唐顿庄园剧照

　　DOWNTON ABBEY (AND OTHER TV SHOWS)：

　　唐顿庄园(和其他的电视剧)：

　　From Doctor Who to Sherlock Holmes, British TV shows are doing well among American audience. Although the success of Game of Thrones shows the appreciation among American viewers for violence and sexuality, Downton Abbey has nonetheless succeeded as a period drama with a completely different appeal. There is just something so quaint and refreshing about these stereotypically British shows, and we Americans love it.

　　从神秘博士到夏洛克，英剧在美国一直广受欢迎。尽管权力的游戏大热暗示了美国观众们对于色情和暴力的癖好，唐顿庄园作为一部口味截然不同的历史剧依然大获成功。这些代表性的英剧总是有几分让人耳目一新的精巧，美国人也是爱不释手。

皇室家族

　　THE ROYAL FAMILY:

　　皇室家族：

　　Americans have been following the royal family for centuries, from Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 to Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s marriage in 1981. More recently, we obsessed over the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton, following stories and tweeting about the royal engagement, the wedding, her clothes, and the royal baby. Part of this might just be indulging that childhood fascination with castles and royalty, the pomp associated with these royal affairs, and the romance of an ordinary woman becoming royal through the power of love.

　　美国人关注英国皇室的动态已经数个世纪，从1838年维多利亚女王的加冕礼到查尔斯王子和戴安娜王妃1981年的婚礼。最近，我们对于威廉王子和凯特的婚礼颇为着迷，时刻关注着故事发展，发推特谈论皇室的订婚、婚礼、王妃的服装和小王子。这其中的部分原因可能是我们沉醉于儿时对于城堡和皇室的迷恋中，还有和皇家事物相关联的种种壮丽浮华，当然，还有灰姑娘嫁王子这种童话般的浪漫剧情，让我们仿佛感受到了真爱的力量。

单方向乐队

　　ONE DIRECTION (AND OTHER BOY BANDS)：

　　单方向乐队(和其他的男团)：

　　In the 1960s The Beatles and other pop and rock groups became popular in the United States in a cultural takeover known as the British Invasion. Today we have One Direction, which became the first band to have all four of its releases debut at number one on the American album chart, and fellow boy band The Wanted reached number three on America’s Billboard Hot 100 after the TV show Glee featured one of its songs. And it is not just the boy bands: Coldplay, Adele, and Sam Smith have all dominated America’s Billboard Top 100, and 12 percent of album sales in the US consisted of British artists in 2014.

　　上世纪60年代，披头士和其他流行摇滚乐队在美国风靡一时，被称作英国的文化入侵。如今我们也有One Direction，这是第一支连续四张专辑首发就占领美国各大专辑榜单第一位的乐队！其他类似的男团还有The Wanted，在欢乐合唱团翻唱了他们的一首歌之后，一跃成为Billboard百首热歌的第三名。2014年，英国歌手的专辑销量占到了美国唱片市场的12%。

英式幽默

　　(SOME) BRITISH HUMOR (OR AS MUCH AS OUR EGOS CAN TAKE)：

　　(某些)英式幽默(只要我们的自尊心能承受)：

　　Something about the irony and sarcasm of British humor is finally catching on in the United States. Most of us can appreciate the nice, unoffensive humor of Friends and other crowd-pleasing favorites, but the dry, “too real” feel of British humor can elicit more cringing than giggles. But irony has also crept into our favorites, from Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development to Family Guy. And while Monty Python always had its cult following, we also made our own version of The Office, mocking the daily lives of office workers.

　　英式幽默中的讽刺和挖苦终于在美国火起来了！大多数美国人都能接受老友记中友好温和地幽默，还有其他娱乐大众的梗。但是那句干巴巴的“too real”类型的英式幽默更容易引来低声下气的谄媚，而不是欢快的笑声。不过，讽刺也在逐渐变为我们的最爱：从《抑制热情》和《发展受阻》到《恶搞之家》。英国喜剧团体蒙提·派森也一直有一批狂热的粉丝，与此同时我们也有了美国版本的《办公室》，调侃办公室白领的日常生活。

英国媒体

　　THE BRITISH MEDIA:

　　英国媒体：

　　Americans have plenty of options to get their news, from local papers to national outlets like The Washington Post and ABC News. However, when it comes to international news, Americans often turn to British outlets for an alternative view. After the Iraq war, US traffic to BBC increased by 47% and to the Guardian by 83%. According to a 2014 study from the Pew Research Center, the most trusted news outlets in the United States were the UK’s The Economist and BBC across all ideological groups, while news outlets like The New York Times and Fox News were only trusted by certain ideological groups.

　　美国人有多样的渠道可以获取新闻，从当地报纸到全国性媒体，比如华盛顿邮报和ABC新闻。然而，当我们想看国际新闻时，一般会选择英国媒体作为不同意见的参考。在伊拉克战争之后，收看BBC的美国观众增加了47%，卫报则增加了83%。皮尤研究中心一项2014年的调查显示，在各种思想群体中，最受美国人信赖的新闻媒体是英国的经济学人和BBC，而纽约时报和福克斯新闻仅仅只被某些思想群体信任。