walking cabbages 遛白菜

Lonely teenagers in China who feel life is pointless and who struggle to find friends have taken to befriending the lowly vegetables as the perfect, undemanding companions.

在中国，寂寞的青少年们开始跟廉价的蔬菜做朋友，把它们当做完美的、不求回报的好伙伴。这些青少年普遍觉得生活没有目标，又苦于找不到朋友。

And the sight of them out 'walking' the cabbages in a bid to battle loneliness is the latest way of meeting someone new - as cabbage walkers use their weird pets as a way to start up conversations with each other.

最近，通过遛白菜来排遣寂寞成为他们结交新朋友的一种方式，遛白菜的年轻人之间可以用白菜来挑起话题。

A group of youths were recently photographed walking cabbages at a music festival named the Midi Music Festival in the Chinese capital Beijing.

最近在北京举行的迷笛音乐节上，有照片拍到一群年轻人在遛白菜。

Lui Ja Chen, 17, and one of the cabbage walking youths, said: "I feel I can transfer my negative thoughts about myself to the cabbage, go for a walk with it and come home feeling better about myself.

17岁的陈璐佳（音译）是其中之一，她说：“我觉得自己的负面情绪可以转移到白菜上，遛着白菜走一圈再回家让我感觉好多了。”

"If I see someone else it's easy to start up a conversation with them about their cabbage, and they are better than dogs as they don't bark, or start fights with other cabbages. It doesn't even need feeding, or leave a mess on the pavement.

“如果我看到其他遛白菜的人，我们可以从白菜聊起来，而且白菜比狗好多了，它们不会叫，不会跟别的白菜打架，它们更不需要喂，当然也不会污染街道。”

"In fact afterwards, I can throw the cabbage away and feel that I have tossed my feelings out with it."

“事实上，遛完以后我就可以把白菜扔了，然后感觉我把不好的情绪跟它一起扔掉了。”