一個美國人到英國留學的故事

離開熟悉的生活圈，遠赴重洋，生活會帶給你怎樣的挑戰(zhàn)和驚喜？在這個多元化的地球村里，每種文化都有著獨特的精彩，而每個異鄉(xiāng)的游子，都會在陌生的環(huán)境中品嘗到文化碰撞的酸甜苦辣。少年時代的作者從美國來到英國，看似沒有語言的障礙，留學生活卻仍舊充滿重重挑戰(zhàn)。世界如此之大，成長不止，步履不停。

By Jennifer Bragg

董翌佳 注

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.

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 through social media like Facebook, Instagram and Weibo. In order to see a place, you had to go there and experience it firsthand.

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 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.)

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.

In 1921, a young professor at the University of Delaware 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.

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 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. 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!

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.

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. I had a course in sociology and learned about the native people of Papua New Guinea.

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 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, 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.

Sometimes the difficult times made me sad and homesick. But luckily that was outweighed by 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.

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 in a totally new learning environment.

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.

Vocabulary

1. vicariously: [va?'k?r??sli] 間接地，從他人的經(jīng)驗間接獲得地。

2. hilarious: [h?'l?r??s] 引人發(fā)笑的，滑稽的；air: （在廣播或電視上）播放，播出。

3. University of Delaware: 特拉華大學，位于特拉華州紐瓦克市，是美國最古老的一流公立研究型大學之一，也是美國第一所提供海外學習項目的學校。

4. veteran: 老兵，退伍軍人。

5. relish: 品味，享受。

6. ground beef: 絞碎的牛肉，多用于美式英語；mince: 同指絞碎的牛肉，多用于英式英語。

7. egg nog: 蛋奶酒，一種圣誕節(jié)的傳統(tǒng)飲品。

8. season with: 用……調味；nutmeg: 肉豆蔻，一種香料。

9. Alfred Hitchcock: 阿爾弗雷德?希區(qū)柯克（1899—1980），出生于英國倫敦，著名電影導演、編劇、制片人、演員，代表作有《后窗》、《驚魂記》、《西北偏北》等驚悚懸疑片，被譽為“懸疑電影大師”；Orson Welles: 奧遜?威爾斯（1915—1985），美國演員、導演、編劇、制片人，代表作有《公民凱恩》、《歷劫佳人》、《第三人》等。

10. sociology: 社會學；Papua New Guinea: 巴布亞新幾內亞，位于太平洋西南部的一個島嶼國家，是大洋洲第二大國、英聯(lián)邦成員國，主要涵蓋新幾內亞島東半部，西鄰印度尼西亞的巴布亞省，南部和東部分別與澳大利亞和所羅門群島隔海相望。

11. take kindly to: 樂意接受，對……寬容；berate: 斥責。

12. 當然現(xiàn)在我知道，當時的我一下子陷入了困境，面對的是一個與之前完全不同的、充滿挑戰(zhàn)的環(huán)境，理解任何東西對我來說都有困難也是自然。deep end: 困境，（工作中）最困難的部分。

13. outweigh: 比……更重要，比……更有價值。

14. Rwanda: 盧旺達，非洲中東部國家，境內多山，有“千丘之國”之稱；Palestine: 巴勒斯坦，中東國家，由加沙和約旦河西岸兩部分組成，主要居民為阿拉伯人。

15. 這些新朋友也幫助我把他們的面孔和他們所代表的國家一一對應起來。

16. 在學業(yè)方面，由于英美的分數(shù)評價體系迥異，所以我的綜合分數(shù)有所上調，以適應英國教育結構的課程難度。acclimate to: 適應，習慣（新環(huán)境、生活方式等）。

17. a fish out of water: 指處于陌生環(huán)境而感到不自在的人，不得其所的人。

18. torn: tear的過去分詞，受（不快情緒）困擾的；transformative: 變化的，起改造作用的。

19. maturity: [m?'t??r?ti] 成熟。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：董靜）