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The queen of kawaii: still cute at 50
可爱女王：50岁也可爱依旧
Most have to wait until their centenary to receive birthday wishes from the king of Britain. But King Charles III made an exception for "a self-made entrepreneur worth billions of dollars and a UNICEF children's ambassador on top".
大多数人必须等到自己的百岁生辰才能收到英国国王的生日祝福。但查尔斯三世国王为"一位白手起家、身价数十亿美元的企业家兼联合国儿童基金会儿童大使"破了例。
The monarch was feting a figure more recognisable than any billionaire or emissary: Hello Kitty, who turns 50 this year. The character was created by Shimizu Yuko, a Japanese illustrator, on November 1st 1974.
国王正在公开盛赞一个比任何亿万富翁或外交使节都更知名的人物：今年满50岁的凯蒂猫。这个形象是由日本插画师清水侑子于1974年11月1日创作的。
Soon after, Kitty was appearing on an astounding array of trinkets. Today you can wear her face on your hands, with OPI fake nails, or your feet, in the form of Adidas trainers.
不久后，凯蒂出现在了多得令人惊讶的一系列小饰品上。现在你可以用OPI穿戴甲把她的脸戴在手上，也可以用阿迪达斯运动鞋的形式把她穿在脚上。
You can wash yourself in a Hello Kitty shower and dry yourself with a Hello Kitty towel. Sanrio, the company which owns the character, makes almost $4bn in sales annually.
你可以在一个凯蒂猫淋浴间里洗澡，然后用一条凯蒂猫毛巾擦干身体。拥有该形象的公司三丽鸥每年的销售额几乎达到40亿美元。
Kitty's popularity is emblematic of the global craze for cute things. Despite the name, whiskers and pointy ears, Kitty is supposedly not a cat, but a little girl who lives in the suburbs of London with her family.
凯蒂猫的受欢迎象征了全球对可爱事物的狂热。尽管名字叫凯蒂猫（注：kitty可以表示猫咪），尽管有胡须和尖尖的耳朵，但据说凯蒂并不是一只猫，而是一个和家人住在伦敦郊区的小女孩。
Her charm lies in her expressionless face: she is composed of just three circles, six lines and a red bow, notes Joshua Paul Dale, a specialist in Cute Studies at Chuo University in Tokyo.
东京中央大学可爱研究专家约书亚·保罗·戴尔指出，她的魅力在于她那张毫无表情的脸：仅由三个圆圈、六根线条和一个红色蝴蝶结组成。
The simplicity of the design makes it easy to reproduce on all manner of items. Unlike Mickey Mouse, Kitty's look has not had to be updated.
这种设计的简洁性使人们很容易将她复现在各种物品上。与米老鼠不同，凯蒂猫的形象无需更新。
Kitty was born in the right place, at the right time. Kato Norihiro, a cultural critic, has argued that she reflects the aftermath of the second world war. With no meaningful back story, Kitty represented the mood in Japan and "the impulse to escape history and to stop talking about it".
凯蒂在正确的时间出生在正确的地方。文化评论家加藤则宏认为凯蒂猫反映了第二次世界大战之后的世界。凯蒂猫没有什么意义深远的背景故事，而是代表了日本的情绪，以及"对历史避而不谈的冲动"。
She emerged as "the perfect post-war icon", agrees Roland Kelts of Waseda University. "Japan's warrior nation was shoved under the rug and the message to Japan was: ‘Shhh, look cute and beautiful'."
早稻田大学的罗兰·凯尔特斯表示，凯蒂猫作为"完美的战后偶像"而出现。"日本的武士国家被掩盖起来，传达给日本的信息是：‘嘘，要看起来漂亮可爱。'"
She also coincided with a changing social and economic landscape. In the 1970s women joined the workforce in greater numbers; they earned money and spent it on cute items for themselves.
凯蒂猫也与发生变化的社会和经济格局同时出现。在20世纪70年代，有更多女性加入劳动力大军，她们挣钱，并把钱花在给自己买可爱物品上。
Yet even when Japan's economy faltered in the 1990s, Kitty remained popular. When the mood is sour, sweet things are even more desirable.
然而，即使在20世纪90年代日本经济崩溃时，凯蒂猫仍然很受欢迎。当心情酸涩时，甜美的东西就更加令人向往。
