英语散文:满载而归

 

满载而归

——归国留学生如何成为中国改革的生力军

成千上万在美国学习过的中国人是中国快速改革经济的生力军。 随着改革的成功进行，受过西方教育的中国人开始寻求高级政府工作。 留学生回国最大的影响在于加快中国的开放步伐，引入更多的新观念。 归国的留学生可能会对未来中国的发展产生重大影响。

Edward Tian said good-bye to Lubbock, Tex., his pickup truck, horseback riding, and seven years of studying broom snakeweed to return to Beijing in 1995. He took home a Texas Tech University doctorate in range management and a small Internet software company that he co-founded in Dallas. Now the company, Asia info, has $50 million in annual sales and 400 employees and is building much of China’s Internet backbone. “I wanted to do something to change people’s lives in the next five years, not the next 200 years,” says Tian, now 35.

爱德华·田告别了得克萨斯州拉伯克市，告别了他的轻型小货车，告别了纵马驰骋的时光，告别研究了7年的金雀花属蛇草专业，于1995年回到北京。他带回来的不仅有得州理工大学牧场管理学博士学位，还有一个小型互联网软件公司枣亚洲信息公司(Asia info)。这是他与别人合伙在达拉斯创立的。目前该公司的年销售额已高达5000万美元，拥有400名雇员，并且在中国因特网的发展中成为骨干力量。今年35岁的田博士说：“我想做些具体事来尽快改变人们的生活水平，力争在未来5年之内而不是未来漫长的200年。”

Tens of thousands of Chinese who studied in the U.S. have the same idea. Mostly in their 30s and 40s, they are the new dynamos in China’s fast-reforming economy. Many, like Tian, are starting entrepreneurial companies. Some are running economics departments at major Chinese schools. Others are advising banks, stock markets, and government ministries how to adapt to the global economy.

成千上万在美国学习过的中国人都有同样的观点。他们大多三四十岁，是中国快速变革经济的生力军。许多人像田博士那样已开始创建企业或公司；有些人回到了中国重点大学的经济系任教；另外一些人则当起了银行、股票市场和政府部门的顾问，就如何与世界经济接轨提出积极建议。

3]The returnees come back with much more than salable skills. They have a grasp of how the outside world works that stay-at-home Chinese don’t. Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral physicist Charles Zhang, 33, for example, is trying to steer Beijing away from the heavy-handed state planning used by South Korea and Japan. “The entrepreneurial, market-driven approach is what makes good technology,” he says.

回国者带回来的不仅仅是畅销的技能。他们熟谙美国和世界其他国家的运作方式，而这正是许多未出国门的人所欠缺的。今年33岁的查尔斯·张（张朝阳）是美国麻省理工学院物理学博士，目前正在试图使中国摆脱韩国和日本曾实行过的沉旧的国家计划体制。他说：“只有通过富有创新的、以市场为动力的途径才能促进技术的进步。”

Furthermore, Zhang and people like him open new private channels between the U.S. and China. His company, Internet Technologies China Inc., is a gateway into China for U.S. and other foreign companies. Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and Ericsson, for instance, all advertise on ITC’s Web site, one of the most popular in China with 280,000 hits per day.

此外，张朝阳以及许多像他那样的人正在开拓中美之间新的民间沟通渠道。张朝阳的公司“爱特信公司”(Internet Technologies China)是美国和其他外国公司进入中国的门户之一。微软、惠普、摩托罗拉和爱立信等公司都在爱特信网页上刊登广告。爱特信公司的网页已成为中国最受欢迎的网页之一，每日访问者达28万人次。

Even more important, outfits such as Zhang’s are a promising new way of piping foreign investment into China. Traditionally, such inflows have been filtered through clumsy and one-sided joint ventures in which foreigners have few rights. ITC, however, was set up with $225,000 in seed money from MIT professors, including Nicholas Negro Ponte, founding director of the MIT Media Laboratory and co-founder of Wired magazine. Zhang received $2 million more investment from Intel Corp. And other U.S. companies in March.

更重要的是，类似张所创办的公司也是一个吸引更多外资流入中国的重要途径。传统的外资注入渠道主要是合资企业方式，而那些合资企业则往往不是很灵活，外国投资方也没有什么权利。然而，爱特信公司22.5万美元的创建费就来自麻省理工学院教授们的风险基金，其中包括麻省理工学院媒体实验室创始人、《连结》杂志的创办人之一尼可拉斯·尼葛罗庞帝。今年3月，张朝阳还从英特尔公司和其他几家美国公司获得了200万美元的投资。

China needs more than entrepreneurial drive, however. Rebuilding the superstructure of a modern market economy is essential. Returnees such as former New York Stock Exchange economist Wang Boming, 42, are key architects in the restoration. For a fraction of his Wall Street salary, he joined a team to set up China’s new stock exchanges in 1988. These days, he is a publisher “trying to educate people how to manage their wealth.”

然而，中国需要的不仅仅是开始性的工作，而且重要的是必须重新建立适合现代市场经济的上层建筑。归国留学生是这一重建工程中的“设计师”。42岁的前纽约证券交易所经济学家王波明（音译）于1988年回国，与其他人一起担负起建立中国新的证券交易所的任务。而他的工资只是他在华尔街任职时的零头。如今他是一位出版商，“正在试图教人们怎样理财。”

As reforms succeed, Western-educated Chinese will start to move into senior government jobs. Zhang Xiang, 57, armed with a PhD in economics from New York’s Columbia University, became vice-minister at the Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation Ministry this year. He may be able to avoid Sino-U.S. misunderstandings.

随着改革的成功进行，受过西方教育的中国人开始寻求高级政府工作。57岁的张翔（音译）是纽约哥伦比亚大学的经济学博士，今年被任命为中国外经贸部的副部长。他也许能使中美之间避免产生误解。

The returnees’ biggest impact may be in opening up China to a flow of new ideas. U.S.-minted doctoral economists are remaking China’s university departments. Leading the way is Beijing University’s prestigious China Center for Economic Research. The Center’s influence extends far beyond its campus. Faculty, all Western-educated, are favorite invitees to panels debating economic policy. “We try to provide an independent view to Chinese leaders,” says Deputy Director Hai Wen, 46, a University of California at Davis alum.

留学生回国最大的影响可能在于加快中国的开放步伐，引入更多的新思想。在美国获得博士学位的经济学家们正在对中国大学的教育体系进行大胆的改革。由具有西方学位的归国留学生组成的北京大学中国经济研究中心已成为这一改革的开路先锋。中国经济研究中心的影响力已远远超出了北大校园。中心的研究人员经常受邀出席经济问题研讨会，并颇受欢迎。加州大学戴维斯分校的毕业生、46岁的中心副主任海文（音译）说：“我们尽力给中国领导人提供一个独立的观点。”

Those from the the classes of 1998 and onward who do go home could have a dramatic impact on China’s future. Their predecessors are getting things started, but they need all the help they can get.

那些1998年毕业的中国留学生和他们的后来者回国后可能会对未来中国的发展产生重大影响。他们的前辈们正在开辟出一条道路，但他们需要得到一切可以得到的帮助。