我们身边总有那么几个朋友，一年里每隔几个月就发个信息，问问“你在忙什么?过得怎么样?”然后就无声无息了。据说，发送这样短信的人只是为了与你保持联络，让你知道他们还在，万一哪天有事儿要你帮忙，也好开口。当然，也有一部分是用这种方式来维护“备胎”关系的。

Maintenance texts are text messages sent to those people you'd like to date "someday" or "eventually" to remind them that you exist and to stay in touch with them without really meeting them. It's a low effort way to maintain a connection without having to really commit to anything serious.

“维护短信”是你给那些可能“改天”或者“找时间”见面的人(其实就是备胎啦)发的短信，这样既能让他们知道你这个人还在、与他们保持联络，也不用真的去跟他们见面。这是一种保持联系，又不用做出任何承诺的低成本维护方式。

来看个例子：

Q: "Have you heard from that guy you met in that bar last week?"

上周在酒吧遇到的那个男的跟你联系了吗?

A: "Yeah, he's sent me a few maintenance texts tonight, asking where we were but not wanting to meet up. LAME!"

嗯，他今晚给我发了几条维护短信，问我们在哪儿，但没说要见面。真没劲!

说到发短信，就不得不再次提醒大家，千万不要做texting pedestrian(行走短信族)。

You know him by his hunched-over posture, staring at a blazing screen while weaving down the street. Sometimes his gait slows, sometimes speeds up. He almost runs into a street sign here or trips on a curb there.

颈背前弓，一边在街道穿行，一边紧盯着屏幕。凡是这样姿势的人，都是行走短信族。他们的步伐偶尔会减缓，有时又会加快。有时会差点撞到路牌，有时又会撞到旁边的马路牙子。

看手机发短信的时候，一定要停在路边相对安全的区域。再紧急的短信，也没有自己的生命重要。