2013-12-12

【Aiden in English】

        Today, our cruise ship would be at sea for the whole day. Since much time needed to be saved, I checked to see if the other kids were on board and hung around for a while. I found them quickly because you could hear their shouts a mile away.

        Just as expected, all the other children waited for me. Excluding me from the USA, two Kiwis, two Canadians, and one Mexican aged from five to 16 years old consisted of less than 1% out of 643 guests in the population. Sam (16) and Emily (14) were siblings from Auckland, Alex (14) and Nick (12) were brothers from Vancouver, and I became the second youngest at 10 after Carlos (five) came from Mexico City. They were already at the table-tennis. So, I walked over and asked to play. As soon as it began, Alex and Nick started fighting. I couldn't tell if we were playing table tennis or dodgeball with a ping-pong ball. Sam and Emily were moving out of the way wherever the brothers went, and Carlos hit the balls as hard as he could.

        Two Teenage Kiwis were awfully quiet. Every time we tried to get them to talk, they would just refuse and look away. The only time they even made a sound was when Nick threw a ball at them. I kind of understood the age difference between us, but still, why not have some fun? Carlos was a different matter altogether. He barely spoke English and sounded okay with his native tongue, Spanish. Plus, his parents were not here to translate for him.

        I was just trying to get a normal table tennis game, but those brothers kept messing up. By the time they settled down, it was almost dinner time. Carlos, Sam, and Emily were gone, and I had to leave, too.

        Sometimes, the most challenging thing isn't playing with others but understanding them.

【红霞译】

       今个儿游轮全天海上航行。为打发时间，我盘算着何不找同伴一起玩耍。远隔一英里开外，吆喝声呐喊声交织传来，我循声而去，毋需费时即找到了他们。

       如期所望，同伴们也在等待我的出现。除我个人来自美国而外，两位兄妹山姆(16岁)和艾米丽(14岁)来自新西兰奥克兰，两位兄弟亚历克斯(14岁)和尼克(12岁)来自加拿大温哥华，一位小不点卡洛斯(五岁)来自墨西哥城，共有六位在读学生，年龄分布不等，约占全部643位乘客不到1%的比例，10岁的我排行倒数第二。看到他们正在打乒乓球，我走过去请求一起参加。等比赛刚刚拉开序幕，亚历克斯和尼克立刻争来争去互不相让，没过多久，我便分不清他们是在打乒乓还是玩追身球游戏，山姆和艾米丽见状躲来闪去，生怕被球击中。

       山姆和艾米丽两位大一点的青少年默不作声，每当我们主动搭讪时，他俩都金口难开，并很快转移视线，直到尼克扔球打中了他们，才偶尔听到支言片语。猜得出来，彼此之间年龄差距还是起到不小作用，可是为何不借机寻欢作乐呢﹖卡洛斯另当别论，他非但英语不灵，甚至连自己的母语西班牙话也说得不利落，况且他父母又不在身边，没人替他翻译。

       而我则尽量争取打乒乓球，但那哥俩北方汉不断搅局，等好不容易消停下来，晚饭时间已到。卡洛斯、山姆和艾米丽纷纷离去，我也该走了。

       看来，有时候最难做的事情不在于如何跟别人玩，而在于怎样理解对方。

Pingpong Tournament (乒乓球循环赛)

English Afternoon Tea (英式午茶 12-12-2013)

Grand Dining @ Nautica Oceania (“大洋·航海”号游轮——大餐厅)

Crosslink(相关博文):

Across the Indian Ocean(穿越印度洋)