春阳：当年，我们这些海一代们离开中国，国外安身立命。随着中国经济的迅速发展，我们的海二代们却又纷纷回到中国去学习，工作。在海二代的眼里， 当今中国又是什么样子的呢？今年夏天，我女儿去北京实习，回来写下这篇短文，从某个角度，也可以看出海二代对中国的认识的改变。
译文
“北京，我去过好几次了。 不过以前我总是准备好随时离开，因为每次都是匆匆忙忙地从一个景点到另一景点。我的感觉就是无止无休地坐车和被导游带着到处转而已。而今年夏天却大不一 样。要想感受和了解一个城市，再没有比住在那里更好的方法了，虽说对这个城市来说，两个月是远远不够的。我觉得我才刚刚开始理解与欣赏这里的文化和历史， 而这两样是北京最不缺乏的东西。
今年的暑假，我跟随学校的一个项目---到北京的一个非盈利组织去实习8 个星期。这是我第一次住在美国以外的国家，我必须承认我成长了。我以前从没在非英语国住过。去北京以前，我想象着北京肯定到处都是英语路标，因为我以前去的时候，到处都是旅游点啊。现实是那么迅速而有力地教育了我：北京，可不仅仅是个大旅游点啊！
我在中国的时候，我和我周围的人，都听出了我的中文口语的进步。有了我的同事和同学的帮助，我的词汇和阅读能力很快就从可怜的低级水平提高了。到了快回来的时候，我发现自己读路牌的时候，居然是先试着读中文，而不是像以前那样，忙着找英语或着汉语拼音。
一件最令人兴奋的事，是我第一次单独坐出租车。刚开始的时候，我都是依靠我的同学，因为她的中文我说得好。有一天我必须一个人到不同的地方去办一件 事。除了坐出租车，我没有别的办法。我试着告诉司机那个地址，可是我根本不知道那个地方，也没法跟他解释。我们走丢了一小会儿，后来还是找到了。我觉得很 高兴，我居然成功地在外国坐了一次出租车。因为就在到北京去以前，当妈妈告诉我要学会搭出租车的时候，我还问她“出租车”是什么？
随着时间的推移，我对周围的环境也越来越熟悉。我甚至大胆地试着和人砍价钱。我觉得在秀水街（一个旅游者的大陷阱）和小贩们砍价是一件很有意思的事。 一次我看上了一件衣服，但是标价是一千多块人民币。我和同学一起，所以我们在说英语。所以小贩知道我们是来自美国就想卖个高价。我当然知道他的想法，就把 衣服放回去了。他问我想出多少钱，因为他很想卖。我说75块而且一直坚持着。最后，我们都同意80块卖给我，比1000块好多啦！我觉得这真是一件好玩而 又实用的事，因为我真的省了钱啦！
我工作的地方是一个非盈利组织叫A-Bridge-for-Children International(ABC) . 我的这次实习，也把我带进了教书这个神奇的领域，这是我以前从来没有想过的事。刚开始的时候，我的上级告诉我说，给我一个星期的时间，让我准备当一个英语 老师。我真的是又急又怕，要知道我这辈子还没给人上过课，就连家教都没做过。我对自己是不是有资格做一个老师，一点也没有把握。可我的上级鼓励我说，那一 定是一个很好的学习过程。我当英语老师的三周，无疑是我这次实习生活中最有意义也最有成就感的三周。用那些怪腔怪调的英语和我的学生交谈，让我时而沮丧， 时而快乐。
我的学生们学习新单词的时候总是很兴奋。我们有时候也做一些小课题。有一天，我教他们一些国家的名字。用一个“我来自。。。”和“我是。。。”我们交 换着用中英文，我问他们还知道别的国家的名字吗（有一些学生学过一些。）？他们开始问我很多不同国家的名字。一个学生问我“金星”怎么说。可是我不知道 “金星”是什么意思。后来我才知道我的学生想知道怎么说“我来自金星”。
我每天都会给他们布置家庭作业，第二天收回来。有一天改作业的时候，我发现两张作业都是一个学生的名字。而另外有个学生没交。不幸的是，比较了两张作业以后，我们发现犯的错误也是一样。原来是一个学生抄别人作业的时候，把别人名字也抄上去了。
这个夏天当然也不可能是十分完美的。北京的烟尘，雾霾真的可怕。特别是再加上炎热和潮湿，让人感到烦躁，更觉得办公室的时间很难熬。哎呀，不说天气 了。那个非盈利组织的大老板让我感到我应该到国外学习和工作。五月份回中国以前，我很肯定地认为：这是最后一次了，我以后也许再也不会去了。我从来没有对 这个国家感到非常接近，因为环境和我习惯的地方差别太大了。
回头看看，我的这些不好的印象主要是来自每次天气（都很热）和繁忙的出游时间表。这次真正住在这个国家的经验，使我对她的印象变好了。北京，那里还有很多我要看，要学的东西。 所以我一定还会再去。那里已经不再是我的父母所熟悉的地方了，（近几十年来，北京已经演变成了一个全新的大都市）但是，我还是能更多地感觉到我的文化传承。我也感觉到了这段不同的文化的经历对我今后生活的影响，我以后还会向往到更多不同的国家去生活。
“原文 By XTT
I've been to Beijing a few times, but in the past, I have always been ready to leave after just a few days of shuffling around from landmark to landmark. It always felt like an endless cycle of long bus rides and being herded around with a tour group. This summer couldn't have been more different. There is simply no better way to experience a place than to spend some time living in it, yet two months wasn't even enough for this city. I feel like I've just begun to appreciate the culture and history - two things that Beijing has no shortage of.
This summer, I registered a program in School to work for a Non-profit organization in Beijing. It was my first time living outside of the U.S., and I can honestly say that I've grown. Never have I had to live in a place where English was not the primary language. Before I arrived in Beijing, I had imagined that there would be plenty of English signs because that was true for all of the tourist attractions that I had previously visited. The truth hit me hard and fast: Beijing isn't just one big tourist attraction.
During my time in China, I, and several of the people around me, could hear obvious improvements in my spoken Chinese. With the help of my coworkers and classmates, I expanded my vocabulary and reading skills to a less pitiful level. By the end of the summer, I found myself first trying to read the Chinese characters on signs rather than scanning the English or pinyin, like I usually would.
One very exciting day for me was the first time I took a taxi alone. For the first portion of the trip, I relied mostly on my classmates whose Chinese speaking skills were better than mine. Then there was a day that I had to go to a different location for one of my company's projects, and I had no means of getting there aside from by taxi. I attempted to explain the address to my taxi driver, but I wasn't familiar with the area so I wasn't very clear to him. We got a little lost, but ended up finding the correct location after I showed him the address. I was very excited to have successfully taken a taxi on my own in a foreign country. Because just before we left for Beijing, when my mother told me that I need to learn how to call a “出租车”, I asked her: what is “出租车” in Chinese.
As time passed and I became more comfortable with my surroundings, I even grew the courage to do a little bargaining. I had fun haggling over some trinkets at Silk Street (秀水街) - a big tourist trap. One day when I was there, I found a dress that I really liked. I asked the shopkeeper about the price, and he said it would be over 1000RMB. I was with my other classmates, and we were speaking English, so he knew that we were American and wanted to get a good deal out of us. I knew much better than that and immediately put the dress back onto the rack. He quickly asked me how much I would pay for it because he still wanted to sell it. I said 75RMB and held my ground. In the end, we agreed at 80RMB - much better than 1000! . I felt it was both fun and rewarding because I actually managed to bring down the costs!
I spent the summer working at a non-profit organization called A Bridge for Children International (ABC). My internship introduced me to the wonderful world of teaching, which I probably would never have even considered otherwise. Initially, when my supervisor told me that I had a week to prepare to teach English lessons, I was shocked and anxious. I had never taught before in my life - not even tutoring. I was so uncertain about my qualifications as a teacher, but my supervisor assured me that it would be a great learning experience. The three weeks I spent as an English teacher were undoubtedly the most rewarding and meaningful weeks of my internship. It was both frustrating and delightful to wrestle through the quirks of the English language with my students. There is nothing quite like sharing knowledge.
My students were always very excited to learn new vocabulary, and sometimes we would get a little off topic. One day I was teaching names of countries, nationalities, and the sentences "I come from ____" and "I am ____". We started out with America/China and American/Chinese. I asked if they knew the names of other countries (many of the students had some English knowledge already), and they started asking me how to say many different country names. One student even asked me how to say "金星", but I didn't know what it was! Only later did I learn that it was "Venus" - my students wanted to know how to say "I come from Venus"!
Every day I assigned written homework to them, and I collected it the next day. One day, while grading the homework assignments, I found that there were two homework assignments with the same name on them, and one student who was missing the homework. Unfortunately, after comparing those two papers, we found that the same mistakes were made. It turns out one student copied another student's homework, but he accidentally copied the name over too!
The summer was not a perfect experience of course. The smog, fog and clouds of Beijing can really hit you hard. Especially when combined with the heat and humidity, the dreary haze made days in the office drag on endlessly. Weather woes aside, the CEO of the program has made me certain that I want to spend time working abroad. Before I left for China in May, I was mostly certain that it would be my last time there for an indefinite length of time. I had never felt closely connected with the country simply because the environment is so different from what I had been used to.
Looking back, these negative associations I've had with China and Beijing probably come from a combination of the weather and exhausting tour schedules. The experience of actually living in this country has transformed that opinion for the better. There is still so much that I have to see and learn from this city, so I have no doubt that we'll meet again. It may not be the same culture that my parents grew up in (Beijing has surely morphed into an unrecognizable urban center in the decades that have passed since they last lived here), but I certainly feel more in touch with my heritage. I've felt the impact that experiencing a different culture can make on my life, and I look forward to living in more countries in the future.
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