？（开放式，可选）
• How often do you find an excuse to leave the country? (close-ended, with options like every chance I get (4+ trips a year) to I prefer staying in Singapore (never)) 你多久找借口出国一次？（封闭式，选项包括“一有机会就去（每年 4 次以上）”到“我更喜欢待在新加坡（从不）”）
• What kind of traveler are you, really? (close-ended, with options like adventure junkie, culture seeker, and I don’t travel much) 你到底属于哪种旅行者？（封闭式，选项包括“冒险狂”、“文化探索者”和“我不怎么旅行”）
• What’s a country that’s ruined all other countries for you? (open-ended, optional) 哪个国家让你觉得去过之后其他国家都索然无味了？（开放式，可选）
• Team sunrise, or team “it’s 2am and I’m still up”? (close-ended) 你是“晨型人”阵营，还是“凌晨 2 点还没睡”阵营？（封闭式）
• Gym rat, occasional jogger, or exercise is a myth to you? (close-ended) 你是健身狂、偶尔慢跑者，还是觉得运动纯属虚构？（封闭式）
• Any food rules we should know about? (close-ended, with options like vegetarian, pescatarian, halal) 有什么我们需要知道的饮食禁忌吗？（封闭式，选项包括素食、鱼素、清真等）
• Do you smoke? (close-ended) 你抽烟吗？（封闭式）
• Be honest! What does your room look like right now? (close-ended, with options like spotless, organised chaos, and tidy up only when needed) 老实说！你现在的房间是什么样子的？（封闭式，选项包括一尘不染、有组织的混乱、需要时才整理）
• Hustle mode, or protecting your personal time? (close-ended, with options like career comes first right now and personal life comes first) 是处于“奋斗模式”，还是“保护个人时间”？（封闭式，选项包括“目前事业优先”和“个人生活优先”）
• Real talk. How much of your day disappears into your phone? (close-ended) 说实话。你一天有多少时间花在手机上？（封闭式）
• Describe your social energy. Are you the life of the party, or the one who left an hour ago? (close-ended) 描述一下你的社交能量。你是派对的灵魂人物，还是一个小时前就离开的那个人？（封闭式）
• How important is it for you that a match brings the same energy, or do opposites attract for you? (close-ended) 你认为匹配对象拥有相同的能量有多重要？还是你更倾向于“异性相吸”？（封闭式）
• After a brutal work week, what’s your reset button? (close-ended, with options like alone time at home and going out and socialising) 在辛苦工作一周后，你的“重置按钮”是什么？（封闭式，选项包括在家独处和外出社交）
• New city, new hobby, new anything. How do you feel about the unknown? (close-ended, with options like love it and prefer to stick to what I know) 新城市、新爱好、任何新鲜事物。你对未知的感觉如何？（封闭式，选项包括“热爱”和“更喜欢坚持已知的事物”）
• When you’re feeling a lot, what do you actually do about it? (close-ended, with options like express openly and through actions rather than words) 当你情绪波动很大时，你实际上会怎么做？（封闭式，选项包括“公开表达”和“通过行动而非言语表达”）
• How do you like to be loved? (close-ended, pick up to three, with the five love languages as options) 你喜欢以什么方式被爱？（封闭式，最多选三项，选项为五种爱的语言）
• How do you express love? (close-ended, pick up to three, also with the five love languages as options) 你如何表达爱？（封闭式，最多选三项，选项为五种爱的语言）
• Non-stop texting, or comfortable silence. Where do you land? (close-ended) 不停地发短信，还是享受舒适的沉默？你倾向于哪种？（封闭式）
• Mid-disagreement, what’s your gut instinct? (close-ended) 在争论中，你的直觉反应是什么？（封闭式）
• Paint us a picture. What does your dream first date look like? (open-ended, optional) 描绘一下。你梦想中的第一次约会是什么样的？（开放式，可选）
• What are your non-negotiable green flags in a partner? (pick 3 that matter most to you, out of options like kindness, humour, and honesty) 你对伴侣有哪些不可妥协的“绿旗”（优点）？（从善良、幽默、诚实等选项中选出对你最重要的 3 项）
• Are you always working on yourself, or is “good enough” good enough? (close-ended) 你是总在自我提升，还是觉得“差不多就行”？（封闭式）
• Do you see yourself having children? (close-ended, with options like yes, open to it, and definitely not) 你考虑过要孩子吗？（封闭式，选项包括“是”、“持开放态度”和“绝对不”）
• Saver, spender, or “I’ll figure it out eventually”? (close-ended) 你是储蓄者、消费型，还是“船到桥头自然直”？（封闭式）
• What’s your religion, if any? (close-ended) 你的宗教信仰是什么（如果有的话）？（封闭式）
• Any hard nos for you? Be honest, we won’t judge. (close-ended, optional, with options like smoking, different dietary needs, and someone of a different religion) 有什么绝对不能接受的吗？诚实回答，我们不会评判。（封闭式，可选，选项包括吸烟、不同的饮食需求、不同宗教信仰的人等）
• What’s the youngest age you’d consider dating? (open-ended) 你考虑约会的最小年龄是多少？（开放式）
• What’s the oldest age you’d consider dating? (open-ended) 你考虑约会的最大年龄是多少？（开放式）
• Write a short note for your future match! Tell us about yourself in a few sentences. (open-ended) 给未来的匹配对象写张小纸条吧！用几句话介绍一下你自己。（开放式）

After a question about the name you prefer to go by and your mobile number, the questionnaire also collects information about how many first dates you’ve been on in the past year, whether you’ve used a dating app or matchmaking service before, and when you last went on a first date. 在询问了你偏好的称呼和手机号码后，问卷还收集了关于你过去一年参加过多少次第一次约会、是否使用过约会软件或配对服务，以及你上一次参加第一次约会的时间等信息。

An earlier prototype of GovTech’s dating service proposed free meals for first dates, which is what I assume all the food-related questions are for. But how will the rest of the data collected through these questions be used? The fascinating history of the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage Algorithm (also known as the deferred acceptance algorithm) gives us some clues. GovTech 约会服务的早期原型曾提议为第一次约会提供免费餐点，我想所有与食物相关的问题都是为此准备的。但通过这些问题收集的其他数据将如何使用呢？盖尔-沙普利稳定婚姻算法（也称为延迟接受算法）的迷人历史为我们提供了一些线索。