What do an eccentric British detective, a cut-throat Washington pol and a bunch of nerds at Caltech have in common?

一个怪异的英国侦探、一个残酷的华盛顿政客，以及一帮加州理工学院的神经大条，会有什么共同之处吗？

They are characters in some of the most popular foreign TV shows in China.

他们都是中国热播的欧美剧中的人物角色。

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.

过去五年，仅《生活大爆炸》就已经被点击了13亿多次。要想知道中国年轻人有多喜欢BBC剧集《神探夏洛克》，那就去贝克街221B号看看吧——这不只是福尔摩斯小说中的伦敦地址，也是去年在上海法租界开张的一家咖啡店的名字。

Good luck, though, finding a table.

祝好运，但愿你能挤到一个座位吧！

"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."

“第三季开播以来，生意就特别地好。”27岁的店主艾瑞克·张（音译）说。“周六周日的时候，顾客必须提前预约或排队等候，要不然是不会有座位的。”

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.

跟这里的许多年轻人一样，张先生也是读阿瑟·柯南·道尔的中文版侦探小说长大的。他说，他父亲就是一名侦探，经常跟他讲谋杀走私放火之类的案件。

"Actually, I aspired to be a policeman," says Zhang, "but I didn't pass the physical and opened a café instead."

“其实，我很想成为一名警察，可惜没能通过体能测试，所以只好开了这家咖啡店。” 张先生说。

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.

这家木质皮革的咖啡店充满了夏洛克风格。靠吧台的墙上是手写的夏洛克台词；窗边的桌上有类似华生的药箱，里面有从中国医院得到的显微镜和旧玻璃注射器；书架上则赫然陈列着满满的本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇的照片，本尼迪克特在剧集中扮演了福尔摩斯的角色。张先生还特别解释了这位英国演员的优越待遇。

"To tell you the truth, girls are especially fond of him," says Zhang. "He has personal charm. It's irresistible."

“说真的，女孩子们都很迷恋他。他有着令人难以抗拒的魅力。”他说。

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.

确实，今天来这里的几乎都是女性。25岁的周小姐在一家国企上班，她说康伯巴奇把福尔摩斯这个角色演得非常棒，因为卷发而在中国被昵称为“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."

“他具备了所有品质：聪明、幽默、会冷笑话、有魅力有天赋，他做事得体，真是个绅士。”

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.

要说许多这里的女孩子正被康伯巴奇迷得团团转，那么其他的应该正迷恋着另一个完全不同的美剧角色——弗兰克·安德伍德，Netflix《纸牌屋》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.

该剧从情人节开始上映，现在已经成为中国最火的一档美剧，点击次数超过8300万。蒋先生用一天时间一口气看完了13集，认为中国人可能比美国人还要喜欢《纸牌屋》。

"Because you get this kind of political drama all the time," he says, "while in China, there is no political drama."

“因为美国一直都有政治类的剧集，而中国却没有。”他说。

"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，人人都是伟大的政治家，完全就是政治宣传片。但在《纸牌屋》中，你可以看到其中的内幕。”他说。

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.

无论是时间还是整体受欢迎度上，《神探夏洛克》和《纸牌屋》都不及《生活大爆炸》——这是很多中国年轻人的“必看美剧”，一般都通过电脑或苹果平板来收看。主要原因在于，许多人都很喜欢那些“科学怪咖”主角们。

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.

这部美剧在中国大学生之间很流行，而中国大学生要比美国大学生更显得“书呆子气”吧。当余文婷（音译）还在四川大学读书时，她说身边有很多同学就跟《生活大爆炸》里面的谢尔顿和莱纳德一样。

"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.

“他们也存在跟美剧主角一样的问题，很难找到女朋友或跟女孩子讲话，因为他们的生活全被学习填满了，非常缺乏社交经验。”余文婷说。

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.

中国年轻人还很发现了角色的其他特征，比如谢尔顿的大条神经。在某个场景中，谢尔顿跟隔壁的佩妮闹得很不愉快，因为佩妮送了他一个圣诞礼物，可他觉得这很被动无奈。

"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."

“我知道你可能觉得自己很大方，但送礼物是以双方互惠为基础的，” 谢尔顿（吉米·帕森斯扮演）说，“你给我的不是礼物，而是义务。”

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.

已经更新到第七季的《生活大爆炸》在中国正慢慢失去关注。人们觉得编剧好像写不出了。好在新的美剧不断涌现，也在不断吸引观众的眼球。中国年轻人越来越喜欢《破产姐妹》、《吸血鬼日记》以及《性爱大师》之类口味的美剧了。