Eighteen-year-old Zhou Yang became a national hero after she won a gold medal in the women's 1,500 meters short-track speed skating during the Vancouver Winter Olympics last month. But the girl from a poor family in the northeastern rustbelt of Jilin province also made herself an idol of millions of Chinese youngsters with her unconventionally candid remarks in front of the TV camera after the award ceremony: Zhou didn't thank China first; she thanked her parents instead--and just her parents.

　　18岁的周洋上个月在温哥华冬奥会赢得短道速滑女子1500米比赛金牌之后成为了中国的民族英雄。但这个来自中国东北吉林省一个贫困家庭的小姑娘在颁奖仪式之后面对电视摄像机表述了不同寻常的坦率言语，此举还让她成为数百万中国年轻人的偶像：她没有先感谢祖国，却感谢了自己的父母，而且只感谢了自己的父母。

　　The gold medal will bring a lot of changes to my life. I will be more confident and it will improve the life of my parents, Zhou told China Central Television on that day. Such straight talk breaks the tradition of Chinese athletes feeling obliged to thank the government or at least the motherland first and on most occasions, even avoiding the reference to family or themselves.

　　周洋当天对中国中央电视台说，拿了金牌以后会改变很多，会更有信心，也可以让我爸我妈生活得更好一点。这种直率的话语打破了中国运动员的传统：在大多数情况下必须先感谢政府或至少先感谢祖国，甚至避免谈及家人或他们自己。

　　However, apparently not everyone appreciates Zhou's love of her family and hopes of a better life. One of China's top sports officials criticized the gold medalist Sunday during a group discussion of the annual meeting of China's legislature.

　　然而，显然并非所有人都欣赏周洋对家人的爱及她改善生活的愿望。一位中国高级体育官员周日在中国政协会议的小组讨论中批评了这位金牌得主。