作者：Paige
翻譯：潘澤彬
校對：Luz、Zuzana、Joanne
It was a hot, summer day in 2015, and I’d hardly been in China for more than a couple of months. I was walking up to my apartment building during a break between classes when a woman shouted at me from the stairway of my six-floor walkup. “美女!!!” She waved at me excitedly. By now, the shouting and waving didn’t faze me; living in Nantong, Jiangsu, I heard the word “外國人” several times a day while out and about. But the woman kept waving at me, and started to approach me.
那是 2015 年一個炎炎夏日，當時我在中國已經(jīng)待了幾個月的時間。課間休息時，我走到公寓樓，一個女人在六樓的樓梯口向我喊道：“美女?。?！”她興奮地朝我揮手?，F(xiàn)在，這些叫嚷和揮手并不會令我尷尬。我住在南通，每天出門都會聽到好幾次“外國人”這個詞。但是那個女人一直向我揮手，開始接近我。
The woman said something to me and I stared blankly, shrugging my shoulders as politely as one can in these sorts of situations. She pulled up a translation app on her phone; “Are you an English teacher?” she was asking. I nodded my head, and she motioned to add my WeChat. After exchanging WeChat information, I said goodbye and headed up to my apartment, thinking little of the interaction.
那個女人對我說了些什么，我茫然地看著她，在這種情況下我會禮貌性地聳聳肩。她打開一個翻譯 APP：“你是英語老師嗎？”她問道。我點了點頭，她沖我比劃著，想要加我的微信。互加微信后，我向她道別，然后回到公寓，并沒有太在意這次互動。
at first in English, inviting me to her home for dinner, but soon the English became long sentences of Chinese characters that I had to translate before I could read them, and as soon as I translated one message, another line of text would come through: Are you in China alone? You’re so brave. Do you cook? You could come over for dinner sometime. We just bought this house and are renovating it, when we move in you should come over.
我一通過微信好友請求，她就開始給我發(fā)問題。一開始她用英語邀請我去她家吃飯，但是很快就變成了冗長的中文，我必須依靠翻譯才能看懂。還沒等我翻譯完，又一條信息就送達了：你一個人來中國嗎？真勇敢。你會做飯嗎？有空過來吃飯。這房子是我們剛買的，正在裝修，等我們搬進去，歡迎來家里坐坐。
It wasn’t long before they moved in. I came to learn more about her and her husband, about their young daughter that lived with her parents in the countryside, and their son in the first grade. They started to invite me over for meals. She was outgoing, warm, and friendly, and I started to realize that she was taking me under her wing.
沒過多久，他們就搬了進來。我對他們夫婦有了更多的了解：他們有個女兒，和外公外婆一起住在鄉(xiāng)下，還有一個兒子，在讀一年級。他們邀請我去家里吃飯。她性格外向、熱情友好，對我關愛有加。
But almost immediately after accepting the friend request on WeChat she started to send me questions; at first in English, inviting me to her home for dinner, but soon the English became long sentences of Chinese characters that I had to translate before I could read them, and as soon as I translated one message, another line of text would come through: Are you in China alone? You’re so brave. Do you cook? You could come over for dinner sometime. We just bought this house and are renovating it, when we move in you should come over.
我一通過微信好友請求，她就開始給我發(fā)問題。一開始她用英語邀請我去她家吃飯，但是很快就變成了冗長的中文，我必須依靠翻譯才能看懂。還沒等我翻譯完，又一條信息就送達了：你一個人來中國嗎？真勇敢。你會做飯嗎？有空過來吃飯。這房子是我們剛買的，正在裝修，等我們搬進去，歡迎來家里坐坐。
It wasn’t long before they moved in. I came to learn more about her and her husband, about their young daughter that lived with her parents in the countryside, and their son in the first grade. They started to invite me over for meals. She was outgoing, warm, and friendly, and I started to realize that she was taking me under her wing.
沒過多久，他們就搬了進來。我對他們夫婦有了更多的了解：他們有個女兒，和外公外婆一起住在鄉(xiāng)下，還有一個兒子，在讀一年級。他們邀請我去家里吃飯。她性格外向、熱情友好，對我關愛有加。
One day just weeks after we met, I started to feel unwell while teaching a class at the training center I worked at. When I got home, I vomited; I developed a fever and became really sick. I couldn’t make it five minutes without running to the bathroom. I was away from home, still very new to China, and was at a loss as to how to take care of myself. Everything was in a language I couldn’t understand and unrecognizable: The medicine was foreign, the hospital system was foreign, the foods were foreign. Having planned to stop by my neighbor’s that day, I sent her a message to let her know I wouldn’t be coming, telling her I was sick. She replied:
我們認識幾個星期后的一天，我在培訓中心上課時感到不舒服?；氐郊視r，嘔吐不止，然后開始發(fā)燒，感覺我真的病了。每五分鐘就要上衛(wèi)生間一趟。我離家在外，對中國還不熟悉，頓感手足無措，不懂怎么照顧自己。所有物品上寫的都是我不認識的文字：陌生的藥品、陌生的醫(yī)院、陌生的食品。那天我原本打算去鄰居家，但我發(fā)信息跟她講我病了，不能去她家了。她回復道：
“I’ll be home in about an hour, but if it’s too late tonight, I’ll be by tomorrow to check on you.”“我大約一小時后到家，如果太晚，我明天再來探望你。”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’ll be okay tonight.”“別擔心我，”我說，“今晚我沒事的?！?/mark>
The next day, she messaged me, “I bought you some medicine last night, but it was too late at night to bring it to you. Are you at home?”第二天，她給我發(fā)信息說：“我昨晚給你買了些藥，但回來時已經(jīng)太晚了，沒給你送來。你在家嗎？”
Then came the knock on my door. She was carrying a bag filled with boxes and boxes of medicine. Using a translation app, she typed, “I have some medicine that is good for your stomach. It will stop the nausea.” Then she walked into the kitchen, helped herself to my kettle, and made me a drink of the dried pellets and hot water to calm my stomach. She disappeared down the stairs, and then returned not long after with a tray of food for lunch: rice, fruit, and green 青菜. My stomach churned at the thought of eating much of anything; grateful, though, I accepted and ate what I could.
過了一會響起了敲門聲。她拎著一個袋子，里面裝滿了一盒又一盒的藥。她用翻譯 APP 打字說：“這些藥對胃部很好，可以止住惡心嘔吐?！比缓笏哌M廚房，燒了一壺水，沖泡感冒顆粒給我喝，還給我倒了一杯熱水，以平息我翻滾的胃。接著她下樓端來午餐：米飯、水果和青菜。一想到要吃東西，我的胃就開始翻江倒海，但我還是心存感激，多少吃了一點。
But her care for me didn’t end there. She treated me as family. I spent October Holiday together with her family on a trip to the Yangtze River, and when my family came to visit shortly after that, she and her husband personally picked them up from the airport two hours away, treated us to dinner, and took us to the best local tourism sites to show us the beauty of China. I still remember the day she drove me and my family to a nearby water town. My mom had heard that the area was well-known for its quilts. As we wandered the rows of shops, a quilt shop caught her eye and we stopped to look. The shopkeeper was persistent, but my neighbor tried to discretely tell me she could find a better buy for us. The shopkeeper caught on and was not happy to see her sale walking away, yelling after us as we tried to disappear into the ancient narrow walkways.
她對我的關懷并沒有就此結束，她像家人一般對待我。十月，我和他們一家一起游長江。不久后家人來探訪我，她和丈夫驅車兩小時，親自到機場接他們，請我們吃飯，帶我們去當?shù)刈畎舻木包c玩，向我們展示美麗中國。那天她開車帶我和家人去附近的一個水鎮(zhèn)。我媽媽聽說這個地區(qū)生產(chǎn)的棉被聞名遐邇。我們在一排排商店里閑逛的時候，一家棉被店吸引了她的目光，我們就停下來看看。店主不遺余力地向我們推銷，但鄰居謹慎地告訴我，她可以找到品質更好的店鋪。店主發(fā)現(xiàn)我們企圖離開，看到煮熟的鴨子飛了，很不高興，她看著我們消失在狹窄的古道，不甘心地沖著我們吆喝
For the short time that we were neighbors, she was always there, keeping an eye on me to make sure I was taken care of. Towards the end of my year-long work contract in Nantong, I met my now-husband, so I moved away to another city in China to be with him. It was as though she saw that he was there to take care of me now; I was leaving her nest, and gradually we spoke a bit less.
在我們成為睦鄰的短暫時光里，她一直關心著我，照顧著我。在南通一年的工作合同即將結束時，我遇到了現(xiàn)在的丈夫，所以我搬到了中國的另一個城市與他一起生活。她知道了我有一個能照顧自己的丈夫，我便離開了她的庇護，漸漸地，我們之間交流少了一些。
Several months after I moved away, I made plans to go home to visit my family in the U.S.A. for Christmas. My neighbor had found out about my travel plans just days before my departure and hurriedly overnighted me a package. Even while living in another city, my Nantong neighbor wouldn’t let me go without a gift of kindness; remembering our day at the water town, she shipped a brand new, beautiful quilt for me to carry back to my mom.
我搬走幾個月后，打算回美國看望家人，一起過圣誕節(jié)。我鄰居在出發(fā)前幾天得知了我的計劃，匆匆忙忙地給我寄來了一袋包裹。即使我生活在另一個城市，遠在南通的鄰居也會給我寄來善意的禮物，不會讓我空手離開。她依然記得我們在水鎮(zhèn)的經(jīng)歷，所以寄來了一條美麗的新被子，讓我?guī)Щ厝ソo媽媽。
My hometown is a small city in Wisconsin, U.S.A. which is famous for beer and cheese. With a population of 10,000, our quaint, historic downtown is nestled near a river with a set of railroad tracks that crisscross the city. If you drive just a couple miles out of town you’ll find rolling fields of corn and hay bales. Winding roads cut through forests where deer and wild turkey live which can often be seen crossing the road at inopportune times.
我的家鄉(xiāng)是美國威斯康星州的一個小城市，以啤酒和奶酪聞名。那里有一萬多人口，歷史悠久的城區(qū)坐落在一條河邊，古色古香，鐵軌縱橫交錯。開車出城幾英里，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)連綿的玉米田和干草垛。蜿蜒的道路穿過森林，森林里生活著鹿和野生火雞，時?？梢钥吹剿鼈儾缓蠒r宜地橫穿馬路
