中國女孩歐盟打工

赴英留學成績優(yōu)異

身材窈窕，秀發(fā)飄逸，第一眼見到從比利時回國探親的張莉，不由感到眼前一亮。張莉出生在山東青島市一個知識分子家庭，讀中學時她的愿望是當一名外交官，所以對英語就有種近乎狂熱的喜愛。張莉的口袋里每天都揣著小錄音機聽英文磁帶，騎車聽，走路聽，吃飯也聽；她讀英語小說，聽英文歌曲，看英文電影，所有的閑暇都被英語占領(lǐng)。

1998年大學畢業(yè)后，因種種原因張莉最終未能當上外交官，但得到了去英國普利茅斯大學留學的機會。她念的是大眾傳媒，當時許多中國留學生勸她轉(zhuǎn)專業(yè)，因為理科專業(yè)將來好找工作，文科相對比較艱難。但她的想法是“我來英國不是為將來能夠混口飯吃，我要成為一名出色的國際記者，讓全世界聽到中國強大的聲音”。

她所學的大眾傳媒專業(yè)，對英語水平要求極高，班里全是能說會道的英國學生，老師講課根本不會顧及她這個中國人，她只好把老師的講義錄下來，課后再一遍又一遍地聽。她面對著厚厚的一疊專業(yè)書，是邊流淚邊苦讀攻克下來的。梅花香自苦寒來，后來每次考試發(fā)試卷，張莉的名字總是被教授最先念到：作文課上她的文章常常被老師作為范文朗讀，期末考試時有的課程被免考，其他的許多課程都獲得了滿分。

張莉以優(yōu)異的成績走出普利茅斯大學后，成了倫敦《經(jīng)濟觀察時報》的記者。一年多的記者生涯是一個“非常有價值的培訓”，對歐洲人的心理、社會生活、家庭了解到很多，張莉說這是她做記者最大的收獲。

過五關(guān)報考歐盟

2002年春天，歐盟要招聘一批公務員。歐盟是個僅次于聯(lián)合國的重要機構(gòu)，在世界上的影響力很大，張莉非常渴望走上這個“高不可攀”的大舞臺，找到適合自己扮演的角色。

歐盟公務員是西方公認的“金領(lǐng)”職業(yè)，不僅年薪是普通人的數(shù)倍，還擁有令人羨慕的社會地位和福利待遇，終身都不會被解雇，而且還可以到英、法、德、意等成員國中的任何一國定居。因此，歐盟公務員的競爭相當激烈。

盡管張莉一向很自信，但這次進考場還是讓她吃了一驚：她得在兩個小時之內(nèi)完成120道考題！考試令張莉喜出望外，她在十分殘酷的競爭中順利闖過第一關(guān)，接下來便是面試。當時有8位考官，都是歐盟的專家，每人問兩道題，涉及面很廣。第一位考官的問題是如何提高歐盟產(chǎn)品在世界上的競爭力？接著又有考官問她歐洲人的失業(yè)率和勞工方面的問題。面對考官們挑剔的目光和連珠炮似的發(fā)問，張莉用一口流利的英語沉著應對，她的回答不僅有自己獨到的見解，并極富條理和邏輯。考官們很快就被這位中國女孩出色的學識“鎮(zhèn)”住了，他們頻頻點頭，露出了滿意的神色。

張莉是個善于創(chuàng)造奇跡的人，這一次盡管錄取率只有3％，但她還是力挫群雄，最終夢想成真了！

眼花繚亂的歐盟總部

走進設在布魯塞爾的歐盟總部，張莉發(fā)現(xiàn)歐盟的歐盟理事會、歐盟委員會、歐洲議會等三大機構(gòu)內(nèi)部裝修都相當氣派。尤其是歐洲議會內(nèi)部，郵局、銀行、書店、咖啡廳、小賣部、健身房、桑拿房、體育館等一應俱全。

經(jīng)過兩周的培訓，張莉被分配到歐盟委員會翻譯總司術(shù)語庫實習。實習結(jié)束后，她出色的才干和敬業(yè)精神受到翻譯總司官員的好評，最后被留在這個部門擔任中文翻譯。張莉平時的主要工作，是為歐盟接待來訪的中國官員和貿(mào)易代表做翻譯。她的口譯準確而生動，加之對中國文化十分了解，即使對方說出“葉公好龍”、“畫蛇添足”之類令西方翻譯極為頭疼的成語，張莉也能結(jié)合談論內(nèi)容十分傳神地脫口譯出。歐盟官員對她的機智和才干十分欣賞，不少人經(jīng)常指名請張莉做翻譯。

午餐時間被張莉視為一天中最愜意的時光，在總部的自選餐廳里，可以品嘗到廚師現(xiàn)場烹飪的各國美食。張莉的最愛是現(xiàn)烤PANINI，一種內(nèi)夾各種餡料的意大利熱三明治，周圍放有4種不同醬料以適合不同口味的人群。在這里一邊享受國際化的美食，一邊和來自歐洲各國的同事談天說地，分享各國的奇聞趣事和工作經(jīng)驗。那種感覺真是妙不可言。

提到薪水和福利，張莉坦率地說，一般來說做同樣的工作歐盟公務員拿的錢要比當?shù)厝烁叱鰩妆叮热缫幻麣W盟打字秘書的月薪是2800歐元（1歐元折合10元人民幣），而比利時打字秘書的月薪僅有1300歐元左右。歐盟A級公務員的月薪從5000至1.55萬歐元不等，而比利時一名工作了30年的國家公務員，月薪也不會超過3000歐元。

此外，歐盟公務員還享受各類名目繁多的福利津貼。他們剛剛步入工作崗位，就會得到相當于兩個月基本工資的“安家落戶”費：除公共假日、病假、婚假、產(chǎn)假等之外，歐盟公務員每年還可享受24天至30天的休假，這期間全家都可以得到一筆足夠度假開銷的補貼；凡是不在本國上班的歐盟公務員，每月還可以領(lǐng)到相當于工資16％的“離鄉(xiāng)補貼”——歐盟認為，為了工作，許多人都“背井離鄉(xiāng)”，他們的“鄉(xiāng)愁”應該得到補貼。以上所有工資收入，都無需向各成員國納稅。

搭建中歐橋梁

近年來由于西方媒體片面宣傳，使歐洲人對中國有很多誤解，作為在歐盟供職的華人，張莉也會面對形形色色的“攻擊”。歐洲議會中有位法國籍議員曾當面向她發(fā)難，說中國廉價的鞋子、服裝像洪水般四處泛濫，“掠走”了歐盟數(shù)目驚人的財富。

張莉笑著說，去年中國出口到法國的鞋子幾乎夠貴國人均一雙，可是中國賺到的錢，還沒有你們賣到中國一架“空客A380”的利潤多，而且中國進口你們的飛機一次就是數(shù)十架！且不說大型客機、磁懸浮列車及核電站技術(shù)，就從最受中國白領(lǐng)喜愛的路易威登手袋為例，動輒七八千甚至上萬元人民幣一件，貴國利潤何止幾倍？！

張莉還在《歐洲日報》上撰文說歐盟與中國的貿(mào)易，是天下最劃算的買賣。“中國為我們生產(chǎn)最沒有賺頭的產(chǎn)品，而且價值奇低。歐盟卻能夠集中精力提升產(chǎn)業(yè)的層次和勞動生產(chǎn)率。現(xiàn)在的問題不是擔心便宜的中國貨，而是要操心這樣的好買賣能持續(xù)多久！”

真是一語驚醒夢中人，聽了她的觀點，就連一批向來主張對中國廉價商品“設限”或“實行懲罰性關(guān)稅”的官員，都漸漸地似乎悟出些道理來。

張莉說歐洲人辦事非常注重現(xiàn)實利益，而且思維是直線型的，你只要用西方人的觀念講中國的事情，他們就會接受。所以從上班第一天起，她就經(jīng)常和歐盟的貿(mào)易官員、歐洲議會議員等，就有關(guān)中國的問題進行辯論和解釋。“不打不成交”，過去戴著有色眼鏡看中國的人，許多都成了張莉的好朋友。

張莉自稱在歐盟“打工”，但年收入?yún)s高達數(shù)萬歐元，這在國內(nèi)應該屬于“金領(lǐng)麗人”了。去年，她在布魯塞爾郊區(qū)買了一套帶私人花園的住宅，還利用業(yè)余時間寫了《中國——被歐洲忽視的財富金礦》以及《怎樣與中國人做生意》兩本書，該書在倫敦出版發(fā)行后，成了令西方讀者稱贊的暢銷書！

張莉說現(xiàn)在真正了解歐盟的中國人還不多，普通歐洲民眾對中國也缺乏足夠的了解和認識，而自己能夠在這兩種文化之間進出自由，所以張莉很樂意為中歐搭建一座溝通的橋梁。為此張莉利用自己當過記者的優(yōu)勢，經(jīng)常奔走在歐洲各媒體之間，激情滿懷地宣傳和介紹中國，就連人稱“鐵娘子”的歐盟輪值國主席默克爾，都被張莉的行為所感動，稱她是位“了不起的東方女性”！

Chinese Girl Works at EU

By Xie Haiyun

Zhang Li dreamed of becoming a diplomat when at middle school. To realize her dream， she was nearly mad about the English language. The portable recorder player became a part of her. She listened to tapes wherever she went. The first setback came in 1998 when she graduated from college. For reasons she was not recruited as a diplomat， but she acquired a good chance to study at University of Plymouth， UK. She majored in mass communications. Many of her fellow Chinese in UK advised her to shift her major and find something else to study for better job opportunities. Zhang persisted， for at that time， she dreamed of becoming an international journalist so that she could help the world hear the voice of China.

Mass communications calls for perfect mastery of English and her classmates were all voluble speakers. In classes the teachers would never slow down a bit for her alone. She had to record all the lectures and listened again and again later. She drove herself at a big heap of textbooks. Sometimes she found it too hard and wept. However， she gradually excelled. Teachers soon found she was one of the best achievers. Her essays were often read to the whole class as models and her scores were often perfect. Some of her final exams were even waived. Having graduated as a top student， she worked as a journalist for a London-based business newspaper for a year where she learned a great deal about Europe.

Zhang’s opportunity came in the spring of 2002 when EU wanted to recruit employees. Jobs with EU are generally regarded as “golden-collar” The life-long employment provides first-rate fringe benefits and an opportunity to live in member countries. She found the written test devilishly difficult. One was supposed to answer 120 questions within 2 hours， but she did well enough to progress to the next text. At the interview， she faced eight examiners， each of whom gave her two questions. She answered to their satisfaction.They were convinced by her knowledge and the way she handled questions and answers. The cut-throat competition eliminated ninety-seven percent of the candidates and Zhang Li was one of the few lucky.

The EU headquarters in Brussels dazzled Zhang Li. The interior decoration of the Council， the Commission and the Parliament look just magnificent. Inside the parliament building are a full range of services. After a two-week induction course， Zhang was assigned to work as an intern at the Directorate General for Interpretation (formerly known as SCIC). With her talent and dedication fully recognized by officials at the DG Interpretation， she was formally employed after the internship was over. Now Zhang interprets for Chinese officials visiting the EU headquarters and Chinese trade representatives.A highly qualified interpreter， she is able to do her job well. Many officials at EUappreciate her talent and some seek her out as an interpreter for important meetings.

Zhang Li does more than just enjoy her dutiful work. She speaks economic truths about China whenever possible. As a Chinese working at the EU， she often finds harsh questions coming at her， questions that are somewhat based on misunderstanding about trade relations between EU and China. On one occasion， an EU parliament member from France complained to her that shoes and garments from China swamped France， making big money from EU. Zhang explained that France imported about 200 million pairs of shoes from China per year， but the profit China earned from all the shoe exports a year was nothing compared with that of a single Airbus A380 and dozens of other airbuses China bought from France. In addition to buying big planes， nuclear power stations and magnet levitation trains from France， China also imports a large quantity of Louis Vuitton handbags.

Zhang argued in a newspaper article that China produces the things with least profit while Europe is able to concentrate on updating its industries and maximizing productivity， and that instead of worrying about products from China， EU should worry about how long EU can enjoy such a good bargain. This argument convinced many officials at the EU and they began to rethink their proposals to set limits to or levy punitive taxes on products from China.

A “golden-collar worker”with a salary and fringe benefits of 80，000 Euro a year， Zhang Li has bought a house with a garden in a suburb of Brussels. She has also authored two books on how to do business with China.

(Translated by David)