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HB女子學校韓慧：我是這樣喜歡中國的

大家好!我叫韓慧,在俄亥俄克利夫蘭Hathaway Brown高中上十二年級。我是在九年級開始學中文的,從那個時候開始中國對我特別有吸引力,所以我十年級時決定去中國留學。那時我還不太瞭解中國,我只有一個感覺,想親身體驗在中國所有的一切事情。衣食住行。結果在我十一年級的時候終于得到了到北京學習的機會。2010年8月27號我帶着興奮好奇的心情踏上了去北京的航班,並在那里同一個中國家庭一起生活了9個月。從我的飛機降落在北京首都國際機場的第一天到現在從沒改變我對中國的熱愛,尤其是中國文化和中國人。
我住在中國的時候,常常騎車或者走到一個離我家很近的公園兒,坐在一個石頭上。有時我在那兒做我的中文作業。有時我在那兒就看老人打太極拳。或者有時我就坐在那兒,什么都不做。但是,我每次在公園兒的時候,中國人都會來跟我談話。我常給在公園的爺爺奶奶們讀我的中文課文,她們簡直不相信我會讀中文。不僅有人常來問我想不想跟她們學太極拳。而且還有人會來問我我爲什么一個人坐在石頭上,我在中國干什么。中國老人會敎我一些成語或玩兒悠悠球。給我印象最深的是,所有的跟我説話的人都給我他們的QQ號。 這些情景就是我在中國最美好的記憶。它使我瞭解了更多的中國文化,也使我結交了很多友好的中國人。
     但,除了在那個公園以外,中國人對我都特別友好。有一次我坐公共汽車回家的時候,我的中國樂器阮撞到一個大學生的身上,讓我特別不好意思,可是她就笑着説她每天在公共汽車看到我,想要跟我交朋友很長時間了,但她羞于開口。從那天開始,我們倆每天都在車上聊天兒。她用英文吿訴我關於中國的文化,我用中文給她介紹美國的一切。我認爲這樣的交流非常重要,也很有意思。
    九個月的學習轉瞬即逝,我在中國遇到的這些人和這些事使我終生難忘。這些經驗都是我在課本上不能得到的。我在中國學到的不是中國有多少節日,多少民族,地域有多么遼闊和歷史有多長。我學到了他們無論男女老少對異族文化是那樣的感興趣。我想這正是中國在這三十年取得很大變化的根本原因。我愛中國和中國的文化。我希望有一天再能回到中國學習。

HB女子學校敎師: 胡小川

　　　Hello! My name is Heather Hagerling and I am currently a senior at Hathaway Brown in Cleveland, Ohio. I started studying Chinese in the ninth grade. From that time on, China had a strong hold on me, so I decided to go study abroad there. At the time, I didn’t really understand much about China, I just had this feeling; I wanted to experience everything in China first hand. I wanted to experience the basics of Chinese life. Then, during my junior year I finally got the chance to study in Beijing. On August 27, 2010, I excitedly boarded the plane to Beijing, where I would live with a Chinese family for nine months. From the time that my plane landed in the Beijing International Airport on that first day to the present, my love for China has not changed, especially for Chinese culture and Chinese people.
When I lived in China, I would often bike or walk over to a park near to my house and sit on a rock there. Sometimes I would do my Chinese homework on that rock. Sometimes I would just watch the older people practice Taichi. Sometimes I would just sit there, not doing anything. However, every time I sat in that park, Chinese people would come over to chat with me. I would often read my Chinese lessons aloud to elderly Chinese who didn’t believe I could actually read it. Other times people would come over and ask me if I wanted to learn Taichi with them. Other people came to ask me why I was just sitting there on a rock and what I was doing in China. Older Chinese people would come over and teach me Chinese idioms and how to play with a Chinese yoyo. What gave me the deepest impression was that everyone I talked to always gave me their QQ number. These experiences are my best memories from China. They made me understand more about Chinese culture, and introduced me to many very friendly Chinese people.
However, even outside of that little park, Chinese people were always very friendly and welcoming to me. Once while I was riding the bus home, my Chinese instrument --- the ruan -- fell onto a college student. I was quite embarrassed, but the girl just smiled and said that she had seen me on the bus everyday, and that she had wanted to be my friend for a long time, but she was shy to open her mouth. From that day on, the two of us talked on the bus everyday. She would use English to tell me about Chinese culture, and would use Chinese to introduce America. I think that this sort of exchange is especially important and meaningful.
Nine months passed by too quickly, but I will never forget the people I met in China and the experiences I had. These experiences all taught me what textbooks could not. While I was in China, I didn’t just learn about how many Chinese holidays there are, how many ethnic groups there are, or how much land the country has. I learned that Chinese people, regardless of age or gender, are all interested in other cultures. I think this is the real reason behind China’s dramatic changes in the past thirty years. I love China and Chinese culture, and I hope I will have an opportunity to go back and study there again.
Heather Hagerling ’12 took home the first place award in the advanced group at the 7th Annual “Chinese Bridge” US High School Student Chinese Speech Contest sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute. Twenty-four finalists who were selected from more than 50 applicants nationwide gathered in Boston on April 28 for the event. The students delivered speeches on this year’s theme, “I Like Chinese Language and Culture,” and answered questions posed by the judges.