Slater and Emma are an American couple that have lived in China for four years. They are both English teachers. Slater is thin and has short-hair. He is quiet but amiable. Emma, on the other hand, is talkative and likes to laugh. Blonde and brown-eyed, Emma looks like the typical American girl next door you see in the movies。
Emma begun studying Chinese a year ago; however, she has made amazing progress. Aside from her excellent pronunciation, she has mastered nearly 1,000 Chinese words. She says she finds the best way to improve her spoken Chinese is to communicate with strangers. She often goes to squares or parks and starts up conversations. For instance, if she sees an older woman with her grandchild, Emma will start with saying how cute the kid is. She says that Chinese people, although usually a bit shy at first, are very easy to talk with。
Although Slater speaks only a little Chinese, he is more knowledgeable about Chinese customs and culture, including the unspoken rules of interpersonal exchanges. When having conversations with Chinese people, Slater will interpret a person's meaning and tell Emma, who will then respond accordingly。
斯萊特(Slater)和愛(ài)瑪(Emma)這對(duì)美國(guó)夫婦已經(jīng)在中國(guó)生活了4年了，職業(yè)都是英語(yǔ)老師。斯萊特身材瘦削、短發(fā)，性格安靜但和藹可親，愛(ài)瑪則健談愛(ài)笑，兩人著實(shí)稱得上是性格互補(bǔ)。金發(fā)碧眼的愛(ài)瑪看上去就和電影里那些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的美國(guó)鄰家女孩一樣。
盡管愛(ài)瑪去年才開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)中文，但她的中文水平已有了驚人的提高。除去標(biāo)準(zhǔn)完美的發(fā)音，愛(ài)瑪還掌握了差不多1000個(gè)漢字。她說(shuō)自己發(fā)現(xiàn)提高中文口語(yǔ)的最好辦法就是多和陌生人交談，為此她常去廣場(chǎng)和公園找人搭話。比方說(shuō)，如果她看見(jiàn)一對(duì)祖孫，她就會(huì)先夸夸這個(gè)孩子多么可愛(ài)。她說(shuō)，雖然中國(guó)人開(kāi)始都會(huì)有點(diǎn)靦腆，但很好溝通。
相對(duì)愛(ài)瑪來(lái)說(shuō)，斯萊特會(huì)說(shuō)的中文就很少了，但他對(duì)中國(guó)的習(xí)俗和文化包括人際交往那些不成文的禮節(jié)都更為了解。每當(dāng)他們和中國(guó)人聊天的時(shí)候，都是斯萊特先解釋給愛(ài)瑪聽(tīng)，然后愛(ài)瑪再給出相應(yīng)的回應(yīng)。
Emma studied medicine in college, while Slater’s major was graphic design. Due to the economic recession, he could not find a suitable job after graduation, so after graduating he worked as a cashier in a grocery store. This must have been pretty boring for a young, educated man. Thus, when one of his friends asked him if he was willing to take on a teaching position in China, Slater jumped at the chance。
At the crossroads of life, shy Slater proclaimed to Emma: “Marry me, and we can go to China together, or I will go by myself!” Emma replied: “Alright!” When her mother heard of this she was not happy. But Emma eventually talked her round. “When we grow up, our parents become more our friends rather than our parents,” she said。
Although, Slater and Emma were born and grew up in the United States, they don’t come across as typical Americans. To begin with, they are both vegetarian, they like Chinese vegetable dishes, but are particularly keen on Chinese tofu. Each time they return to the States, they said they miss tofu very much。
“What a pity my mother has never tasted authentic Xi’an tofu。” Emma said。
They said that although they found it easy thing to make friends back home, in China it is much easier and friends stay in touch, unlike in the US friends might not be in contact for years。
愛(ài)瑪在大學(xué)念的是醫(yī)學(xué)，斯萊特則是平面設(shè)計(jì)。由于經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣，斯萊特畢業(yè)后沒(méi)找到合適的工作，只好去一間雜貨店當(dāng)了收銀員，想想也知道這份工作對(duì)于這個(gè)受過(guò)高等教育的年輕人來(lái)說(shuō)有多么無(wú)聊。因此，當(dāng)他的一個(gè)朋友問(wèn)他是否有興趣來(lái)中國(guó)教書(shū)時(shí)，斯萊特立馬就答應(yīng)了。
在這個(gè)人生的十字路口，羞澀靦腆的斯萊特向愛(ài)瑪求婚了：“嫁給我，這樣我們就可以一起去中國(guó)了，你若不答應(yīng)，我就只能自己去了!”愛(ài)瑪很爽快地回答說(shuō)：“好!”愛(ài)瑪?shù)哪赣H聽(tīng)說(shuō)這件事后非常不高興，但愛(ài)瑪最終說(shuō)服了她。“當(dāng)我們長(zhǎng)大了，父母就更像是我們的朋友，”愛(ài)瑪回憶起這件事時(shí)感慨道。
盡管斯萊特和愛(ài)瑪生在美國(guó)、長(zhǎng)在美國(guó)，但他們給人的印象卻不是典型的美國(guó)人形象。首先，他們都是素食主義者，非常喜歡中國(guó)的素菜，但對(duì)中國(guó)豆腐情有獨(dú)鐘。每次回到美國(guó)，他們都會(huì)念叨好想念豆腐的味道。
“我媽媽還沒(méi)有嘗過(guò)正宗的‘西安豆腐’，真是遺憾。”愛(ài)瑪說(shuō)。
他們還說(shuō)，盡管回到美國(guó)要交到新朋友也很容易，但在中國(guó)這事更簡(jiǎn)單，而且朋友們還經(jīng)常聯(lián)系，不像在美國(guó)，朋友好多年不來(lái)往都是有可能的。
“Say I'm pregnant. In certain cases I might need help. In America, I could maybe call just two or three friends to help me. But in China, I could easily find thirty! That’s one of reasons that I like China,” Emma said。
And unlike many Americans, they save money. Emma says that her generation emphasizes saving money. Their modes of consuming are different compared to their fathers. One of the reasons is the heavy burden of repaying a student loan. After the age of eighteen, most Americans start living independently. The majority of college students take out loans in order to pay their tuition and fees. On average, it takes graduates fifteen years to pay off debt. Emma proudly says that Slater has already paid back half of his loan in just four years。
While her Chinese counterparts save money to buy their own homes, Emma says that many Americans her age don’t save money for a home。
“We are not willing to buy houses,” she says. “Consider my parents: They bought their large house on a bank loan. Now, the value of their house has slumped so much that it's below the sum of their loan。”
“拿我懷孕來(lái)說(shuō)吧。有些時(shí)候我可能就需要幫助。在美國(guó)我可能也就能叫到兩三個(gè)朋友，但在中國(guó)30個(gè)都不成問(wèn)題!這也是我熱愛(ài)中國(guó)的一個(gè)原因，”愛(ài)瑪說(shuō)。
另外斯萊特夫婦和其他美國(guó)人不一樣的地方就是他們還會(huì)省錢(qián)。愛(ài)瑪稱她這代人都很崇尚省錢(qián)，他們和父母那輩人的消費(fèi)觀念已經(jīng)截然不同了。一個(gè)原因就是他們背負(fù)著還助學(xué)貸款這一重負(fù)。大多數(shù)美國(guó)人在18歲成年的時(shí)候就開(kāi)始獨(dú)立生活了。大多數(shù)大學(xué)生都會(huì)貸款來(lái)支付學(xué)雜費(fèi)。畢業(yè)生平均要花15年時(shí)間才能還清貸款，而斯萊特在畢業(yè)4年后就已經(jīng)還掉了一半的貸款，愛(ài)瑪很為此自豪。
看著中國(guó)同事們都在為買(mǎi)房勒緊褲腰帶生活，愛(ài)瑪說(shuō)她這個(gè)年紀(jì)的許多美國(guó)人都不會(huì)省錢(qián)去買(mǎi)房。
“我們不想買(mǎi)房，”她說(shuō)，“想想我的父母跟銀行貸款買(mǎi)了一幢大房子，結(jié)果現(xiàn)在呢，房屋總價(jià)跌得甚至還不夠貸款額了。”
