外國人眼中的中國 How Are You

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編者按：這個(gè)外國人是誰？美國人彼得?海斯勒（Peter Hessler），中文名何偉，曾任《紐約客》駐北京記者，以及《國家地理》雜志等媒體的撰稿人，數(shù)度獲得美國最佳旅游寫作獎(jiǎng)。

 When it is dark enough， you can see the stars. 只有夜色足夠黑的時(shí)候，才能看得見星星滿天！

 Everything is easy when youre busy， nothing is easy when youre lazy. 勤奮讓一切都簡單，懶惰讓一切都困難。

《江城》是他的中國紀(jì)實(shí)三部曲之一（其他兩部為《甲骨文》與《尋路中國》），記錄了一個(gè)初到中國的27歲美國青年的見聞與感受。何偉的觀察是細(xì)膩和敏銳的。對我們來說，他在《江城》描寫的1996至1998年的涪陵也許是陌生的，仿佛十年前的紀(jì)錄片，充滿鏡頭感的描寫，將我們刻意或者無意忘掉的那段時(shí)光展現(xiàn)在眼前。

中央電視臺(tái)主持人柴靜說：何偉寫出了我熟視無睹的中國和那種親切的酸楚。那個(gè)酸楚是劇變的實(shí)質(zhì)——人最大的痛苦就是心靈沒有歸屬，不管你知不知覺，承不承認(rèn)?？催^了《江城》，對彼得?海斯勒筆下的真中國，越發(fā)的喜歡……

同樣，中國人眼里的外國人，也充滿著與現(xiàn)實(shí)有差別的想象。正如選文里提到的，何偉的學(xué)生們都不約而同地寫到他的藍(lán)眼睛——因?yàn)閺男【捅桓嬷鈬说难劬κ撬{(lán)色的，而實(shí)際上，與學(xué)生們朝夕相處的何偉老師，他的眼睛是褐色的。

十多年過去，變化的很多，而不變的也很多。

由于彼得?海斯勒《尋路中國》的暢銷，較早出版的《江城》一引進(jìn)就受到極大關(guān)注

《River Town》中美版本不同的封面

River Town (Excerpt)

［1］ MUCH OF WHAT I LEARNED in the early days was from the students. My Chinese wasnt yet good enough to talk with the people in town， which made the city overwhelming—a 

江城（節(jié)選）

［1］ 起先的一段日子，我在涪陵的很多東西都是從學(xué)生那里學(xué)到的。我的漢語不夠好，不足以同城里的人交流。這讓我顯得有些不知所措——在哪里都無法與人正常交流。于是，我聽

mess of miscommunication. And so I listened to my students， reading what they wrote in their journals for class， and parts of Fuling slowly began to draw into focus.

The first thing I saw was myself and Adam. This was intimidating， because never in my life had I been watched so closely that every action was replayed and evaluated. Everything we did was talked and written about; every quirk or habit was laid bare. Students wrote about the way I always carried a water bottle to class; they wrote about how I paced the classroom as I taught; they wrote about my laugh， which they found ridiculous. They wrote about my foreign nose， which impressed them as impossibly long and straight， and many of them wrote about my blue eyes. This was perhaps the strangest detail of all， because my eyes are hazel—but my students had read that foreigners had blue eyes， and they saw what they wanted to see.

［2］ Mostly they wanted to see all of the outside world condensed into these two young waiguoren， which was what foreigners were called in Fuling—“people from outside the country.” One afternoon， Adam and I threw a Frisbee around the front plaza after dinner， and by the next day， when I read one students journal， the lazy game had become Olympian: When I was writing my composition， someone shouted at the classes:

‘Peter and Adam are playing Frisbee!’ At once， I put down my pen and rushed out the classroom. Really， they are! I wanted to see it clearly and didnt want to miss any scene. I ran into the classroom and put the glasses on my nose， then dashed to the classroom again. I can see it clearly now!…The two sports men stood far away from Frisbee each other and began to play. How wonderful it looked! The Frisbee was

學(xué)生念他們?yōu)橥瓿晒φn而寫的日記。慢慢地，涪陵的一些事情成為了我所關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)。

頭一件事就是亞當(dāng)和我本人。這夠嚇人的，因?yàn)槲乙郧皬奈幢蝗巳绱岁P(guān)注過，每一個(gè)動(dòng)作都叫人重復(fù)和評價(jià)一番。我們所做得一切都要被人談?wù)?，然后記錄下來。一切癖好和?xí)慣都一覽無余。學(xué)生們幾下我?guī)е险n的樣子，我在上課時(shí)繞著教室踱步的樣子，還有我在他們看來十分滑稽的笑聲。他們記下了我那給他們留下深刻印象的長而直的鷹鉤，好多人還描述了我得藍(lán)眼睛。這也許是所有細(xì)節(jié)中最奇怪的一點(diǎn)，因?yàn)槲业醚劬κ堑稚摹珜W(xué)生們早就從書本上了解到，外國人的眼睛都是藍(lán)色的。他們看到了他們想看到的東西。

［2］ 他們最想看到的，是所有濃縮在這兩個(gè)年輕外國人身上的有關(guān)外部世界的東西。一天晚飯后，我和亞當(dāng)在校門口廣場上玩飛盤。第二天，我在閱讀一個(gè)學(xué)生寫的日記時(shí)，這種懶散的體育運(yùn)動(dòng)竟然變成了奧林匹克精神：

當(dāng)時(shí)我正在寫作文，突然班上有人大聲喊道：“彼得和亞當(dāng)在玩飛盤！”我馬上放下鋼筆沖出教室。確實(shí)，他們在玩扔飛盤！我想看得真切些，我可不想錯(cuò)過這一景象。于是我又跑回教室，帶上眼鏡，沖出教室?，F(xiàn)在我看得明明白白的！......這兩個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)員離得很遠(yuǎn)，拉開架勢，扔著飛盤。多精彩呀！飛盤就像一團(tuán)紅色的火焰，在他們兩個(gè)人之間飛來飛去。我看了好一陣子。外國人真實(shí)多才多藝?。?/p>

like a red fire， flying person to person between the two men. I have seen it for a long time. Foreigners are so versatile.

［3］ Other descriptions were less heroic. My favorite was written by a student named Richard， in an essay entitled “Why Americans Are So Casual”:

Im a Chinese. As we all know， the Chinese nation is a rather conservative nation. So many of us have conservative thinking in some degree. I dont know whether it is bad or good.

 There is only one successto be able to spend your life in your own way. 人生唯一的成就，就是能按自己的想法生活。

 Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. 太多的人高估了他們所欠缺的，卻又低估了他們所擁有的。

Our foreign language teachers—Peter and Adam—came to teach us this term. It provides a good opportunity of understanding the American way of life. In my opinion， they are more casual than us Chinese people. Why do I think so? Ill give you some facts to explain this.

For example， when Mr. Hessler is having class， he can scratch himself casually without paying attention to what others may say. He dresses up casually， usually with his belt dropping and dangling. But， to tell you the truth， it isnt consider a good manner in China， especially in old peoples eyes. In my opinion， I think it is very natural.

Last week， when Miss Thompson ［another Peace Corps volunteer who visited Fuling］ gave us a lecture on the American election， she took off her woolen sweater and tied it to her waist. To us Chinese people， its almost unimaginable. How can a teacher do that when she/he is having a lesson! But thanks goodness， we major in English and know something about America， it didnt surprise us. But if other people saw this， they might cant believe their own eyes.

［4］ It was an easy place to make mistakes， and plenty were made. But the locals tended to be forgiving—usually they gave us a hint， a nudge in the right direction. During the first week of class， Adam had his students introduce

［3］ 其他人的描述就沒那么英雄氣概了。我最中意的一篇是一個(gè)叫理查德的學(xué)生寫的，名為“為什么美國人如此隨意”：

我是個(gè)中國人。大家都知道，中華民族是一個(gè)相當(dāng)保守的民族。所以，我們許多人的思想都比較保守。我不知道這是好還是壞。

我們的外語老師——彼得和亞當(dāng)——這學(xué)期開始給我們上課。這是一個(gè)了解美國人的生活方式的好機(jī)會(huì)。依我看，他們比我們中國人還要隨便。我為什么這么認(rèn)為呢？請看以下事實(shí)。

例如，海斯勒先生在給我們上課的時(shí)候，他可以十分隨意地在身上抓來抓去，而毫不在意別人怎么說。他穿得極隨便，常常是半截皮帶吊著，一晃一晃的。但是，說實(shí)話，這在中國就是不好的行為，尤其在老年人眼中特別如此。而在我看，這十分自然。

上周，湯普森小姐（一個(gè)來涪陵拜訪我們的志愿隊(duì)員）給我們作“美國的選擇”報(bào)告的時(shí)候，她脫下羊毛衫，系在了腰間。在中國人看來，這簡直是不可思議。一個(gè)老師在上課的時(shí)候，怎么可以那樣做呢？謝天謝地，我們是學(xué)英語專業(yè)的，對美國有所了解，所以對此一點(diǎn)都不覺得奇怪。如果讓其他人看見了，恐怕他們會(huì)不敢相信自己的眼睛。

［4］ 這是一個(gè)容易犯錯(cuò)的地方，我們的確也犯了許多錯(cuò)誤。但是當(dāng)?shù)厝硕几挥趯捜葜摹ǔＫ麄儠?huì)向我們暗示什么事正確的做法。第一周上課的時(shí)候，亞當(dāng)讓他的學(xué)生做自我介紹，一個(gè)叫凱勒的女生站了起來。她說出了她

themselves， and a girl named Keller stood up. She told the name of her hometown， and she explained that she had chosen her English name in honor of Helen Keller. This was a common pattern; some of them had taken their names from people they admired， which explained why we had a Barbara (from Barbara Bush)， an Armstrong (Neil Armstrong)， and an idealistic second-year student called Marx. A few had translated their Chinese names directly—House， Yellow， North. There was one boy whose English name was Lazy. “My name is Lazy，” he said， on the first day of class. “I am very lazy. I do not like to play basketball or football or do many things. My hobbies are sleeping.”

［5］ Other names made less sense. There was a Soddy， a Sanlee， a Ker. Some were simply unfortunate: a very small boy called Pen， a very pretty girl named Coconut. One boy was called Daisy， a name that greatly dismayed Dean Fu. The dean was a handsome man with blueblack hair， and he was our main liaison with the English department—a position whose weight of responsibility often gave him a mournful air. He seemed particularly morose when he called me into his office to talk about Daisy.

“Thats a girls name， isnt it?” Dean Fu asked.

“Yes，” I said. “Except now in America even girls dont like that name.”

“I remember it from The Great Gatsby，” Dean Fu said， smiling sadly. As a student his specialty had been American literature， and he was familiar with virtually all of the great twentiethcentury novelists. He sighed and shook his head.

“Last year that student had a boys name，” said the dean. “He changed it over the summer. I dont know why.”

家鄉(xiāng)的名稱，解釋她之所以選擇這個(gè)英文名字，是為了紀(jì)念海倫?凱勒。一般都是這樣，他們根據(jù)自己崇敬的人來取英文名字，所以就有了芭芭拉（取自第一夫人：芭芭拉?布什）、阿姆斯特朗（取自宇航員尼爾?阿姆斯特朗），一個(gè)充滿理想主義色彩的二年級學(xué)生甚至卻名為馬克思。有些學(xué)生把他們的中文名字直接翻譯過來，如毫斯、耶洛、諾斯等。有個(gè)男生，他的英文名字是萊希?！拔颐腥R希，”上第一次課的時(shí)候，他就這樣介紹，“我很懶，我不喜歡籃球、足球。很多事情我都不喜歡，我的愛好就是睡覺?！豹おおお?/p>

［5］ 其他一些名字則沒有多大意義。有叫蘇迪、桑里和凱爾的。有的純屬不幸：一個(gè)小個(gè)子男生被叫作盆，一個(gè)十分漂亮的女生取名叫可可那特。另一個(gè)男生取名黛茜，這讓傅主任感覺十分驚愕。系主任傅先生英俊瀟灑，蓄一頭烏發(fā)，我們和英語系聯(lián)系也主要是找他——這個(gè)職位的責(zé)任感常常使他生活在肅穆的氛圍中。他把我叫進(jìn)他的辦公室，談?wù)擏燔邕@個(gè)名字的時(shí)候，尤其顯得愁眉不展。

“那是個(gè)女孩的名字，對吧？”傅主任問我。

“對，”我回答說，“只是在美國，現(xiàn)在就連女生都不喜歡用這個(gè)名字了?！?/p>

“我記得《了不起的蓋茨比》中有這個(gè)名字，”傅主任十分憂郁地笑著說。當(dāng)學(xué)生的時(shí)候，他的專業(yè)是美國文學(xué)，因此他差不多熟悉20世紀(jì)所有偉大的小說家。他嘆了口氣，搖搖頭。

“上學(xué)期這個(gè)學(xué)生取的是個(gè)男生的名字，”傅主任說，“但在暑假里他把名字改了，我真不明白這是為什么。”

英倫于我，是特拉法爾加廣場（Trafalgar Square）的美人魚噴泉和灰鴿子；是泰晤士河畔（The Thames）的二手書店和露天咖啡館；是每天穿梭在身邊的紅色巴士和百年地下鐵；是曲折蜿蜒的街道和街道旁人聲鼎沸的酒館；是陽光下曝光的舊膠片里的英倫故事；是五分鐘前還是晴天轉(zhuǎn)眼就“下貓下狗”的無常天氣…… (@ISEEUK)

 Wherever you go， no matter what the weather， always bring your own sunshine. 不管去哪，別忘了帶上自己的陽光！

 Always be true to yourself. 無論什么時(shí)候，都要坦誠面對自己。