美国人留学英国也有文化冲突？

原著：珍妮佛·布拉格  编译：毛里林

中国学生去欧美留学，往往会遭遇到强烈的文化冲突(culture shock)。然而，令人意外的是，一个似乎没有语言障碍的美国人在英国留学，其生活居然也充满重重挑战？

A Temporary Home Away from Home

By Jennifer Bragg

For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world, preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries rather than to just visit as a tourist. It has become a big part of my identity as an adult and shaped how I see the world and myself.

20多年来，我一直在游居世界各地，宁愿经常在不同国家或地区度过一两年，而不是仅仅以游客身份去参观，这已成为我成年身份的主要生活组成部分，塑造着我的世界观，引导我如何看待这个世界。

My first taste of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was selected among a small group of college classmates to spend a year abroad. This was long before people could travel the world vicariously [1] through social media like Facebook, Instagram and Weibo. In order to see a place, you had to go there and experience it firsthand.

我19岁时开始体验这种神奇般的生活。那年我从一群大学生中被选拔出国留学一年。人们早就可以间接地通过如脸谱网、朋友圈和微博等社交媒体周游世界。不过，要真正地了解一个地方，你得去那里亲身体验。

I was raised in a middle-class family and couldn’t afford to travel around the world the way I wished I could. My only exposure to the world outside was through letters I wrote to pen-pals from over a dozen countries as a kid, and from television. One thing I loved on television growing up were the hilarious [2] British comedies that aired every Saturday night on my local public television station. So when I got the chance to apply for a study abroad program, I chose London. (Plus, I spoke the language.)  

我只是生长在一个中产阶级家庭，不能像我希望的那样周游世界。我所能接触到外部世界的方式只是：孩提时，我借助电视给10多国家的笔友写信。我还喜欢的一件事就是伴随周六晚地方公共电视台播放的滑稽英国喜剧而成长。所以当我有机会申请出国留学计划时，我选择了伦敦。(优势：我说英语。)  

Junior Year Abroad, or JYA, is a program that allows American college students to study in another country during their junior year, usually through his or her own university or through a university that has a study-abroad program. JYA has been around for nearly 100 years.

Junior Year Abroad，或JYA，是一个“大三出国留学”项目。通常是通过学生所在的大学或有出国留学计划的大学，允许美国大学生在大三阶段去国外留学。该留学项目已有将近百年的历史。

In 1921, a young professor at the University of Delaware[3] named Raymond W. Kirkbride proposed the idea of sending students to study in another country. Kirkbride was a World War I veteran and saw the ugly side of humanity through war. Yet he spent time in France during the war and enjoyed the people and culture. Later, as a professor, he thought that sending students to other countries would help promote cross-cultural understanding. So, in 1923, Kirkbride organized a trip for eight juniors from the University of Delaware to sail to France. Today, the JYA program is offered to thousands of students across the United States and around the world.

1921年，一个名叫Raymond W. Kirkbride的德拉瓦大学的年轻教授提出了派遣学生到别国留学的观念。他曾是一战老兵，参战经历让他看到了人性丑陋的一面。然而，一战期间他在法国度过了一段时光，与当地人相处，并体验到当地文化。后来，作为一名教授，他认为派遣学生到其他国家留学将有助于促进跨文化理解。因此，他1923年组织了8名德拉瓦大学大三学生走海路去法国研学。如今，成千上万的美国及世界各地的学生都可享受这种留学服务。 

Living abroad can be exciting, scary and challenging. I thought it would be easier because I spoke the language, but I relished the little differences between the British and American culture and language. Instead of ground beef [4]they called it “mince”. Instead of garbage they called it “rubbish”. Once, at Christmas, I went to a supermarket and asked if they had egg nog[5]. Egg nog is a very creamy drink seasoned with nutmeg and is delicious and traditional to drink in some American families. The man at the supermarket told me he had never heard of it, and I was really surprised!

生活在国外可能令人兴奋，但可怕且富有挑战性。我原以为，我说英语，生活在英国会一帆风顺，而且可以品尝英美国文化和语言之间的细微差异。他们称“碎牛肉”为“mince”，而不是“ground beef”。他们称“垃圾”为 “rubbish”，而非“garbage”。有一次，我圣诞节去超市，问他们是否有蛋奶酒。蛋奶酒是一种用奶油调肉豆蔻而成的美味饮料，是一些美国家庭的传统饮料。超市的那位营业员居然告诉我他从来都没有听说过圣诞节饮料，让我十分惊讶！

I also learned that in England, they spell words differently than in the U.S. In British spelling, they put a “u” in words like favor to make it “favor” and an “s” in words like analyze to make it “analyze”. I was able to adapt quickly to this new way of writing since I was submitting papers all the time for my classes.

我还了解到，一些单词的拼写与美国的有所不同。英国人把“favor”拼写成“favour”，将“analyze”拼成“analyse”。不过，因为我一直用英式拼写方式写课程论文，所以我很快就适应了这种新的拼写作方式。

Academically, I got to take classes that weren’t offered at my college back home. I took a film class and was introduced to the “classics” with works by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles [6]. I had a course in sociology and learned about the native people of Papua New Guinea.

在学业上，我得选择我在美国大学里学不到的课程。我选了一门电影课，学习文学名著，如阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克和奥逊·威尔斯的作品经典。我还选修了一门社会学课程，即介绍巴布亚新几内亚的土著人。

But there were also challenges that year too. One of my classes was called “Europe Since 1870”. In the U.S., I would have expected an introductory history class, but in England, I was supposed to have already known the history; now was the time to analyze it. That meant I not only had to learn the history as I went along, but also I had to try to write a paper explaining why certain events happened as they did. Once, a teaching assistant who did not take kindly to[7] my misunderstanding of an assignment berated me in front of a fellow student one day. I remember going back to my student house and crying afterwards for being so stupid. Of course, I know now that I was thrown into the deep end[8], in a completely different and far more challenging environment, and it was natural that I wouldn’t understand everything easily. Despite this, I don’t regret anything about my time in London. Even through painful experiences, we learn to grow.

但是我留学那年也有挑战。有一门课叫作“1870年以来的欧洲 ”，如果在美国，我会期待是一门历史介绍课，可在英国，却是一门假定学生已经知道这段历史，主要是分析这段历史的课。这就意味着我不仅要学习历史，还得写出分析这段历史的论文。论文要求解释某些事情为什么会那样地发生。有一次，一位助教因我对所布置任务的误解，就当着同学们的面很不友好地指责我。记得回到宿舍，我哭得一塌糊涂。当然现在我知道，当时的我一下子陷入了困境，面对的是一个与之前完全不同的、充满挑战的环境，理解任何东西对我来说都有困难也是自然。尽管如此，我对在伦敦的岁月一点也不后悔，反而觉得这段痛苦的经历让我快速地成长。 

Sometimes the difficult times made me sad and homesick. But luckily that was outweighedby the amazing experience I had getting to know people from all over the world. I met dozens of interesting people from places like France, Greece and Germany in Europe, to Rwanda, Palestine and Australia. Learning how to make friends with people from different cultures and backgrounds was really fun, and these new friends helped put a face to the countries they represented.

艰难的日子有时让我倍感感到悲伤和万分地想家。所幸的是，这段时光非常地有价值。我结识了来自世界各地有趣的人，如欧洲的法国人、希腊人和德国人等，以及卢旺达、巴勒斯坦和澳大利亚等地的人。学会如何与来自不同文化背景的人交朋友真是一件令人生趣的事情，这些新朋友也帮助我把他们的面孔和他们所代表的国家一一对应起来。 

Academically, because there are so many differences between the British and American grading systems, my overall grades were adjusted upwards to account for the degree of difficulty in acclimating to the British educational structure. In the end, I did pretty well, considering I was like a fish out of water[9] in a totally new learning environment.

在学业方面，由于英美的分数评价体系迥异，所以我的综合分数有所上调，以适应英国教育结构的课程难度。鉴于我是在一个全新的学习环境中学习，最终 我的表现非常出色。

As I finished the academic year, I was torn inside about leaving London after such a transformative experience. I learned so much about myself as a young woman and an American. When I returned to my college for my final year, friends and professors saw a new me. I had more maturity and self-awareness that I hadn’t had before. It was difficult at first to adjust back to American college life, almost like I hadn’t had the most amazing year of my life and I was simply back for my senior year. But I know, inside, this was just the beginning of a future of world travel and a love of different people and cultures.

当我完成学业时，我就像经历了一次巨变离开伦敦。作为一个年轻的美国女子，我学到了很多很多的东西。我回到美国读大四时，朋友和教授看到了一个全新的我：更加成熟和比以往更具自我意识。要忘掉我生命中最惊人的伦敦岁月，回归我的美国大四生活，起初还真有些困难。但是我内心明白，这只是我行走未来世界各地的开端，以及神往结识不同民族朋友和爱恋不同国度文化的开始。

词语：

1. vicariously: 间接地。 

2. hilarious: 引人发笑的。

3. University of Delaware: 特拉华大学，位于特拉华州纽瓦克市，是美国最古老的一流公立研究型大学之一，也是美国第一所提供海外学习项目的学校。

4. ground beef: 绞碎的牛肉，多用于美式英语；mince: 同指绞碎的牛肉，多用于英式英语。

5. egg nog: 蛋奶酒。

6. Alfred Hitchcock: 阿尔弗雷德•希区柯克(1899—1980)，出生于伦敦，著名电影导演、编剧、制片人、演员，代表作有《后窗》等惊悚悬疑片，被誉为“悬疑电影大师”；Orson Welles: 奥逊•威尔斯(1915—1985)，美国演员、导演、编剧、制片人，代表作有《公民凯恩》等。

7. take kindly to: 对……宽容。

8. deep end: 困境。

9. a fish out of water: 指(处于陌生环境而)感到不自在的人。

(译者单位：湖南省长沙市长郡中学)