“我福原爱，要退役乒乓球选手了。”
10月21日晚上，日本著名乒乓球运动员福原爱宣布正式退役。
The Japanese Olympian who stole Chinese hearts
She may have lost her match to a Chinese player, but she has won China's heart.
她输掉了对中国选手的比赛，却赢得中国人的心。
"Don't Cry, Ai-chan" has been trending on China's micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo since Japan's Ai Fukuhara lost the table tennis semi-final 4-0 to China's Li Xiaoxia.
2016年里约奥运会乒乓球半决赛中，福原爱以0∶4不敌中国选手李晓霞。随后，#爱酱不哭#便成为新浪微博的热门话题之一。
trending
trend意思是“趋势，走向，时尚”，此处trending/trending topic可以直接表示“热门话题”，例如，Youtube首页上的Trending对应的中文就处理为“时下流行”。
· become a trending topic 成为热门话题
Thousands of Chinese fans have been comforting the girl they call "Japanese doll" on social media, or by the affectionate Japanese term "Ai-chan".
成千上万的中国粉丝一直在安慰着这位日本女孩，亲切地称她为“瓷娃娃”、“爱酱”。
As a teenager Fukuhara joined the Chinese national table tennis team for training in northern Liaoning province, and speaks with a fluent Chinese Northern dialect. She still has a Chinese coach.
福原爱小时候曾在中国东北辽宁省与中国国家乒乓球队一起训练。她不但能说一口流利的东北话，还有一位中国教练。
"She is so tough and strong to continue to compete in the Games as the Chinese table tennis team are too strong to defeat. But she never gives up. And the longer she plays, the better result she gains," Weibo user Jinbiao said.
“中国乒乓球队太强大，但她从未放弃。”一名微博用户说。
Many fans said she seemed "vulnerable", recollecting in particular when she burst into tears after losing a competition when she was younger.
许多粉丝表示她似乎“很脆弱”，尤其是输掉比赛后流眼泪时。
But she is also considered "cute as a doll" with a sweet voice, a highly sought-after feature in China.
但她也被认为“像娃娃那样可爱”，并有着备受中国人青睐的甜美嗓音。
sought-after
表示“受青睐的；广受欢迎的，吃香的〔但罕有或难以得到〕”，英文解释为“wanted by a lot of people but rare or difficult to get”，举个🌰：
An Olympic gold medal is the most sought-after prize in world sport.
奥运会金牌是世界体育活动中最受青睐的奖牌。
通常前面可以加副词much/highly，如：a much sought-after defense lawyer 一个很吃香的辩护律师
But that's not the whole picture. They also adore her because she has a strong connection with China, with Chinese sports fans watching her grow up.
不过，这并非全部。她讨人喜欢还因为她与中国关系密切。
Many say the 30-year-old Olympic feels like family when she speaks Mandarin.
许多人表示，当这名30岁的奥运选手说中国话时，感觉就像自己家人。
"Competitive sport is beyond nationality, such as the North and South Korean players taking a selfie together," Langsha Jiang, a sports fan in Sichuan, told the BBC.
"Every athlete has a home country but we need to regard him or her as an individual first."
"I don't think Ai's story has anything to do with her nationality. We've seen her growing from the youngest player in Japan team and now she is a leading figure. Years ago, she was a little girl but soon she may get married."
“我倒觉得不用把福原爱的故事扯到国籍的问题上，是大家这么多年看着福原爱成长起来的感情吧，从那个日本全团最小的运动员，到现在日本乒乓的领军人物，从以前的小姑娘到现在都快结婚了，会有一种情结在。况且福原爱本身长得很可爱，性格也好，跟中国队关系也好。”
In fact Fukuhara is so popular in China, it's even been suggested she should marry a mainland Chinese man, an unusually warm gesture from Chinese social media towards a Japanese woman. However, Fukuhara already has a boyfriend. He is from Taiwan.
But Hector Shi from Shanghai pointed out one potential reason Fukuhara has remained so popular with Chinese table tennis fans: "I don't count on her posing any threat to Chinese team at all."
一名微博用户还道出了福原爱如此受中国乒乓球迷们欢迎的另一个可能的原因：“我认为她不会对中国队造成任何威胁。”
来源：BBC
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