What do an eccentric British detective, a cut-throat Washington pol and a bunch of nerds at Caltech have in common?
一個怪異的英國偵探、一個殘酷的華盛頓政客，以及一幫加州理工學院的神經大條，會有什么共同之處嗎？
They are characters in some of the most popular foreign TV shows in China.
他們都是中國熱播的歐美劇中的人物角色。
Over the past five years, The Big Bang Theory alone has been streamed more than 1.3 billion times. To appreciate how much some young Chinese love the BBC series, Sherlock, step inside 221B Baker Street. That's Holmes' fictitious address in London as well as the name of a café that opened last year in Shanghai's former French Concession.
過去五年，僅《生活大爆炸》就已經被點擊了13億多次。要想知道中國年輕人有多喜歡BBC劇集《神探夏洛克》，那就去貝克街221B號看看吧——這不只是福爾摩斯小說中的倫敦地址，也是去年在上海法租界開張的一家咖啡店的名字。
Good luck, though, finding a table.
祝好運，但愿你能擠到一個座位吧！
"Business has been very good since the premier of the third season," says Eric Zhang, the café's twenty-seven-year-old owner. "People have to line up or make reservations in advance on Saturday and Sunday, otherwise they can't get a seat."
“第三季開播以來，生意就特別地好。”27歲的店主艾瑞克·張（音譯）說。“周六周日的時候，顧客必須提前預約或排隊等候，要不然是不會有座位的。”
Like many young people here, Zhang grew up reading the detective classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, translated into Chinese. Zhang says his father is a detective and used to share murder, smuggling and arson cases with him.
跟這里的許多年輕人一樣，張先生也是讀阿瑟·柯南·道爾的中文版偵探小說長大的。他說，他父親就是一名偵探，經常跟他講謀殺走私放火之類的案件。
"Actually, I aspired to be a policeman," says Zhang, "but I didn't pass the physical and opened a café instead."
“其實，我很想成為一名警察，可惜沒能通過體能測試，所以只好開了這家咖啡店。” 張先生說。
The café – all wood and leather — is drenched in Sherlock paraphernalia. On the wall next to the bar are hand-written, Sherlock plot-lines. By the window sits a tableful of what is supposed to be Dr. Watson's medical equipment, including a microscope and old glass syringes retrieved from the basement of a Chinese hospital. On the bookshelves sit seemingly endless photos of Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Holmes in the series. Zhang explains the shrine-like treatment of the British actor.
這家木質皮革的咖啡店充滿了夏洛克風格。靠吧臺的墻上是手寫的夏洛克臺詞；窗邊的桌上有類似華生的藥箱，里面有從中國醫院得到的顯微鏡和舊玻璃注射器；書架上則赫然陳列著滿滿的本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇的照片，本尼迪克特在劇集中扮演了福爾摩斯的角色。張先生還特別解釋了這位英國演員的優越待遇。
"To tell you the truth, girls are especially fond of him," says Zhang. "He has personal charm. It's irresistible."
“說真的，女孩子們都很迷戀他。他有著令人難以抗拒的魅力。”他說。
Indeed, nearly every customer here today is female. Tina Zhou, 25, works for a Chinese state-owned company. She says Cumberbatch – whose Chinese nickname is "Curly Fu," a reference to his hair — plays a great Holmes.
確實，今天來這里的幾乎都是女性。25歲的周小姐在一家國企上班，她說康伯巴奇把福爾摩斯這個角色演得非常棒，因為卷發而在中國被昵稱為“卷福”。
"He combines all these qualities," she says. "He's intelligent, pretty humorous, has a sort of a dry humor. He's charming, talented. He carries himself in an elegant way. A gentleman."
“他具備了所有品質：聰明、幽默、會冷笑話、有魅力有天賦，他做事得體，真是個紳士。”
If many young women here can't take their eyes off Cumberbatch, millions of other Chinese are transfixed by a very different foreign TV character, Frank Underwood, the Machiavellian politician at the center of Netflix's House of Cards.
要說許多這里的女孩子正被康伯巴奇迷得團團轉，那么其他的應該正迷戀著另一個完全不同的美劇角色——弗蘭克·安德伍德，Netflix《紙牌屋》中的一名狡猾政客。
The series, which debuted here on Valentine's Day, is the hottest foreign TV show in China right now with more than 83 million streams. Andrew Jiang, who binge-watched all 13 episodes in a single day, thinks House of Cards may be more interesting to Chinese than Americans.
該劇從情人節開始上映，現在已經成為中國最火的一檔美劇，點擊次數超過8300萬。蔣先生用一天時間一口氣看完了13集，認為中國人可能比美國人還要喜歡《紙牌屋》。
"Because you get this kind of political drama all the time," he says, "while in China, there is no political drama."
“因為美國一直都有政治類的劇集，而中國卻沒有。”他說。
"Everyone is like a hero and everyone is like a great statesman," Jiang says. "It's just propaganda, but in House of Cards, what you are going to see is the sausage-making process."
“人人都像英雄，人人都是偉大的政治家，完全就是政治宣傳片。但在《紙牌屋》中，你可以看到其中的內幕。”他說。
Dwarfing Sherlock and House of Cards in longevity and overall popularity here is The Big Bang Theory, which for many young Chinese became must-see TV, usually streamed on a computer or iPad. A big reason is because many identify with the main characters: nerdy science guys.
無論是時間還是整體受歡迎度上，《神探夏洛克》和《紙牌屋》都不及《生活大爆炸》——這是很多中國年輕人的“必看美劇”，一般都通過電腦或蘋果平板來收看。主要原因在于，許多人都很喜歡那些“科學怪咖”主角們。
The show has been a big hit with Chinese college students, who are more bookish than their American counterparts. When Yu Wenting attended Sichuan University a few years back, she says many of her classmates were just like The Big Bang Theory's lead characters, Sheldon and Leonard.
這部美劇在中國大學生之間很流行，而中國大學生要比美國大學生更顯得“書呆子氣”吧。當余文婷（音譯）還在四川大學讀書時，她說身邊有很多同學就跟《生活大爆炸》里面的謝爾頓和萊納德一樣。
"They themselves were having exactly the same issue as the guys in the show, of finding girlfriends and talking to girls, because their life is full of work and lacks a social aspect," Yu says.
“他們也存在跟美劇主角一樣的問題，很難找到女朋友或跟女孩子講話，因為他們的生活全被學習填滿了，非常缺乏社交經驗。”余文婷說。
Young Chinese recognize other traits in the cast, such as Sheldon's self-absorption. In one scene, Sheldon becomes irritated with next door neighbor Penny for giving him a Christmas present, which he sees as an imposition.
中國年輕人還很發現了角色的其他特征，比如謝爾頓的大條神經。在某個場景中，謝爾頓跟隔壁的佩妮鬧得很不愉快，因為佩妮送了他一個圣誕禮物，可他覺得這很被動無奈。
"I know you think you're being generous, but the foundation of gift-giving is reciprocity," says Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons. "You haven't given me a gift. You've given me an obligation."
“我知道你可能覺得自己很大方，但送禮物是以雙方互惠為基礎的，” 謝爾頓（吉米·帕森斯扮演）說，“你給我的不是禮物，而是義務。”
The Big Bang Theory — now in its seventh season — is losing some of its appeal here. People say the writers seem to be running out of gas, but newer foreign shows are coming along, attracting audiences. Young Chinese are increasingly drawn to an eclectic mix, which includes 2 Broke Girls, The Vampire Diaries and Masters of Sex.
已經更新到第七季的《生活大爆炸》在中國正慢慢失去關注。人們覺得編劇好像寫不出了。好在新的美劇不斷涌現，也在不斷吸引觀眾的眼球。中國年輕人越來越喜歡《破產姐妹》、《吸血鬼日記》以及《性愛大師》之類口味的美劇了。 |
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