上网时，好友发过来一个链接，打开一看是个超级搞笑的视频，于是，你又把这个链接发送给了更多的人。这样的场景相信大部分网民都经历过吧？随着互联网的不断发展，这样的信息传播方式正在创造一个又一个的网络爆红现象。今天，我们就从相对专业的角度解释一下这个现象。

An Internet meme, is some kind of idea or piece of information that spreads very rapidly across a large number of Internet users. It's a bit like the online equivalent of an inside joke, a fashionable, attention-grabbing concept that a large number of Internet users become aware of. A meme often takes the form of a hyperlink, propagated via e-mail, blogs, social networking, instant messaging, etc.

“网络迷因”（又称“网络爆红”）指某个理念或信息迅速在互联网用户间传播的现象。这样的信息有点类似于“圈儿内笑话”，也就是只有大批互联网用户知晓的、最前沿的、引人关注的信息。网络迷因通常以超链接的形式通过电邮、博客、社交网站还有即时信息等途径传播。

A meme might be a joke or quotation, a rumor or simple fact, an image, piece of video, or even a particular website – virtually any titbit that can be passed from one person to another via electronic communication. A key facet of a meme is that it is voluntary, a communication which spreads from one place to the next without any kind of compulsion or automation.

网络迷因的内容可以是个笑话、一句引语、传言或某个事实、图像、一段视频、甚至可以是某个网站，基本上只要是能够通过电子通讯技术从一个人传给另一个人的内容都可以成为迷因。网络迷因一个重要的特点是所有的传播过程都是自发的，没有任何强迫或自动发送属性。

Memes might stay the same as they transfer from one source to another, but can sometimes 'evolve', modified or expanded by each new recipient. They can also fade as fast as they spread, ascending in popularity and then disappearing within a matter of days.

在传播过程中，迷因的内容可能保持原样，也有可能会被后来的接收者加以改造或延伸。它们在网络上消逝的速度可能跟爆红的速度一样快，几天之内就有可能不见踪迹了。

The term Meme was coined by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 popular science bestseller, The Selfish Gene. The term may refer to the content that spreads from user to user, the idea behind the content, or the phenomenon of its spread.

“迷因”这个词最早是由英国进化生物学家理查德•道金斯在他1976年的大众科学畅销书《自私的基因》中使用的。这个词既可以指在用户间传播的内容，也可以指隐藏在内容背后的理念或者其转播的这种现象。

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