Researcher hides marriage proposal in academic paper

Whether it's written in the sky or the ring is hidden in a chocolate cake or swimming in a champagne glass, marriage proposals are fraught with clichés, making the art of 'asking the big question' quite the creative exercise.

It should come as no surprise that some people like to think outside of the box when it comes to proposing to your loved one, which is exactly what Rui Long did, whose unique proposal story has gone viral on twitter.

The acclaimed statistician from China tactically hid his proposal to partner Panpan Mao in one of his research papers.

While the paper itself was far from romantic in terms of content (the title was "Performance analysis for minimally nonlinear irreversible refrigerators at finite cooling power"), it was a hidden message in the acknowledgements that bolstered its tenderness.

In the acknowledgement notes, the paper reads: "Rui Long wants to thank, in particular, the patience, care and support from Panpan Mao over the years. Will you marry me?"

A screenshot of the message has been widely shared online after it was tweeted out by a fellow Phd student who read the paper. Her tweet has since had more than 1,000 likes and 500 retweets, with followers praising the young researcher for his creativity.

Long is a PHD student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he studies engineering.

Thankfully, after his masterful planning, Rui Long has since revealed that his story had a happy ending as Mao said yes to his innovative proposal and the couple are due to marry. I wonder if anyone will buy them a refrigerator as a wedding gift.

▍生词好句

fraught with clichés: "cliché" is something that is said or done too often, so that it becomes boring or without meaning; "fraught with sth." means filled with sth., usually something bad.

quite the: used for emphasizing a description or statement (usually comes before a noun; quite British and a bit old-fashioned); if used in conversation, it can be followed by a question tag: isn't he? / isn't it? / aren't they?

acclaimed: adj. praised by a lot of people, written or talked about in an admiring way (常见搭配：widely / highly acclaimed)

while something is far from something: "far from" means not at all / not in any way, usually followed by something positive (use 'far from' with a positive adjective to express a negative feeling / NOT with a negative adjective)

bolster tenderness: "bolster" means to support  / make something stronger or more effective (常见用法: to bolster confidence); "tenderness" is a noun; we use the adjective "tender" more commonly, which means soft, kind, gentle, loving.

▍补充

Fun Facts: Creative marriage proposals

1. Jigsaw puzzle (you can order these online)

2. Board game (special card / hidden in the game)

3. Movie trailer

4. Chocolate egg

5. Jogging