VOA慢速英語:American Documents the Country’s First Exchange Students from China

This the VOA Special English Education Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報道。

Many thousands of Chinese are studying at schools in the United States. And writer Liel Leibovitz says the students are following an example that began in the eighteen seventies.

成千上萬的中國人在美國學(xué)校里就讀。作家利奧·萊博維茨(Liel Leibovitz)表示，這些學(xué)生追隨著始于19世紀70年代的榜樣。

Mr. Leibovitz and writer Matthew Miller joined forces to tell the story of the students in their book, "Fortunate Sons." The book says China sent one hundred twenty boys to America to learn about developments that could help modernize their country.

萊博維茨先生和作家馬修·米勒(Matthew Miller)強強聯(lián)手，在他們的著作《幸運之子》中講述了這些學(xué)生的故事。該書稱中國派遣了120名男童到美國學(xué)習(xí)可以幫助實現(xiàn)本國現(xiàn)代化的各類發(fā)展。

Mr. Leibovitz got the idea for the book about the boys a few years ago when he was traveling with his wife in China.

萊博維茨先生幾年前和妻子在中國旅游時產(chǎn)生了寫這本書的想法。

LIEL LEIBOVITZ: "One afternoon it was raining in Beijing, and so we decided to stay in our hotel room and flip through television stations. And we came across this very arresting photograph of a young Chinese boy dressed in what appeared to be traditional Chinese dress. And he was standing next to a building that was very clearly Yale University."

萊博維茨：“一天下午，北京下著雨，所以我們決定呆在酒店翻看電視，無意中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張非常引人注意的照片，一個中國小男孩穿的似乎是中國傳統(tǒng)服飾，站在一幢建筑旁，那明顯是耶魯大學(xué)。”

Mr. Leibovitz learned that the Qing government sent a whole delegation of boys to learn the ways of the West. The goal was for them to return to China and help their country.

萊博維茨先生了解到清政府派遣了一個代表團的男童學(xué)習(xí)西方的發(fā)展道路，其目的是讓他們回到中國幫助自己的國家發(fā)展。

LIEL LEIBOVITZ: "A little bit later on, I was delighted and amazed to discover that these boys, who later turned out to be very, very remarkable men, had left behind an archive of letters, of diaries, of closing articles detailing their entire journey and also what happened to them once they finally returned to China."

萊博維茨：“沒過多久，我欣喜并驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)這些男孩后來成為了非常了不起的人。他們留下了詳細記述他們整個在美國的經(jīng)歷，以及回國后經(jīng)歷的歸檔的信件、日記和文字。”

The book says the boys received their American training in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It must have been a very good education. Mr. Leibovitz says the first prime minister of the Chinese Republic completed this program. And so did the first engineer to build a large-scale railroad without foreign help. The same was true of the fathers of Chinese education, diplomacy and the Navy.

該書稱，這些男孩在馬薩諸塞州，紐約州，新澤西州和康涅狄格州受到了他們的美國培訓(xùn)。那肯定是非常一次好的教育。萊博維茨表示，中華民國首位總理就完成了這項課程，還包括在沒有外國幫助的情況下建設(shè)了大規(guī)模鐵路的首位工程師，以及中國教育、外交和海軍之父。

51voa 注：首位總理指唐紹儀;首位鐵路工程師指詹天佑，他也被稱為中國鐵路之父。后面提到的中國教育、外交和海軍之父在作者眼中分別指誰不得而知。51VOA猜測，教育之父可能指清華首任校長唐國安，外交之父可能指梁敦彥，留美幼童中41人進入過海軍，海軍之父不知指誰。

The book-writers had only to open some boxes containing the writings of these men to learn about them. Their notebooks, journals, letters and postcards were in English. Mr. Leibovitz said he was lucky to have so much information from events that took place long ago.

該書作者只能打開裝有這些人著作的一些箱子去了解他們。他們的筆記、日記、信件和明信片都是英文。萊博維茨先生表示，他很幸運有這么多發(fā)生在很久以前的事件的信息。

LIEL LEIBOVITZ: "It was an unbelievable gift. I was expecting a lot of piecing together. And instead, we were amazed to find how meticulous these men had been about documenting their lives."

萊博維茨：“這是一份不可思議的禮物。我以為會是很多拼湊。但我們驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)這些人如此細致地記錄了他們的生活。”

The students returned to China after about nine years. They no longer spoke Mandarin well enough to answer questions. Police welcomed them home by putting them in jail. The young men were released after about a week. But they were given low-level jobs.

這些學(xué)生們約9年后回到中國，他們普通話說得不再好到足以回答問題。警方把他們投進了監(jiān)獄作為見面禮，大約一個星期后才被釋放。但他們獲得的職位不高。

Mister Leibovitz says it took about ten years for them to rise to higher positions. He said their story continues today with large numbers of Chinese studying in the United States.

萊博維茨先生說，他們花了近10年才升上高的職位。他說，現(xiàn)在大量中國人在美國學(xué)習(xí)，他們的故事得以延續(xù)至今。