一名外交官的中国故事

I came to China as a British diplomat in 1989. For two years prior to that I had been studying Mandarin. It was not really my decision.
1989年，我以外交官的身份来到中国，之前的两年我开始学习中文。可这并不是我自己的决定。

In 1986 I joined the British Foreign Office. I had a degree in European history and languages and spoke fluent German. Naively, I assumed that my future would lie in Western and Central Europe. But of course the Foreign Office had other ideas. This was not just out of sheer perversity, of the kind that all large organizations demonstrate from time to time. Their thinking was that, as I had a talent for languages, I should study one of the really hard ones, and they were particularly keen to send young diplomats to learn Arabic. (This is not just because of the strategic and economic importance of the Middle East, but simply because there are a large number of Arab countries, and so a large number of embassies need staffing.)
我在1986年进入英国外交部。我曾获得欧洲历史与语言学位，能讲流利的德语。我曾天真地以为我会被派到西欧或者中欧，但他们对我却另有安排。外交部的决定也并非完全有悖常情，与所有大机构时而做出的变态决定还不同。他们认为我有语言天赋，应当学习一种真正有难度的语言。当时外交部特别喜欢派年轻外交官去学阿拉伯语。（这并非仅仅出于中东地区战略和经济地位的重要性考虑，也是因为那里有众多说阿拉伯语的国家，因此有同样众多的大使馆需要人手）。

I had recently got married at this stage, and my wife told me in no uncertain terms that she did not want to spend half of her life heavily wrapped up in the fierce desert heat. So I needed to find another choice to prevent being forced into that course of action. Because my studies had been almost entirely Eurocentric, I knew nothing whatever about China, beyond a vague idea that it was a large place a long way to the east. But I pretended great enthusiasm for a career as a Sinologist, and was thus able to avoid banishment to the deserts of the Middle East.
当时我新婚燕尔，我妻子明确得对我说她可不想下半辈子生活在酷热的沙漠。为了不被派往阿拉伯，我需要个替代方案。我的学问都是有关欧洲的。当时我只模糊晓得中国在遥远的东方，是个大国，除此这些，我对她一无所知。但为了不被流放到中东沙漠，我假装对汉学家这个职业抱有极大的热情。

I enjoyed studying the language, although learning the characters remains probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. I had one major problem with my studies; my first son was born the week the course started, and he made it impossible to concentrate (or sleep at night). I began the two-year course with no children and ended it with two, as we had another son in Hong Kong where the second year took place.
我喜爱学习中文，但学汉字可以说得上是我这辈子遇见的最困难的事儿。在学中文时，我遇到的主要麻烦是：开课的第一周我大儿子降生了，当时他使我很难集中精力学习（夜里也很难睡个好觉）。第二年我的二儿子在香港出生。历时两年的中文课程开始时我还没孩子，而课程结束时我已是两个男孩的爸爸了。

I was to spend most of the 1990s in China, a total of nine years, in which my children grew up chasing cockroaches around the living room and learning Chinese songs from our ayi. Sadly they never really learned Chinese, as in the diplomatic compounds there were families from every nationality on earth -- except Chinese.
90年代我在中国度过了整整九年时间，孩子们渐渐长大，在客厅追着蟑螂到处跑，跟中国阿姨学着唱中文歌。遗憾的是，他们都没有学会中文，因为在使馆区虽说有来自世界各国的家庭，却唯独没有中国的。

I was always keen not to limit my acquaintance to other diplomats and foreigners; as I was in China I wanted to get to know the Chinese people, which in the late 1980s was just beginning to become possible. The criminal offence of "li tong wai guo" had been abolished, and it was possible to establish genuinely friendly relations with people, both those one met through work and those one met through the social life which was just beginning to take off in the newly-opened bars.
在中国期间，我的交际圈不仅仅局限于外交官和外籍人士，因为我身处中国，我想要了解这里的人。80年代末，中国废除了“里通外国”的刑事罪名，这让我和当地人成为真正的朋友成为可能，无论是在工作中还是在日常交往中遇到的。没了藩篱的束缚，生活也丰富了起来。

From the start I found Chinese people naturally friendly and approachable. Despite China's long isolation from the West, people seemed genuinely free from any inbuilt suspicion or resentment of foreigners, and happy to meet on equal terms. I learnt that it was very important to treat everyone I met with respect; the Chinese, like most people, don't like being condescended to by foreigners, and the British have to be very careful in this respect because of our colonial past.
一开始我便发现中国人天性友好、容易相处。尽管历史上中国曾与西方长期隔绝，但中国人对外国人没有固有的猜疑与怨恨，也愿意和外国人平等地结交。我意识到，尊重每一个我遇见的人非常重要；像大多数人一样，中国人不喜欢被外国人瞧不起，有过殖民历史的英国人更应注意这一点。

This was particularly true in my job as a diplomat. Chinese diplomats were always highly intelligent and professional, but extremely concerned to preserve the dignity of their country. Debate was always tough, but open and honest and usually concluded with a friendly lunch or dinner. The impression I got at these meetings -- which I have retained ever since -- is that, so long as you treat the Chinese with proper respect for their nation and their culture, you can say anything you like, and I have always been able to be completely frank.
作为一名外交官，我忠诚得履行着我的职责。中国的外交官悟性都很强，且具有很高的职业素养，他们竭力维护国家尊严。我们之间的争论常常非常激烈，却又坦诚布公，过后我们经常友好地共同用膳。在这些会议上中国外交官给我留下的印象是，只要你尊重中国和中国文化，你就可以和中国人敞开心扉，畅所欲言。