詩和遠方，都寫在非洲的日子里

● 蔡 儀 嚴粒粒

浙江理工大學(xué)退休教師赴毛里求斯任教兩年

張也頻不僅教學(xué)生如何讀寫漢字，更注重將漢字背后所蘊含的文化精神傳達給學(xué)生。她在講到結(jié)構(gòu)問題時，就特意借用國畫的“密不插針”“疏可跑馬”等審美文化，讓學(xué)生在學(xué)習漢字的同時逐漸認識中華文化。

學(xué)生送張也頻（右）生日禮物。A student presents Zhang Yepin (right) with a gift on her birthday.

“盤旋復(fù)盤旋，我聽到渡渡鳥在歌唱；飛舞再飛舞，海明威拽住彩虹的翅膀：瞧，這就是毛里求斯——天堂的原鄉(xiāng)……”

在毛里求斯授教中文兩年的浙江理工大學(xué)退休教師張也頻，將萬千思緒化作行云流水的詩句，創(chuàng)作了長詩《毛里求斯，我美麗的夢鄉(xiāng)》，將漢語和中國文化傳播到了異國他鄉(xiāng)。

日記記錄兩年非洲生活

張也頻退休前是浙江理工大學(xué)的一名對外漢語教師，有著豐富的教學(xué)經(jīng)驗。2017年春，63歲、已經(jīng)退休的張也頻，作為國家公派教師前往毛里求斯任教。

為盡快適應(yīng)當?shù)氐纳詈凸ぷ?，張也頻在出國前做了大量功課。但各種困難還是接踵而來。

張也頻抵達兩個月后，寢室里才接通了網(wǎng)絡(luò)；因修輕軌，交通嚴重堵塞，老師們要坐公交車上下班，五六公里路來回要倒4次車、耗費幾個小時。

最難的還是語言障礙。毛里求斯的官方語言雖然是英語，但常用語是法語。當?shù)刂挥蟹ㄕZ報紙，電視、電臺基本上是法語和克里奧爾語（非洲土語與法語的混合語）。不過，這難不住張也頻積極融入當?shù)厣睢?/p>

當然，這兩年的經(jīng)歷對張也頻來說是全新的。她有每天記日記的習慣，不僅記錄日常生活與工作，也記錄當?shù)氐臍夂?、物候與節(jié)日習俗。

毛里求斯是一個天然植物園。張也頻在當?shù)卣J識了幾百種熱帶花卉、樹木，并自學(xué)植物分類。比如，她發(fā)現(xiàn)毛里求斯很難拍攝到單獨的一種植物，總是你纏著我、我繞著它，藤繞著樹、樹連著花、花纏著草，“這點與中國的城市綠化區(qū)別很大?！?/p>

張也頻（右）過生日時彈琴給學(xué)生們聽。Zhang Yepin (right) plays music on a keyboard at her birthday party.

張也頻在微信朋友圈發(fā)了200多集圖文并茂的“好想認識你”毛里求斯植物專題，不少學(xué)生成了“好想認識你”的忠實粉絲，這也成了一個師生交流的園地。

在毛里求斯，第一次從太陽投影的不同方向意識到身處遙遠的南半球時，張也頻頓心生鄉(xiāng)愁；聽到學(xué)生用生硬的漢語熱情問候時，她又頓覺溫暖。當聽說不少華僑當年因不識字，由英國簽證官按相近的發(fā)音寫姓氏，以至于今天“Lam”姓（實際含“李、林、黎”）華僑三姓不分的往事，張也頻更覺得有責任教好每一堂課……這無數(shù)個“第一次”，就是張也頻的詩與遠方。

方塊漢字的講究

張也頻在毛里求斯的學(xué)生，年齡最大的82歲，最小的不到6周歲。因為是業(yè)余學(xué)習，每周課時少，間隔時間又長，學(xué)生們學(xué)習漢語成了難事。

張也頻認為，營造更好更多的有聲環(huán)境、設(shè)計有趣有效的練習是關(guān)鍵。為了幫助學(xué)生更輕松有效地掌握漢字的發(fā)音，張也頻結(jié)合普通話和學(xué)生母語的差異，針對發(fā)音偏差，編寫了兒歌等有韻輔助材料，比如《小魚和小貓》——“一條小魚水中游，一只小貓岸上走?！◆~小魚快上來，我要和你做游戲！’‘小貓小貓你下來，游來游去真開心！’”

對于漢字教學(xué)，張也頻不僅教學(xué)生如何讀寫漢字，更注重將漢字背后所蘊含的文化精神傳達給學(xué)生。比如，針對留學(xué)生寫漢字豎畫不直的問題，她從竹簡木牘講起，說中國古代條狀直立的竹簡要求豎畫挺拔有力，要像棟梁一樣在字中起支撐作用。留學(xué)生常常把多筆畫的字寫得很“膨脹”，張也頻在講到結(jié)構(gòu)問題時，就特意借用國畫的“密不插針”“疏可跑馬”等審美文化，讓學(xué)生在學(xué)習漢字的同時逐漸認識中華文化。

盡管在漢字教學(xué)上張也頻已經(jīng)有了不少經(jīng)驗，但總有新問題、新挑戰(zhàn)讓她獲得新知。這是張也頻喜歡教學(xué)工作的一大原因。

比如，有學(xué)生將“同”字“橫折豎鉤”的“鉤”拉得很長。第一次給他改了之后，學(xué)生學(xué)寫“高”字，老毛病重現(xiàn)。張也頻仔細推敲，恍然大悟，原來該同學(xué)用拉丁文的“J”來幫助記憶“橫折豎鉤”的“鉤”。而“J”的“鉤”是要寫在下面第三格的。所以“同”“高”中的“J”當然也要伸出長腿。張也頻以此為例，講解方塊漢字的均衡穩(wěn)重之美，并做了一個“金雞獨立”站不穩(wěn)的姿勢，全班同學(xué)在笑聲中解決了漢字結(jié)構(gòu)問題。

方塊漢字不僅帶有先天的平衡，也講究變化與靈動。比如“川”字，原本是三豎，現(xiàn)在左為撇、中短豎、右長豎，體現(xiàn)了“川”字的流動之美。

而對于“三”字，張也頻告訴學(xué)生，漢字是picture：“三”猶如女性的三條水平線——上橫是肩膀，中間短橫是細腰，下面的長橫可以想象成女性裙擺的寬度。上中兩橫距離稍近，中下兩橫之間距離較遠。這符合人體上身短下身長的審美觀。三個橫畫不是死板的直線，要變化有致，富有生氣。

盡管年過花甲，張也頻依然喜歡學(xué)習，對新鮮事充滿好奇。

在毛里求斯，張也頻既是老師，也是學(xué)生。她向?qū)W生學(xué)英語，“雖然毛里求斯英語的發(fā)音有較重的法國味，但不妨多聽聽。”她順便還跟著一位朋友旁聽了一年鋼琴課。

她關(guān)心華僑的歷史與現(xiàn)狀，關(guān)心毛里求斯的過去與明天；她拍照，發(fā)微信，寫日記，練琴，偶爾寫寫不太像詩的詩句。

當被問及回國后怎么安排退休生活時，張也頻不好意思地說：“還真沒好好想過呢，學(xué)習和旅游應(yīng)該是主要的內(nèi)容?！濒斞赶壬f過：“無窮的遠方，無數(shù)的人們，都與我有關(guān)?！睆堃差l的安排也許會因為那些“遠方”的“人們”而不斷變化。

《毛里求斯，我美麗的夢鄉(xiāng)》（節(jié)選）

張也頻

盤旋復(fù)盤旋

我聽到渡渡鳥在歌唱

飛舞再飛舞

海明威拽住彩虹的翅膀：

瞧，這就是毛里求斯

天堂的原鄉(xiāng)

火山坦露出黝黑的胸膛

椰樹挺拔瀟灑綠葉修長

熱烘烘的海風親吻著我

毛里求斯張開熱情的臂膀

我睜大眼睛

仰望，藍花楹藍到神怡心曠

俯視，碧綠的蕨草撩撥著我的衣裳

側(cè)目一看，火龍果火龍花綴滿枝條

回首遠眺，鳳凰花點燃了天邊的富麗堂皇

我屏息傾聽

雨打芭蕉陣陣，伴著鐘聲悠揚

鄰婦灑掃庭除，院內(nèi)小狗汪汪

雀兒滴溜清脆，鴿子咕咕嘎嘎

我聽到了毛島晨曲的交響

……

七百多個日日夜夜

我們憑著漢語這道美麗的彩虹

兩年的上課下課，課上課下

我們共同書寫了華麗的篇章

我愛夢想

還愛在夢中歌唱

新的華彩新的樂章——

毛里求斯，我美麗的夢鄉(xiāng)

Two Years in Mauritius

By Cai Yi, Yan Lili

張也頻和同事們。Zhang Yepin and her colleagues pose for group photo at Confucius Institute at University of Mauritius in celebration of the first anniversary of the institute.

Zhang Yepin, a retiree and former teacher at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Hangzhou, spread the beauty of the Chinese language and the charming Chinese culture by teaching Chinese and Chinese culture there for two years. And she wrote poems brimming with emotions in Mauritius, which she calls “a paradise” far, far away from her hometown. One of her poems is Mauritius,My Beautiful Dreamland, in which she releases her sentiments in the singing of dodoes and the changing hues of the rainbow of Hemingway.

回國前，與面包店的老伙計道別。Zhang Yepin pays a visit to a bakery and says farewell to the baker before she comes back to China.

A TCSL (Teaching Chinese as a Second Language)teacher with vast experiences, Zhang Yepin boarded the plane that took her to the Republic of Mauritius in the spring of 2017. Though before the start of the journey she had done a lot of preparation work for her work and life in Africa, it turned out everything was a lot more dif ficult to handle than expected. She had to wait for two months to have the proper Internet services installed in her dorm.The ongoing construction of light-rail transit caused serious traffic congestion, forcing her and her fellow teachers to spend hours every working day on the bus going to work and coming back to their living places.

The biggest headache was the language barrier. Although English is used as the official language in Mauritius, most locals speak French. French is also the language used by the local newspapers,with Creole (a hybrid of French and the local dialect) used by local TV and radio services.

During her two years in Mauritius, Zhang Yepin kept a diary to record her daily life and work, as well as the local goings-on. Living in what is dubbed “a natural botanical garden”, Zhang Yepin took the opportunity to train herself into a “botanist”. The country's splendid scene of tropical flora kept surprising, amazing and enchanting her, making her want to explore more in this wonderland of exotic plants. Zhang has been sharing with her friends on We-Chat what she experienced in the island country in the southwest Indian Ocean. Her photo essays themed into a column-style series,titledGetting to Know You - Plants in Mauritius, have drawn many followers among her former students in China.

East or west, home is the best. Sometimes, nostalgia would swell up and take over, making her realize how far away she was from home. The sun rose in the east, but the shadow of everything was a reminder of her being in a different hemisphere.

“When my students in the island country greeted me with clumsy Chinese, I felt warm and rewarded, and I realized what I was there for,” she recalls.

The ages of Zhang's students in Mauritius ranged from 6 to 82,which brought more difficulties to language teaching. All the students were taking classes on a part-time basis. Zhang Yepin had to make the best of every class, racking her brains to make the learning process as interesting and effective as possible. One of her innovations was to use Chinese children's songs to improve the pronunciation of the students.

When it came to handwriting, Zhang tried her best to explain the cultural connotation behind Chinese characters, incorporating pictographic ideas into the explanation so that the students could get a feel about the basic rules and origin of the structure of Chinese characters.

For Zhang Yepin, the joy of teaching comes from not only experiences but also problems and challenges. For the students, the strokes of Chinese characters made little sense. She used a calligraphic approach to explain the aesthetic reasons behind the evolution of some of the basic Chinese characters such as “川” and “三”.

“Calligraphically speaking, the character ‘川', meaning ‘a(chǎn) river'in Chinese, is structured to display the beautiful fl ow of the stream,”she explained to her students.

In her two years in Mauritius, Zhang Yepin was a teacher as well as a student too. She learned how her students spoke English, and learned some basics of piano playing. The life of the local Chinese community, as well as the history of the country, also fascinated her. The multifaceted nature of the country, with its unique neighborhoods, rich history, deeply layered culture, and friendly, genuine people made the Chinese retiree come to appreciate what a true gem it is.

When asked what her plan is back in China after the teaching program here, she replies, “I haven't any plan yet, but learning and traveling is for sure. I am going to see more of the world and meet more people.”