英国电视节目:改造叛逆青少年

Seventeen-year-old Chezdan Mills used to be, in his own words, 'every parent's worst nightmare'. He jokes about how, if every potential parent had to meet his younger self, they'd run a mile from having kids at all, 'and the human race would die out'.

17岁的Chezdan Mills，用他自己的话来说，曾是每个父母的噩梦。他现在开玩笑地说，如果有哪个快要做爸爸妈妈的人见到他从前的样子，会吓得这辈子都不想要孩子，“而且人类就会因此灭绝”。

Mercifully for his mum, there's a reason for Chezdan's use of the past tense. These days he may not exactly be a model son, but there has been a radical improvement in his behaviour.

不过，他妈妈现在大感欣慰，因为Chezdan是使用过去时来描述自己。如今他虽不能称得上是理想儿子，但已经大有进步。

He is now at college in his hometown, and is second to top in his class; he has high hopes of university. At home, his bedroom is neat, his love life is carried out discreetly, and his mum hasn't been in tears at his overt defiance for a long time. Earlier today, he even made her a cup of tea, which still appears to be a novelty for all involved.

他现在在上大学，班上成绩排名第二，对自己就读的学校期望很高。在家里，他的卧室干净整洁，也不再乱交女朋友，他妈妈也不再为他的反叛而暗自流泪。今早他甚至为妈妈冲了一杯茶，这实在是前所未有。

What changed was that Chezdan, who always told anyone who would listen that he was a 'lost cause', signed up for a TV programme about parenting strategies.

改变他的，是一个有关家庭教育的电视节目。

In truth, he appeared on The World's Strictest Parents 'to get on the telly and have a giggle', but the programme makers - and his mum - seem to have had the last laugh. A year after the show was filmed, he is a very different young man.

事实上，他报名参加“严父严母”电视节目最初只是为了好玩，但制作人和他的妈妈成功地改变了他。节目录制一年之后，他完全脱胎换骨。

"I'm a reformed character, and nobody is more surprised about that than me," he says.

他说：“我已经洗心革面，对此我也很惊奇。”

The format of The World's Strictest Parents involves finding parents around the world with very rigid ideas of discipline and child-rearing, and sending the most wayward British teenagers they could find - a boy and a girl - to live with them.

"严父严母"节目的理念就是在全世界寻求最严厉的父母，然后把最无法管教的孩子送过去跟他们住一起。

Not every wayward kid involved in this show has had a positive outcome. Several stormed off halfway through filming, unable to even complete the programme, never mind change their lives. But many of them are back in the UK, supporting each other in their new 'respectful' existences.

不是每个参加节目的孩子都会成功改造，有些中途退出，不想有任何改变。但许多人已经回到英国，彼此帮助，寻求新生。

'We talk online about what a nightmare other teenagers are, and how they really need to get a life and grow up,' laughs Chezdan, sounding like the father he never had.

“我们在网上聊天，聊到其他年轻人的糟糕生活，讨论他们应该如何重新振作。”Chezdan说话的语气就像一个父亲，虽然他自己是单亲家庭的孩子。

In one of the most moving moments in the series, the two teenagers in Botswana were asked to write their versions of Martin Luther King's famous speech which starts, 'I have a dream'. Hannah Moorehead was asked what her dream was. She replied, 'I don't have one. I've never had one'.

在最感人的一些节目场面中，博茨瓦纳的两个孩子被要求写下对马丁路德金的“我有一个梦想”演讲的感想。Hannah Moorehead说：“我没有梦想。我从来都没有。”

'That's where it's changed,' says Chezdan. 'We all have dreams now.'

“这就是我们改变的地方，”Chezdan说，“现在我们都有自己的梦想。”