繼2014年《來自星星的你》火遍中國神州大地，《太陽的后裔》宋仲基又成了老少女小少女們新的男神人選。你受到“韓劇熱”的影響了嗎？

It may not be a real illness but K-drama fever is sweeping Asia with as much force as an infectious disease.
“韓劇熱”或許不是一種真正的疾病，但其席卷亞洲之勢絲毫不亞于一種傳染病。

The latest hit show to come out of South Korea has already claimed over 440 million victims in China alone, where it's being simulcast. Many millions more are glued to their screens across the continent.
最新的熱門韓劇單在中國就已經吸引了超過4.4億觀眾，獲得多個平臺的同時播放。亞洲還有眾多觀眾正在觀看。

But it's not just Asia which has seen a boom in the popularity of foreign-language TV dramas in recent years. Since the Danish crime drama, The Killing, was first aired on the BBC in 2011, the nation has been gripped by so-called Nordic Noir.
但近年來并非只有亞洲流行看國外電視劇。自從2011年丹麥版犯罪電視劇《謀殺》在英國廣播公司播出以來，英國也掀起了觀看北歐犯罪推理小說或影片的熱潮。

So why do these international dramas appeal when the cultural references are so remote from the experience of the viewers? Perhaps the answer lies in this piece of advice for aspiring scriptwriters from the BBC's Writersoom: "Engaging characters are at the heart of all good drama, no matter how mainstream or unusual your idea may be."
那么為什么在文化背景與觀眾的生活經驗有很大差異的情況下，這些國際電視劇還能走紅呢？也許英國廣播公司的知名編劇Writersoom道出了真相：“吸引人的角色是所有好劇的核心，不管你的觀念多么主流或者非同一般。”

So if the characters are strong enough, it doesn't matter if they're from Sichuan, Seoul or Sweden.
所以不管來自四川，首爾還是瑞典，只要角色夠給力就好。

（英文來源：BBC英語教學?編輯：yaning）