你有夢想嗎

編者按：隨著北京2008年奧運會的逼近，民眾越來越關心“中國”品牌的樹立，學習英語的熱情也被點燃。越來越多的外宣干部和業內同行向我們表達了期待看到雙語欄目的愿望。因此，我們自2006年第1期起開辦了《雙語視窗》欄目以滿足廣大讀者的需求。

看看周圍的媒體，在《北京青年報》、《參考消息》、《國門時報》上有許多精粹的小短文，像一只只啄木鳥，善意地提醒了中國人習以為常的行為背后“尚未和國際接軌”的細節，讀后讓人回味不已。在獲得借鑒意義的同時，也帶來更深入的思考。我們效仿中英文對照的版面形式，旨在通過外國友人的視角來看中國，從中折射出東西方觀念、習俗的異同。通過一篇篇這樣的文章，讓讀者在領略異域文化的同時，也能達到學習英語的目的。

本文反映的只是一部分人的想法，它不可能代表中國所有學生的所思所想。

我在北京的中學教英語已經一年多了，每時每刻我都感覺到我的學生們的思想是多么現實。

“你們想上哪所大學？”我問道。

“我不知道，現在我也不去想它，”學生們總是這樣回答，“我會參加高考，拿到分數后我再決定報考哪所大學。”

“你們難道沒有夢想嗎？”我問。

“為什么需要夢想呢？”學生們聳聳肩，這樣回答我。

我現在在北京四中教書。四中是北京最好的中學之一，我的學生是北京城里最優秀的學生中的一部分。我自己曾在多倫多一所很好的中學讀書，然后去了美國耶魯大學。所以在我的生活中，周圍都是勤奮而有才華的學生。對我來說，中國的優秀學生和北美的優秀學生最顯著的差別在于他們所追求目標本質上的不同。

對中國學生來說，目標必須是現實的，是短期可實現的。通過追求肯定可以實現的目標，中國學生過著風平浪靜的生活，盡管艱苦勞碌，但他們沿著一條確定的軌跡平穩地駛向成功的彼岸。對北美學生來說，其目標是狂放不羈、出于本能的美夢，歸根結底是富于浪漫色彩的美夢。實現這樣的夢想遙遙無期、希望渺茫，可能在夢想初露端倪時就遭到別人的嘲笑。但這正是夢想的可貴之處，即使它看上去不可能實現，但它卻賦予北美的年輕人以激情——一種引導他們鍥而不舍地增進自身能力的激情。中國人注重現實的思想，常常使最優秀、最聰明的中國人通過追求肯定可以實現的目標過上一種舒適而平庸的生活，而西方的浪漫將北美人的生活引向兩個極端，或者是災難性的失敗，或者是劃時代的成功。

我很年輕，但我相信我的生活中充滿了失敗和成功的故事，因此我不得不對中國人的實用思想產生疑問。作為一名在多倫多長大的中國移民，我曾生活在貧困之中，也曾為掌握英文費盡心機。在高中時我有一個美妙的夢想：上耶魯大學。那是世界上最好的大學之一。我父母說我太窮了，我老師說我不夠聰明。我同意他們的話，但同時我覺得，只要我努力奮斗，只要我勤奮學習，我就能實現上耶魯大學的夢想。這個夢想給我帶來了激情并賦予我有意義的生活。它促使我去讀那些我開始無法理解的書，去參加那些我并不擅長的活動，去嘗試那些我從未做過的事情。最終，我的夢想實現了。

從耶魯大學畢業后，我來到北京。在這兒，我告訴我的學生應該擁有夢想并去追尋夢想。有一些學生被我說動了，一位女生給我留下了深刻的印象，她向我吐露有朝一日要當聯合國秘書長。但在大多數學生身上，我的努力是白費了。我記得有個學生對我說：“我的夢想是有一天我能有一個夢想。”

“你不了解中國的情況，”這些十幾歲的孩子常說，“中國很窮，所以我們不能考慮我們真心想做的事情，我們只想怎樣賺錢。”

“但如果那是你們的看法，也是整個中國社會的看法的話，”我回答道，“那么中國就永遠不會有偉大的作家、偉大的科學家，永遠不會有把令人驚嘆的新事物貢獻給社會的人物。中國不乏有才華的人，但他們需要浪漫的激情才能變得偉大。如果你們過于實用，只關心幸福舒適的生活，那么你們就丟掉了你們的天賦。”

“即使我們擁有夢想，父母、社會也不允許我們去追尋夢想，他們堅持讓我們回到現實中來。”

“每一個追尋夢想的人都必須向傳統挑戰，所以只有少數人才能真正成為追尋夢想的人。”

“我可不愿意當少數人中的一個。”

對我的失敗，我既不失望，也不悲傷。似乎矛盾的是，我知道我的夢想是“不可能”的夢想。我希望我的所有學生都擁有對生活的熱望，擁有夢想并用夢想去點燃生命的激情——貢獻于社會并為周圍的人所喜愛。這只是一個夢想，只有夢想才值得為之奮斗終生。擁有這樣的夢想，我無疑會失敗，但卻是快樂的失敗，因為只有通過失敗，人們才知道自己活得實實在在。

（作者曾任職美國最具影響力的高等教育周刊The chronide of Higher Education 駐北京的記者）

原文：

I have been teaching English to secondary-school students in Beijing for over a year now， and I always notice how practical my students are.

\"Which university would you like to go to?\" I may ask.

\"I don't know， and I'm not thinking about it right now，\" the student typically replies， \"I'll take the national university entrance exam， and then after I get my score I'll decide which universities to apply to.\"

\"Don't you have any dreams?\" I ask.

\"Why dream?\" the student will reply， shrugging his or her shoulders.

I am currently teaching at Beijing Secondary School Number 4， one of Beijing's best schools， and my students are some of the city's brightest. I was educated at a good high school in Toronto and then went on to university at Yale， so all my life I have been surrounded by talented and diligent students. It seems to me that the most striking difference between the best Chinese students and the best North American students is the nature of the goals they adopt.

For the Chinese student， goals must be practical and short-term. Pursuing these goals of guaranteed feasibility， the Chinese student lives a steady life， sailing smoothly to success on a sure though arduous course. For the North American student， goals are wild， spontaneous and ultimately romantic dreams， so outrageously distant and impossible to achieve that other people would probably mock him for having them in the first place. But it is the greatness of the dream， even its seeming impossibility， that endows the young North American with passion厭 passion that leads him constantly to augment his abilities. Chinese practicality too often leads the best and brightest Chinese to a life of comfortable mediocrity， while Western romanticism propels North Americans to lives of disastrous failure or epic achievement.

I am young， but I believe my own life has so brimmed over with stories of failure and success that I am in a position to question the wisdom of Chinese practicality. As a Chinese immigrant growing up in Toronto， I lived in poverty and struggled to master English. In high school I had a great dream: to attend Yale， one of the world's best universities. My parents said that I was too poor， my teachers said that I was not bright enough. I agreed with them， yet simultaneously felt that if I struggled， if I worked diligently， then I could make it to Yale. The dream gave passion and meaning to my life， and motivated me to read books that I could not at first understand， to get involved in activities at which I was not adept， to try things that I had never tried before. In the end， my dream came true.

After graduating from Yale， I came here to Beijing to tell students to have their own dreams and to follow them. I succeed with a few students: One girl impressed me by confiding that she wanted to be the secretary general of the United Nations one day. But I fail with most students. I remember the one who told me，\"My dream is to have a dream someday.\"

\"You don't understand the situation in China，\" these teenagers often remark， \"China is poor， so we can't think about what we really want to do， only about what will make money.\"

\"But if that's your attitude and the attitude of Chinese society as a whole，\" I reply， \"then China will never produce any great writers， any great scientists， any person who contributes astonishing new things to society.China is filled with talented people， but they need a romantic passion to become great. If you're too realistic and care only for a life of happiness and comfort， then you're throwing your talent away.\"

\"But even if we were to have dreams， our parents and our society would never allow us to pursue our dreams; they would insist that we be practical.\"

\"Every dreamer has to defy conventional society， and only a few can really be dreamers.\" \"Then I won't be one of the few.\" they reply.

But I am neither disappointed nor depressed by these failures because， paradoxically， I know my dream is an \"impossible\" dream. I want my students to want to live， to have a dream and to let it fill them too with a passion for life陽o contribute to society and to endear themselves to their community. This is a dream， and only dreams can make life worth struggling through to the end. Possessed by such a dream， I will undoubtedly fail， but it will be a happy failure. It is only by failing that one knows one is truly alive.

（本欄目文章選自《北京青年報》“雙語視窗”，得到欄目編輯張愛學的授權。英文部分的稿費由本編輯部支付，請作者本人看到此啟事后與編輯部聯系，或發郵件至zhoujin_gongwu@sina.com）

責編：周瑾