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Going inside American Bom Chinese
1)Adolescence has never been easy. Everybody hasbad memories of growing up. But being a new kid (alsothe only Chinese-American student) at school, beingtoo shy, having trouble making friends, having a crush onan all-American girl, hoping to fit in, coping with cultureconflict–Jin Wang has had to deal with all of that, aswell as 2)stereotypes and 3)subtle 4)racism. Alongsidestories of the Monkey King and Chin-Kee, three 5)apparentlyunrelated tales come together with an unexpectedtwist, in a modern fable that is not only extremelyamusing, but 6)poignant and deep from time to time.
Inspired by his own childhood experiences, Gene LuenYang has successfully created a groundbreaking readin his debut comic, American Born Chinese. In 2006, thebook became the first graphic novel to be nominatedfor a National Book Award. One year later, it won theMichael L. Printz Award for young-adult literature, afirst for a comic book, too.
Yang:I grew up reading comic books. I…I startedcollecting comic books in the fifth grade. And prettysoon after I started drawing them. I think that was oneof the key benefits of this 7)medium is that pretty muchanybody can do it. You know, you can read a comic bookone day, you can read your very first comic book one day,and on the next day you can start drawing them. There’re very few entry-level barriers. And then you can justtake what you drew over to your local 8)Kinko’s, makesome copies, and suddenly you’re a published author. Soit’s…
Interviewer: (laughs) I doubt that it’s that easy. Really,don’t you have to have a little bit of skill?
Yang:(laughs) That’s how most of us start.I also think that comics…a successful com-icisn’t necesarily one that is drawn well.It’s one where all thedifferent elem e n t swork together.So you don’t necessar-ily have to be a top- 9)notch artist in order tocreate a successful comic book.You know,there’re…there’re plenty of examples ofpeople, who are not 10)sterling 11)illustrators, whoare able to create successful graphic novels andcomics. Marjean Sotropy, who did Persepolis–she isn’tparticularly…she’s not a 12)phenomenal illustrator,but she’s an amazing cartoonist. She’s a world-classcartoonist, simply because of the way she’s able to 13)leverage the drawing skills that she does have totell some really wonderful stories.
terviewer: You definitely 14)tapped into something.This was the first graphic novel that was nominatedfor a National Book Award. In this novel you’re tellingthree stories, really. You have these three 15)prominentcharacters: the Monkey King, the young Chinese-American boy growing up in a white 16)suburb, and thethird character is a guy named Chin-Kee, the 17)over-thetopAsian stereotype. Being semi- 18)autobiographical,what did you get out of writing this book? Yang:Well,I…I think it gave me an opportunit yto reflect on my own experiences as an AsianAmerican, and that…that’s something that I still haveto think through.i think that this book has opened up alot of really good converastions and …and that’s beenreally good for me.
青春从来都不是一件容易事。每个人总会有些不那么美好的成长回忆。但是作为一名新生（同时也是学校里唯一的美籍华裔学生），过于害羞，很难交到朋友，爱上一个彻头彻尾的美国女孩，希望融入集体，应付文化冲突——王谨要面对所有这些问题，还要克服刻板成见以及微妙的种族歧视。加上孙悟空和“精记”的故事，三个看似互不相干的情节在出人意料的转折中融为一体，构成了一个不仅极为有趣，更不时流露出深刻沉痛的现代寓言。
受到自己的童年经历启发，杨谨伦将其漫画处女作《华裔美国人》成功打造成一本极具突破性的读物。2006年，这本书成了第一部获得美国国家图书奖提名的绘本。一年后，该书荣获普林兹青年文学奖，也是第一部获得该奖项的漫画作品。
杨：我从小看着漫画书长大。我……我从五年级就开始收集漫画，不久之后就开始画漫画。我觉得这种媒介的一大好处就是——几乎任何人都能创造漫画。你知道，也许你今天看了一本漫画，今天才看了你的第一本漫画，第二天你就开始自己画了。它的准入门槛非常低。然后你可以把自己的画带到当地的金考门店，印几份作品，便摇身变为出版作家。所以这……
采访人：（笑）我怀疑真的这么容易。说真的，难道你不需要一点绘画技巧吗？
杨：（笑）我们当中的大部分人都是这样起步的。我认为漫画……一部成功的漫画不一定非得画得很好。它的成功是不同因素共同作用的结果。所以你不一定非得是拔尖的画家才能创作出成功的漫画书。你知道，有……这样的例子数不胜数，有很多人不是正牌插画家，但他们能画出成功的绘本和漫画。例如创作《我在伊朗长大》的玛嘉·莎塔碧——她不是特别地……她不是一位特别出色的插画家，却成了令人惊叹的漫画家。她是一位世界级的漫画家，因为她能发挥自己的绘画技能来讲述一些非常精彩的故事。
采访人：你确实开拓出一条道路。这是第一部获得美国国家图书奖提名的绘本。在小说中，你讲述了三个故事，塑造了三个主要角色：孙悟空、在白人区长大的美籍华裔男孩，第三个角色名叫“精记”，是一个极端的亚洲人刻板形象。通过这部半自传作品，你在写书过程中有什么收获？
杨：呃，我……我觉得它给了我一个机会，让我得以反思自己作为亚裔美国人的人生经历，并且那……那也是我至今依然在不断探寻的东西，我仍需继续思考下去的东西。我觉得这本书提供了很多非常有意义的交流话题……那对我来说也是受益匪浅的。
Yang’s Site
Hello! My name is Gene Luen Yang. I beganpublishing comic books under the name HumbleComics in 1996. In 1997, I got the Xeric Grant注 forGordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks.Since then I’ve written and drawn a numberof stories in comics. In addition to cartooning, Iteach computer science at a Catholic[天主教的] highschool in Oakland, California. I currently live inFremont[弗里蒙特市], California with my lovely wifeand children. If you’d like to talk to me about my comics, know more about my life, or anything else,
please visit my site (http://www.humblecomics.com/). See you there!
1) adolescence [9AdEJ5lesEns] n. 青春期
2) stereotype [5sterIEJtaIp] n. 老套，固定形象
3) subtle [5sQtl] a. 微妙的
4) racism [5reIsIzEm] n. 种族主义，种族歧视
5) apparently [E5pArEntlI] ad. 貌似
6) poignant [5pCInjEnt] a. 痛切的，深刻的
7) medium [5mi:dIEm] n. 媒介
8) Kinko’s 全称为“联邦快递金考”（FedExKinko’s），美国著名文件处理及商业服务提供商，门店提供复印、打印、快递等服务。
9) notch [nɒtF] n. 程度，等级
10) sterling [5st\:lIN] a. 道地的，纯正的
11) illustrator [5IlEstreItE] n. 插画家
12) phenomenal [fI5nɒmInEl] a. 非凡的
13) leverage [5levErIdV] v. 利用杠杆作用
14) tap into 利用，开发
15) prominent [5prɒmInEnt] a. 突出的
16) suburb [5sQb\:b] n. 郊区
17) over the top 超过极限，极端
18 ) a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l[C:tEJbaIE5^rAfIkl] a. 自传体的
注：Xeric基金会大奖。该基金会是美国一个私人的非盈利组织，每年都会对自费出版的优秀漫画作品给予奖励，鼓励漫画新人创作。详细介绍见其网站（http://xericfoundation.org/）。
1)Adolescence has never been easy. Everybody hasbad memories of growing up. But being a new kid (alsothe only Chinese-American student) at school, beingtoo shy, having trouble making friends, having a crush onan all-American girl, hoping to fit in, coping with cultureconflict–Jin Wang has had to deal with all of that, aswell as 2)stereotypes and 3)subtle 4)racism. Alongsidestories of the Monkey King and Chin-Kee, three 5)apparentlyunrelated tales come together with an unexpectedtwist, in a modern fable that is not only extremelyamusing, but 6)poignant and deep from time to time.
Inspired by his own childhood experiences, Gene LuenYang has successfully created a groundbreaking readin his debut comic, American Born Chinese. In 2006, thebook became the first graphic novel to be nominatedfor a National Book Award. One year later, it won theMichael L. Printz Award for young-adult literature, afirst for a comic book, too.
Yang:I grew up reading comic books. I…I startedcollecting comic books in the fifth grade. And prettysoon after I started drawing them. I think that was oneof the key benefits of this 7)medium is that pretty muchanybody can do it. You know, you can read a comic bookone day, you can read your very first comic book one day,and on the next day you can start drawing them. There’re very few entry-level barriers. And then you can justtake what you drew over to your local 8)Kinko’s, makesome copies, and suddenly you’re a published author. Soit’s…
Interviewer: (laughs) I doubt that it’s that easy. Really,don’t you have to have a little bit of skill?
Yang:(laughs) That’s how most of us start.I also think that comics…a successful com-icisn’t necesarily one that is drawn well.It’s one where all thedifferent elem e n t swork together.So you don’t necessar-ily have to be a top- 9)notch artist in order tocreate a successful comic book.You know,there’re…there’re plenty of examples ofpeople, who are not 10)sterling 11)illustrators, whoare able to create successful graphic novels andcomics. Marjean Sotropy, who did Persepolis–she isn’tparticularly…she’s not a 12)phenomenal illustrator,but she’s an amazing cartoonist. She’s a world-classcartoonist, simply because of the way she’s able to 13)leverage the drawing skills that she does have totell some really wonderful stories.
terviewer: You definitely 14)tapped into something.This was the first graphic novel that was nominatedfor a National Book Award. In this novel you’re tellingthree stories, really. You have these three 15)prominentcharacters: the Monkey King, the young Chinese-American boy growing up in a white 16)suburb, and thethird character is a guy named Chin-Kee, the 17)over-thetopAsian stereotype. Being semi- 18)autobiographical,what did you get out of writing this book? Yang:Well,I…I think it gave me an opportunit yto reflect on my own experiences as an AsianAmerican, and that…that’s something that I still haveto think through.i think that this book has opened up alot of really good converastions and …and that’s beenreally good for me.
青春从来都不是一件容易事。每个人总会有些不那么美好的成长回忆。但是作为一名新生（同时也是学校里唯一的美籍华裔学生），过于害羞，很难交到朋友，爱上一个彻头彻尾的美国女孩，希望融入集体，应付文化冲突——王谨要面对所有这些问题，还要克服刻板成见以及微妙的种族歧视。加上孙悟空和“精记”的故事，三个看似互不相干的情节在出人意料的转折中融为一体，构成了一个不仅极为有趣，更不时流露出深刻沉痛的现代寓言。
受到自己的童年经历启发，杨谨伦将其漫画处女作《华裔美国人》成功打造成一本极具突破性的读物。2006年，这本书成了第一部获得美国国家图书奖提名的绘本。一年后，该书荣获普林兹青年文学奖，也是第一部获得该奖项的漫画作品。
杨：我从小看着漫画书长大。我……我从五年级就开始收集漫画，不久之后就开始画漫画。我觉得这种媒介的一大好处就是——几乎任何人都能创造漫画。你知道，也许你今天看了一本漫画，今天才看了你的第一本漫画，第二天你就开始自己画了。它的准入门槛非常低。然后你可以把自己的画带到当地的金考门店，印几份作品，便摇身变为出版作家。所以这……
采访人：（笑）我怀疑真的这么容易。说真的，难道你不需要一点绘画技巧吗？
杨：（笑）我们当中的大部分人都是这样起步的。我认为漫画……一部成功的漫画不一定非得画得很好。它的成功是不同因素共同作用的结果。所以你不一定非得是拔尖的画家才能创作出成功的漫画书。你知道，有……这样的例子数不胜数，有很多人不是正牌插画家，但他们能画出成功的绘本和漫画。例如创作《我在伊朗长大》的玛嘉·莎塔碧——她不是特别地……她不是一位特别出色的插画家，却成了令人惊叹的漫画家。她是一位世界级的漫画家，因为她能发挥自己的绘画技能来讲述一些非常精彩的故事。
采访人：你确实开拓出一条道路。这是第一部获得美国国家图书奖提名的绘本。在小说中，你讲述了三个故事，塑造了三个主要角色：孙悟空、在白人区长大的美籍华裔男孩，第三个角色名叫“精记”，是一个极端的亚洲人刻板形象。通过这部半自传作品，你在写书过程中有什么收获？
杨：呃，我……我觉得它给了我一个机会，让我得以反思自己作为亚裔美国人的人生经历，并且那……那也是我至今依然在不断探寻的东西，我仍需继续思考下去的东西。我觉得这本书提供了很多非常有意义的交流话题……那对我来说也是受益匪浅的。
Yang’s Site
Hello! My name is Gene Luen Yang. I beganpublishing comic books under the name HumbleComics in 1996. In 1997, I got the Xeric Grant注 forGordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks.Since then I’ve written and drawn a numberof stories in comics. In addition to cartooning, Iteach computer science at a Catholic[天主教的] highschool in Oakland, California. I currently live inFremont[弗里蒙特市], California with my lovely wifeand children. If you’d like to talk to me about my comics, know more about my life, or anything else,
please visit my site (http://www.humblecomics.com/). See you there!
1) adolescence [9AdEJ5lesEns] n. 青春期
2) stereotype [5sterIEJtaIp] n. 老套，固定形象
3) subtle [5sQtl] a. 微妙的
4) racism [5reIsIzEm] n. 种族主义，种族歧视
5) apparently [E5pArEntlI] ad. 貌似
6) poignant [5pCInjEnt] a. 痛切的，深刻的
7) medium [5mi:dIEm] n. 媒介
8) Kinko’s 全称为“联邦快递金考”（FedExKinko’s），美国著名文件处理及商业服务提供商，门店提供复印、打印、快递等服务。
9) notch [nɒtF] n. 程度，等级
10) sterling [5st\:lIN] a. 道地的，纯正的
11) illustrator [5IlEstreItE] n. 插画家
12) phenomenal [fI5nɒmInEl] a. 非凡的
13) leverage [5levErIdV] v. 利用杠杆作用
14) tap into 利用，开发
15) prominent [5prɒmInEnt] a. 突出的
16) suburb [5sQb\:b] n. 郊区
17) over the top 超过极限，极端
18 ) a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l[C:tEJbaIE5^rAfIkl] a. 自传体的
注：Xeric基金会大奖。该基金会是美国一个私人的非盈利组织，每年都会对自费出版的优秀漫画作品给予奖励，鼓励漫画新人创作。详细介绍见其网站（http://xericfoundation.org/）。