從中國到美國：小城高中的留學生活

⊙ By Daniel Gross

翻譯：Wendy

從中國到美國：小城高中的留學生活

⊙ By Daniel Gross

翻譯：Wendy

From China to High School in Small-Town America

美式發音 適合精聽

語速：180詞/分鐘

近年來，高中生出國留學的人數日漸增多。盡管高中生留學有其優勢，可他們在國外學習面臨的不適應問題要比大學生多，如果中國學生上學的地方并不是國外的大城市，這類問題尤為突出。現在我們就去美國看看幾位中國高中生的適應情況吧。

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[有領的]shirt.

He didn’t have the right clothes, and he had a haircut, a mullet[前短后長的發型], 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[網絡電話軟件]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際學生就讀美國的私立中學，這會帶來一些嚴重的文化沖擊。

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

這群學生在用普通話交談。托尼·張來自中國南部的貴陽，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的衣服。

他衣服沒穿對，另外，有些學生覺得他那鯔魚般前短后長的發型很怪異。

托尼：在開始的幾個星期里，我沒有朋友。

托尼與大多數青少年不一樣，這不是因為他前短后長的發型，而是因為他選擇了到離家差不多八千英里（約1.28萬公里）的一所中學就讀。

托尼：我基本上把世界各國都考慮個遍，想找出更適合我未來發展的地方，我考慮過英國、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。

托尼想體驗一種新的文化，并在美國上大學。他說，此舉迫使他長大。

托尼：所有的事情都是你自己說了算：自己的錢、手機，以及自己的學習與未來。

科德角學院在五年前開始招收中國學生，今年學校里共有27名中國學生。現在有70名中國學生在為下學年新生班的五個學位競爭。

學校的招生負責人亞力山德拉·杜里斯克斯說，中國的獨生子女政策使家長們覺得，他們必須盡其所能對孩子進行投資。

亞力山德拉：現在不僅僅是超級富豪送孩子出國讀書。以前我們看到很多公司高管的孩子，但現在可以見到收入不那么高的家庭也把孩子送出國。你知道，他們會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，花了好一段時間才適應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：對你來說最大的挑戰是什么？

凱瑟琳：交談。在中國，我們在課堂上學英語，我們知道怎么寫、怎么讀，但沒有太多機會交談。

他們還面臨思鄉病的困擾。有些學生每天用網絡電話與父母聊天。托尼還談到他和其他中國學生在這里遇到的偏見。

托尼：這么說吧，他們通常認為我們是數學天才、科學天才，所以，他們會覺得我們是除了學習什么都不懂的書呆子。但你知道，老實說，我們也是人，所以我們也會參加體育活動。還有，如果他們看見我們書寫中文，就會說：“噢，天啊，你們怎么會用這么復雜的語言交流？”說實話，他們對當今的中國并不太了解。

托尼及他的中國同學意識到，這些就是他們在這里生活要面對的一部分。凱瑟琳著眼于長遠，希望能到波士頓的伯克利音樂學院學習鋼琴；托尼則想去布朗大學主修經濟學及教育。他說，以后他想回中國，參加教育系統的工作。