一个简单的动图就能传递情感、态度和情绪，难怪被《纽约时报》预言将成为“第三种语言”。某种程度上，动图传递的信息远远超过了文字和静态图片，它不仅能展现年轻人独特的个性，还能在无声中引起人们的共鸣。

　　Why bother commenting with a bland exclamation? Or postingthe same old emoticons on social media? Liven up your socialmedia game with GIFs, which is short for "graphics interchange format".

　　何苦绞尽脑汁用沉闷的文字在社交媒体上发评论?亦或是发用过无数次的表情?快来试试动图(图形交换格式的简称)吧，它能让你的社交互动更有趣。

　　GIFs are a pop culture phenomenon. Basically, they are just moving images, looped to play overand over again, for maximum effect. The New York Times even heralded GIFs as a “thirdlanguage” for messaging.

　　动图是一种流行文化现象。简单说来它们就是动态的图片，循环交替以取得最佳效果。《纽约时报》甚至预言动态图会成为传递信息的“第三种语言”。

　　For example, now, every 24 hours, more than 5 million GIFs are sent through Facebook’smessaging app.

　　比如，现在每24小时脸书的通讯程序都会传输5百多万张动态图。

　　Thanks to improvements in mobile technology and a surge of messaging applications, GIFs “havebecome a mainstream form of digital expression, a way to relay complex feelings and thoughts inways beyond words and even photographs”, said The New York Times.

　　由于移动通讯技术的进步和大量通讯程序的开发，动图“已经成为一种主流的数字化表达，它通过非文字甚至非图片的方式传递着人类复杂的情绪和想法”，《纽约时报》评论道。

　　"Young people are driving the GIF because it enhances their online persona," Topher Chris, USsocial network Tumblr’s editorial director, told PBS.

　　“年轻人引领了动图潮流，因为使用动图能更好地展现他们的网络个性，”美国社交网站“微博客”编辑主任托弗尔•克里斯告诉美国公共广播公司。

　　GIFs serve as a window into US celebrity culture. Popular music and movie stars are appropriatedas avatars to convey intense feelings. One popular GIF includes singer-actress Christina Aguilerarolling her eyes and mouthing the words, “Please stop.” Another clip shows singer Taylor Swiftwiggling joyously, from her hit single Shake It Off.

　　动图还成了观察美国名人文化的窗口。流行歌手和电影明星的图片被做成动图来表达强烈的感情。有一张很流行的动图主角是是演员、歌手克里斯蒂娜•阿奎莱拉(Christina Aguilera)，她翻着白眼，一脸嫌弃地说“拜托你消停下吧。”同样很受欢迎的另一张动图展示的是歌手泰勒•斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)欢快扭动的样子，图像剪辑自她的热门单曲《摆脱》(Shake It Off)。

　　Across the Pacific in Japan, GIFs help illustrate the cutesy, infantilized world of “moe”, similar to“kawaii” (cute) culture, or later “meng” (萌) in Chinese. Shironeko, the lovably round-faced cat,and Yotsuba, a character from the anime Slice of Life, are among the “meng” charactersimmortalized as GIFs. These characters are perceived as symbols of youthful naivety in Japan.

　　在大洋彼岸的日本，动图则到位地表现了讨人喜欢又可爱的“Moe“感，”Moe“类似于”可爱“文化，也就是中文中的萌。猫叔(Shironeko)——一只脸蛋圆嘟嘟的萌猫，四叶妹妹(Yotsuba)——动漫《生活片段》(Slice of Life)中的人物，都是动图中永恒的萌主。这种萌萌哒形象在日本被视为“天真烂漫”的象征。

　　China also has its own unique brand of GIF. Tuziki (兔斯基), an animation by the Chinesecartoonist Wang Maomao, is one of the many sources of inspiration for Chinese GIFs. Tuziki’s self-deprecating attitudes have proved appealing to Asian, North American and Latin American userson social media.

　　中国也有自己独特的动图。兔斯基是中国漫画家王卯卯创作的一套动画表情，它也是许多中国动态图的灵感来源。兔斯基自嘲的态度深受亚洲、北美和拉美的社交媒体用户喜爱。

　　Yat Siu, founder of the Hong Kong-based media company Outblaze points out that GIFs can dowhat language cannot. They can appeal to our common humanity, without speaking a singleword.

　　香港传媒公司Outblaze创始人萧逸指出：动态图传递了语言表达不出的信息。它们一言不发却能让人产生共鸣。

　　"Tuziki shows us that … young people of different nationalities share certain values, an culturalboundaries are blurred," he told the Financial Times.

　　“兔斯基的流行告诉我们不同国家的年轻人是有共同价值观的，文化边界正在变得模糊，”萧逸告诉《金融时报》。

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（编辑：何莹莹）