The Real China Emerges from Clichés and
　　编者按：随着北京2008年奥运会的临近，民众越来越关心“中国”品牌的树立，学习英语的热情也被点燃。越来越多的外宣干部和业内同行向我们表达了期待看到双语栏目的愿望。因此，我们自2006年第1期起开办了《双语视窗》栏目以满足广大读者的需求。
　　看看周围的媒体，在《北京青年报》、《参考消息》、《国门时报》上有许多精粹的短文，像一只只啄木鸟，善意地提醒了中国人习以为常的行为背后“尚未和国际接轨”的细节，读后让人回味不已。在获得借鉴意义的同时，也带来更深入的思考。我们效仿中英文对照的版面形式，旨在通过外国友人的视角来看中国，从中折射出东西方观念、习俗的异同。通过一篇篇这样的文章，让读者在领略异域文化的同时，也能达到学习英语的目的。
　　我是冷战思维的产物。20世纪50年代，大人教给我的，是对中国的恐惧。值得庆幸的是，自冷战时代至今世界已有了巨大的变化。
　　去年八月我来到中国教授美国宪法，当时我并不知道自己期待的是什么，我之所以来中国，是因为好奇，是因为中国非常有意思，也因为中国非常重要。临行前，当人们问我为什么来中国，我只是说：“因为那里是中国。”
　　富布赖特交流项目给了我来到中国的极好机会，正如它给予了中国人及其他国家的人去美国的机会一样。虽说你是去教书、搞研究，或是深造，但我认为真正的目的是加强双方的理解。我回国后会告诉美国人我所见到的真正的中国，下面就是我要对他们说的一些内容。
　　在中国，我没有见到儿童时代被告之的“令人害怕的红色中国”，也没有见到某些西方人预言的“作为人类本性必然结果的资本主义中国”，我见到的是实实在在的中国人。
　　我看到了数千名工人在建筑工地辛苦地工作，他们中的大多数来自农村。北京就在我的眼前变化着。在餐馆里，我看到来自各个阶层的人们聊着，喝着，笑着，有时他们的交谈是那么专注，似乎忘记了眼前丰盛美味的食物。
　　我看见人们热衷于这类日常事情：晨练、晚舞，都是在大街上；我看见人们以坚定不移的信念以至幽默感与生活中大大小小的困难作斗争；人们骑自行车上班，无论是严寒还是酷暑；交通堵塞时人们耐心等待，眼瞅着有人用胳膊肘往队前挤。
　　我绝不会忘记中国妇女(有时是男人)轻松自如地侧坐在自行车后架上，非常在行地掌握着平衡，不受旁边驰过的汽车的影响；还有中国男人(有时是女人)一蹲几个小时打扑克(或打麻将)。然而我也绝不会忘记，就在离我10英尺的地方，我看见一个女人被捕了。
　　是中国百姓让我越来越喜欢中国。我最了解的中国人是我的学生。他们努力营造着自己的生活，力图理解这个飞快变化的世界。他们对我感到好奇，对我的思想感到好奇。在我的教书生涯中，我从未感到过自己如此有价值。
　　我欣赏我的学生的求知渴望，以及他们勇敢地面对困难。这些研究生，多数会成为律师和公证人，他们5个人住一间宿舍，没有学习的空间，而且他们所学的是难度很大的课程——美国宪法，还是英文的，对他们来说这是用外语学习外国的思想。我试着把语速变慢(但这对于一个纽约人来说并不容易做到)，而学生们则学着能听得更快。随着时间的推移，我们之间的纽带不断加强。
　　去年感恩节的晚上，我独自一人坐在公寓里，力图在这个总是与家人共度的美国节日中不感觉孤独。电话铃响了。我的学生们邀我出了门。当然，没有火鸡，但是有好朋友，有北京烤鸭，比火鸡更好吃，接着就是用白酒干杯。在北京过感恩节，这在过去对我来说真是不可思议的一件事。
　　人们常常说，似乎充分的交流就能解决一切问题，好像观点、想法或利益上的区别就都不存在了，然而很多中国人与美国人之间在诸如人权，美国导弹防御系统，美国的“干涉”，宗教自由等问题上都存在着争议，不可能指望这些都化为乌有。
　　然而，相互的友谊与尊重，会带来实实在在的回报，这将培养起人与人之间的纽带，这种纽带不会轻易被某些观点或国际的复杂性，乃至历史上的伤害与猜忌所化解。当双方的尊重及喜爱程度得到加强，新事物(虽然并非一切事情)的出现就是可能的。
　　更充分的理解并不意味着就没有冲突，但这可以将冲突化小一点。你知道了去听对方怎样说，去体会对方怎样想，反思你自认为是千真万确的事。
　　尊重与理解消融了想妖魔化对方，认为对方的国家和人民是万恶之源的欲望。如今当你有这种欲望时，一些实实在在的面孔就出现在眼前，他们是你的同事，他们是你的朋友，他们是你的学生，他们对你是那么的友好，他们当中没有敌人的面孔。
　　他们过去是，现在也是实实在在的人，也许他们与你不一样，但共性却比你想象的要多得多。如果说有什么不同，这种不同也是非常有意思，甚至非常吸引人的。
　　
　　本文作者为纽约Fordham大学教授，作为富布赖特访问学者，曾在中国政法大学任教。
　　
　　I am a child of the Cold War. During the 1950s, I was taught to fear China. Fortunately, much has changed since then.
　　When I came to China in August 1999 to teach American constitutional law, I didn’t know what to expect. I came because I was curious, because China is so interesting and because China is so important. Before I left, when people in America would ask me why I was going, I would answer simply: “Because it’s China.”
　　The U.S.Fulbright Program gave me an excellent opportunity to come to China, just as it gives Chinese (and other nationals) the opportunity to go to America. Although you go to teach, research or study, the real purpose, I think, is to enhance mutual understanding. When I return home I will tell other Americans about the “real China” I saw. Here is some of what I will say.
　　Rather than seeing the “Red China” I learned to fear as a child, or the “capitalist China” some in the West now predict as the inevitable outcome of human nature, I saw real people.
　　I saw thousands of workers, many of whom were brought in from the countryside, working long and hard at construction. Beijing changed before my eyes. I saw people in restaurants from all walks of life, talking, drinking and laughing. Sometimes they were so engrossed in conversation they seemed to forget the delicious (and abundant) food before them.
　　I saw people heartily enjoying such little things: morning exercises and evening dances, all in the street. I saw people struggling against life’s difficulties, big and small, with perseverance and even good humor. People rode their bicycle to work, in the freezing cold and the blistering heat. Other people patiently sit in traffic. Still others allow some people to nudge ahead of them in line.
　　I will never forget the ease with which Chinese women (and sometimes men) perch themselves side-saddle on the back rack of bicycles, expert in their balance, impervious to cars racing by. Or how Chinese men (and sometimes women) simply squat on their heels and play cards or mahjong for hours.
　　I cannot forget, however, that I also saw a woman get arrested, ten feet from me. I think I know why.
　　The reason I have grown to like China so much is the people. And the people I have come to know the best are my students: students simply trying to make a life for themselves, trying to understand their rapidly changing world, curious about me, and about my ideas. I have never felt more appreciated anywhere I have taught.
　　I admire my students for their desire to learn and the difficulties they brave. Graduate students all, mostly lawyers or notaries, they were housed five to a small dorm room with no space to study. And they were studying a difficult subject, U.S. constitutional law, in English-to them foreign ideas in a foreign language. I learned to speak more slowly (not easy for a New Yorker) and then to listen more quickly. Over time the bonds between us grew.
　　Thanksgiving evening last year I was sitting alone in my apartment, trying not to feel lonely on my national holiday, usually spent with family. The telephone rang. My students swept me out of my house. No turkey, of course, but good friends, and Peking duck, a much tastier bird. Then, “ganbei”with baijiu. Thanksgiving in Beijing, an event unimaginable most of my life.
　　Too often people speak as if good communication can solve all problems, as if real differences of viewpoint, opinion or interests do not exist. There are real disagreements, however, between many Chinese and Americans on issues from human rights, to missile defense systems, to Chinese claims of American “interference”, to ideas about religious freedom.
　　Friendship and mutual respect, however, do bring real rewards. They foster a human bond that cannot easily be dissolved by differences in viewpoint, or the complexity of international affairs or even the hurts and suspicions of history. When mutual respect and liking develop, new things–although not all things–are possible. Better understanding does not render confrontation impossible, but it makes it a little less likely. You learn to hear what others say, feel what they feel, think again about what you were sure you knew.
　　Respect and understandings often the urge to demonize, to insist that another people or nation is the source of all that’s wrong or evil. Now when you have this urge, real faces appear before you. He was your colleague, she was your friend, they were your students and they treated you so well. These are not the faces of the enemy.
　　They were-they are-real people, maybe not just like you, but much more like you than you ever imagined. And when they are different from you, often it is in very interesting, even intriguing ways.
　　（本栏目文章选自《北京青年报》“双语视窗”，得到栏目编辑张爱学的授权。英文部分的稿费由本编辑部支付，请作者本人看到此启事后与编辑部联系，或发邮件至zhoujin_gongwu@sina.com）
　　责编：周 瑾