Hello Kitty早已家喻戶曉，聞名于世，文具、衣服、飾品無(wú)處不見其身影，可你知道這只系著紅色蝴蝶結(jié)的小白貓的那些鮮為人知的故事嗎？

Hello Kitty， the iconic1) white cat， has a red bow， dots for eyes， and absent mouth that is mysteriously cute as hell2). I used to be into3) Hello Kitty stuff very much when I was a kid (Hello Kitty stationary and pencil boxes) and still buy Hello Kitty stuff from time to time even now.

It's amazing that something can be so universally popular， yet the average buyer of Hello Kitty stuff doesn't have a clue as to what it's about or what the story behind it is.

凱蒂貓，這只極具標(biāo)志性的小白貓，頭戴紅色蝴蝶結(jié)，長(zhǎng)著小圓點(diǎn)一樣的眼睛，卻沒(méi)有嘴巴，這一點(diǎn)極其神秘可愛。小時(shí)候我很迷凱蒂貓的各種東西(比如凱蒂貓文具和鉛筆盒啦)，即使到現(xiàn)在我還是會(huì)時(shí)不時(shí)地買凱蒂貓的東西。

凱蒂貓如此廣受歡迎，可一般人買凱蒂貓商品時(shí)卻并不知道它在傳達(dá)什么，也不知道它背后有什么故事，這著實(shí)讓人驚奇。

Homage4) to ... the Devil

In some cases urban legends have stepped in to fill the lack of information， and you'll find people out there saying things like the whole Hello Kitty line of toys is the work of the Devil.

Oh you didn't know? Hello Kitty was apparently started when a mother of a child dying of cancer made a pact5) with the Lord of the Underworld. If the Devil spared6) her child's life then in return she would start a toy company that paid homage to him. Makes sense right? I mean who would look at Hello Kitty stuff and think \"homage to the Devil\"?

Another surprisingly sad urban legend says that Hello Kitty was first drawn by a child of an abusive7) parent. According to this legend she drew the cat without a mouth because she wanted a character to believe in that couldn't tell about the abuse and get her in trouble.

But what's the real story behind Hello Kitty and seriously what's up with the mouth thing?

Five Apples Tall

Hello Kitty first came into being in the 1970s when a then new company called Sanrio8) needed to come up with a merchandise mascot9) that would appeal to the preteen10) girls.

They commissioned11) an artist to work on the project， and she came up with a drawing of a white Japanese Bobtail cat12) that had a red bow in its hair and was wearing blue overalls13).

A whole backstory14) for Hello Kitty was created， which is basically this:

Hello Kitty is actually a nickname for Kitty White， who is not Japanese but actually British and lives in London with her family.

She has a twin sister named Mimmy. The only way you can tell the two apart is by their bows， Hello Kitty wears a red bow and Mimmy wears a yellow one.

She is in the third grade but when school's out she travels the world making new friends. She is bright， kind-hearted， and loves the outdoors.

Favorite food: apple pie. Favorite word: friendship (of course). Height: five apples tall.

But why doesn't she have a mouth?

Happy or Sad Together

The Hello Kitty character was intentionally designed without a mouth because the lack of that visual cue makes it easier for people to project their own feelings onto the cartoon. Or as one author put it \"the person can be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty\".

The irresistible15) vortex16) of cuteness of Hello Kitty eventually built Sanrio a multi-billion dollar empire that includes a wide range of products and even theme parks.

Hello Kitty has developed a highly devoted following17) around the world， even inspiring a new word into existence: kitira， which means someone who is a devoted follower of Hello Kitty.

向魔鬼致敬

在一些情況下，各種市井傳說(shuō)便會(huì)乘虛而入，來(lái)填補(bǔ)信息的空缺。于是，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)人們會(huì)在那里說(shuō)些諸如凱蒂貓系列的玩具是魔鬼的杰作之類的話。

啊，你不知道嗎？凱蒂貓的故事源于一位母親和地獄之王達(dá)成的一份協(xié)議，她的孩子身患癌癥，奄奄一息。如果魔鬼饒她孩子一命，那么作為回報(bào)她會(huì)開一家玩具公司來(lái)向他致敬。這說(shuō)得通嗎？我是說(shuō)誰(shuí)會(huì)看著凱蒂貓物品覺得它是在“向魔鬼致敬”呢？

另一個(gè)市井傳說(shuō)則異常傷感，它認(rèn)為凱蒂貓起初是由一個(gè)被父母虐待的孩子繪制的。傳說(shuō)中，她畫了這只沒(méi)有嘴巴的小貓，因?yàn)樗胍粋€(gè)不能泄露虐待之事也不會(huì)讓自己陷入麻煩卻又值得信賴的角色。

然而，凱蒂貓背后的真相到底是什么？凱蒂貓沒(méi)有嘴巴究竟又是怎么回事呢？

五個(gè)蘋果高

在20世紀(jì)70年代，當(dāng)時(shí)一家名叫三麗鷗的新公司需要設(shè)計(jì)一款能吸引小女孩的吉祥物，于是凱蒂貓便應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。

這家公司委托一位藝術(shù)家來(lái)做此項(xiàng)工作，最后她畫出了一只白色的日本短尾貓，頭戴一個(gè)紅色的蝴蝶結(jié)，身穿一條藍(lán)色的背帶褲。

于是，關(guān)于凱蒂貓完整的背景故事便誕生了，大致內(nèi)容如下：

凱蒂貓實(shí)際上是凱蒂·懷特的昵稱，她其實(shí)來(lái)自英國(guó)，而不是日本，現(xiàn)與家人住在倫敦。

凱蒂貓有個(gè)雙胞胎妹妹叫做咪咪。區(qū)分她倆唯一的辦法就是看她們的蝴蝶結(jié)，凱蒂貓戴著一個(gè)紅色的蝴蝶結(jié)，而咪咪戴著一個(gè)黃色的蝴蝶結(jié)。

凱蒂貓現(xiàn)在讀三年級(jí)，但每當(dāng)學(xué)校放假，她就會(huì)去周游世界，結(jié)交新朋友。凱蒂貓聰明伶俐，心地善良，酷愛戶外活動(dòng)。

凱蒂貓最喜愛的食物是蘋果派，最喜歡的詞是“友誼”(毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)啦)。她的身高有五個(gè)蘋果摞起來(lái)那么高。

可是，她為什么沒(méi)有嘴巴呢？

同歡樂(lè)共悲傷

凱蒂貓沒(méi)有嘴巴是設(shè)計(jì)者故意這樣設(shè)計(jì)的，因?yàn)槿鄙龠@項(xiàng)視覺暗示可以很容易地讓人們把自己的心情賦予凱蒂貓這個(gè)卡通角色身上。或者正如一位作者說(shuō)的那樣，“人們可以和凱蒂貓同歡樂(lè)共悲傷”。

凱蒂貓可愛無(wú)比，讓人無(wú)法抗拒，最終造就了一個(gè)資產(chǎn)達(dá)數(shù)十億美元的帝國(guó)——三麗鷗公司，這家公司經(jīng)營(yíng)著各種各樣的商品，甚至還擁有數(shù)座主題公園。

凱蒂貓擁有一群死心塌地的追隨者，遍布世界各地，還因此產(chǎn)生了一個(gè)新詞kitira，這個(gè)詞指那些凱蒂貓的忠實(shí)粉絲。

1.iconic [a#618;#712;k#594;n#618;k] adj. 聞名的；具有標(biāo)志性的

2.as hell: <口> 很，非常，極其

3.be into: <口> 對(duì)……很有興趣；熱衷于

4.homage [#712;h#594;m#618;d#658;] n. 尊敬，崇敬；下文短語(yǔ)pay homage to意為“向……表示敬意”。

5.pact [paelig;kt] n. 協(xié)定，契約

6.spare [spe#601;(r)] vt. 赦免；饒過(guò)

7.abusive [#601;#712;bju#720;s#618;v] adj. 虐待的

8.Sanrio: 三麗鷗(日本公司)，其旗下有我們熟悉的文化品牌Hello Kitty、My Melody等。

9.mascot [#712;maelig;sk#601;t] n. 吉祥物

10.preteen [#712;pri#720;#712;ti#720;n] adj. <美> 青春期以前的；13歲以下的

11.commission [k#601;#712;m#618;#643;n] vt. 委托制作(或做、完成)(某事物)

12.Japanese Bobtail cat: 日本短尾貓，也叫花貓或短尾花貓。日本人認(rèn)為花貓是幸運(yùn)的象征，因此有很多家庭飼養(yǎng)。

13.overall [#712;#601;#650;v#601;r#596;#720;l] n. [常用復(fù)數(shù)] 工裝褲

14.backstory [#712;baelig;kst#596;#720;ri] n. (指書、電影或喜劇發(fā)生前的一系列)背景故事；幕后故事

15.irresistible [#716;#618;r#618;#712;z#618;st#601;bl] adj. 不可抵抗的；不可抗拒的

16.vortex [#712;v#596;#720;teks] n. 漩渦

17.following [#712;f#594;l#601;#650;#618;#331;] n. 一批追隨者