In such uncertain and uneasy times， and with so much injustice， hate and intolerance threatening the world， don’t we have more serious things to focus on than the escapades of that feline girl-figure
In such uncertain and uneasy times， and with so much injustice， hate and intolerance threatening the world， don’t we have more serious things to focus on than the escapades of that feline girl-figure Hello Kitty？1 Or Pokémon， the video-game franchise that’s hot again in 2019 with a major US and UK film release for its rodenty detective Pikachu， its YouTube trailer notching up more than 65 million hits and counting.2 Why the proliferation of emojis？ Or the cute logos that adorn countless products， from computers and phones， to clothes and food； from children’s toys and calendars， to package bags and contact lenses？
《大侦探皮卡丘》电影剧照 The craze for all things cute is motivated， most obviously， by the urge to escape from precisely such a threatening world into a garden of innocence in which childlike qualities arouse deliciously protective feelings， and bestow contentment and solace. Cute cues include behaviours that appear helpless， harmless， charming and yielding， and anatomical features such as outsize heads， protruding foreheads，3 saucer-like eyes， retreating chins and clumsy gaits.
Perhaps， as the Austrian scholar of animal behaviour Konrad Lorenz suggested in 1943， our response to these sorts of cues evolved to motivate us to give our offspring the extensive care and nurture that they need to prosper. According to Lorenz， the same visual cues can arouse us to equally intense—or possibly more intense—caregiving when we encounter them in exaggerated and distilled form in animals， such as birds and puppies， and even in dummy models， such as dolls and teddy bears.
The social psychologists Gary Sherman and Jonathan Haidt at the University of Virginia go so far as to consider the cuteness response as a “moral emotion” par excellence： a “direct releaser of human sociality” that stimulates us to expand our circle of altruistic concern to an ever-wider social sphere.4
But if cuteness were merely about the charming， innocent and unthreatening， or if our attraction to it were motivated just by protective instincts， or the search for infantile and reassuring distractions from the anxieties of today’s world， it wouldn’t be so ubiquitous. Those qualities speak only of what we might call the“sweet” end of a whole spectrum of cuteness. As we move toward the “uncanny” end， sweet qualities get distorted into something darker， more indeterminate and more wounded. Something like Jeff Koons’s Balloon Dog series （1994—2000）， which seems at once powerful （made of stainless steel） and powerless（hollow and lacking a face， mouth or eyes）. It is hulking5 yet vulnerable-seeming， familiar and also unfamiliar， reassuringly innocent and also unsafe， defective， knowing. It both comforts us in a world of unnerving uncertainty—and gives voice to that same world， but crucially in a lighthearted register.6
As a writer who has been living in Paris since 1993, thereis no question in my mind that the French capital is.the writer’s quintessential city. It also happens to bethe city of literary pilgrimages--
Shannon and Christine have three goals for their trip to Dublin， the capital city of Ireland： see ancient bog bodies， drink Guinness beer and find a job.1 Which would they achieve？ W e arrived in Dub
早些年有人戏称“人山人海”的英文是people mountain people sea，对于这样的中式英语，听者多半笑笑，没人当真。后来网上传闻英文词典已将其收录，而且言之凿凿，网民无不拍手叫好，甚至发挥各自的想象力，添油加醋热议了一番。 接下来又陆续出现了类似的中式英语，一样是把中文的说法逐字翻成英文，且亦有传闻称其已被英文词典收录，如give you some color to see se
