從中國(guó)到美國(guó)：小城高中的留學(xué)生活

⊙ By Daniel Gross

翻譯：Wendy

從中國(guó)到美國(guó)：小城高中的留學(xué)生活

⊙ By Daniel Gross

翻譯：Wendy

From China to High School in Small-Town America

美式發(fā)音 適合精聽

語速：180詞/分鐘

近年來，高中生出國(guó)留學(xué)的人數(shù)日漸增多。盡管高中生留學(xué)有其優(yōu)勢(shì)，可他們?cè)趪?guó)外學(xué)習(xí)面臨的不適應(yīng)問題要比大學(xué)生多，如果中國(guó)學(xué)生上學(xué)的地方并不是國(guó)外的大城市，這類問題尤為突出。現(xiàn)在我們就去美國(guó)看看幾位中國(guó)高中生的適應(yīng)情況吧。

There are thousands of international students who enroll[就讀]each year in private high schools in the U.S., and that can bring on some serious culture shock.

Cape Cod Academy is located in one of the least diverse parts of Massachusetts. There are hardly any Asians there, but that all changes in the school’s hallways.

This group of students is chatting in Mandarin[普通話]. Tony Zhang comes from Guiyang, a city in southern China. I ask him about his first day here.

Tony: I had no idea that I had to wear a collared[有領(lǐng)的]shirt.

He didn’t have the right clothes, and he had a haircut, a mullet[前短后長(zhǎng)的發(fā)型], that some kids thought was strange.

Tony: I had no friends for [sic] first couple of weeks.

Tony isn’t like a lot of teenagers. Not because of the mullet, but because he chose a high school nearly 8,000 miles from home. Tony: I basically went around the globe, and tried to figure out which place was betterfor my future. So, UK, Australia, Japan, but I felt like here’s my future, here’s where my answer is.

Tony wanted to experience a new culture and go to college in the U.S. He says the move forced him to grow up.

Tony: You are in charge of everything that you own: your money, your cell phone, your study, your future.

Cape Cod Academy started enrolling Chinese students five years ago. This year, there are 27. And 70 students in China applied for just five spots[位置]in the next freshman class.

Alexandra Tolischus, the school’s head of admissions, says the legacy of China’s one-child policy convinces parents to do what it takes to invest[投資]in their kids.

Alexandra: It’s not just the uber[超級(jí)的]-wealthy anymore. We used to see a lot of CEO children, but now we see families with incomes that aren’t quite so high, so they sacrifice[犧牲], you know, 60, 70% of their income is to send their children here.

When Catherine Zhao got here from Beijing, it took her a while to get used to small-town Cape Cod. There are no skyscrapers[摩天大樓]and everybody drives.

Reporter: What’s the biggest challenge for you? Catherine: Talk. In China, we learn English, we learned in class, we know how to write, how to read, but, there’s not too much opportunities [sic] to talk.

There’s homesickness, too. Some students Skype[網(wǎng)絡(luò)電話軟件]with their parents every day. Tony also talks about the stereotypes[偏見]he and other Chinese students face here.

Tony: I will say they, in general, think we’re math genius[天才], science genius. So, they just think, we are nerds[書呆子]that know nothing besides study. But, you know, to be honest, we are human being [sic] as well, so, we play sports. Another thing is, when they see us writing Chinese, they will be, like,“Oh my Gawd[上帝], how can you even do that, to communicate in such a complicated language?” To be honest, they don’t have, like, much understanding about what is China like now.

Realizing that is part of life here for Tony and his Chinese classmates. Catherine is taking the long view, and hopes to study piano at Boston’s Berkley School of Music. Tony wants to major in economics and education at Brown University. After, he says, he wants to go back to China and work on the education system there.

參考譯文

每年有成千上萬的國(guó)際學(xué)生就讀美國(guó)的私立中學(xué)，這會(huì)帶來一些嚴(yán)重的文化沖擊。

科德角學(xué)院位于美國(guó)馬薩諸塞州多元化程度最低的地區(qū)之一，那里幾乎沒有亞洲人，但在學(xué)校走廊里，情況就不一樣了。

這群學(xué)生在用普通話交談。托尼·張來自中國(guó)南部的貴陽，我問他在這里的第一天有什么感覺。

托尼：我不知道我必須穿有領(lǐng)的衣服。

他衣服沒穿對(duì)，另外，有些學(xué)生覺得他那鯔魚般前短后長(zhǎng)的發(fā)型很怪異。

托尼：在開始的幾個(gè)星期里，我沒有朋友。

托尼與大多數(shù)青少年不一樣，這不是因?yàn)樗岸毯箝L(zhǎng)的發(fā)型，而是因?yàn)樗x擇了到離家差不多八千英里（約1.28萬公里）的一所中學(xué)就讀。

托尼：我基本上把世界各國(guó)都考慮個(gè)遍，想找出更適合我未來發(fā)展的地方，我考慮過英國(guó)、澳大利亞、日本等地，最終我覺得我的未來在這里，我的答案就是這里。

托尼想體驗(yàn)一種新的文化，并在美國(guó)上大學(xué)。他說，此舉迫使他長(zhǎng)大。

托尼：所有的事情都是你自己說了算：自己的錢、手機(jī)，以及自己的學(xué)習(xí)與未來。

科德角學(xué)院在五年前開始招收中國(guó)學(xué)生，今年學(xué)校里共有27名中國(guó)學(xué)生?，F(xiàn)在有70名中國(guó)學(xué)生在為下學(xué)年新生班的五個(gè)學(xué)位競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

學(xué)校的招生負(fù)責(zé)人亞力山德拉·杜里斯克斯說，中國(guó)的獨(dú)生子女政策使家長(zhǎng)們覺得，他們必須盡其所能對(duì)孩子進(jìn)行投資。

亞力山德拉：現(xiàn)在不僅僅是超級(jí)富豪送孩子出國(guó)讀書。以前我們看到很多公司高管的孩子，但現(xiàn)在可以見到收入不那么高的家庭也把孩子送出國(guó)。你知道，他們會(huì)犧牲收入的百分之六七十，將孩子送到這里讀書。

凱瑟琳·趙從北京來到這里后，花了好一段時(shí)間才適應(yīng)了科德角的小城生活，這里沒有摩天大樓，人人都開車出行。

記者：對(duì)你來說最大的挑戰(zhàn)是什么？

凱瑟琳：交談。在中國(guó)，我們?cè)谡n堂上學(xué)英語，我們知道怎么寫、怎么讀，但沒有太多機(jī)會(huì)交談。

他們還面臨思鄉(xiāng)病的困擾。有些學(xué)生每天用網(wǎng)絡(luò)電話與父母聊天。托尼還談到他和其他中國(guó)學(xué)生在這里遇到的偏見。

托尼：這么說吧，他們通常認(rèn)為我們是數(shù)學(xué)天才、科學(xué)天才，所以，他們會(huì)覺得我們是除了學(xué)習(xí)什么都不懂的書呆子。但你知道，老實(shí)說，我們也是人，所以我們也會(huì)參加體育活動(dòng)。還有，如果他們看見我們書寫中文，就會(huì)說：“噢，天啊，你們?cè)趺磿?huì)用這么復(fù)雜的語言交流？”說實(shí)話，他們對(duì)當(dāng)今的中國(guó)并不太了解。

托尼及他的中國(guó)同學(xué)意識(shí)到，這些就是他們?cè)谶@里生活要面對(duì)的一部分。凱瑟琳著眼于長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)，希望能到波士頓的伯克利音樂學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)鋼琴；托尼則想去布朗大學(xué)主修經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)及教育。他說，以后他想回中國(guó)，參加教育系統(tǒng)的工作。