歡喜大團圓

By+Christine+Mc+Cafferty

It was my first year out of school and I was spending it travelling around Europe. Id finally arrived in England， by ferry1. I was looking forward to meeting up with my best friend from school， Shannon. I had not seen her since shed flown to London on her European tour a few months earlier. Now she was working near the town of Henley-on-Thames2 and I was going to join her there.

After finally being allowed to disembark3 from the ferry， I walked straight to my bus which was waiting there for its passengers. We were taken straight to London in about two hours along the motorway4. To say that I was thrilled to be driven through London cannot describe my emotions. It felt like Id arrived at the centre of the world.

I think that for people who grow up in the former British colonies， England seems like a homeland and arriving there is a kind of homecoming. It might be like a foreign-born Chinese person arriving in China for the first time. Everything seems déjà vu5—it is as if you have seen it before... I could only wonder what adventure awaited me here.

Once the bus arrived at London Central Station， there were many young people representing different hotels calling out to us and showing us brochures6 to convince each of us to stay in their hotel or hostel. They are called hustlers7.

One young man， a fellow countryman8， convinced me to stay at his hotel called The Palace Court Hotel. On my limited budget， I should have just caught the first bus to Shannon but hey， I had just arrived in London. Also， I was tired of sitting up， I wanted a bed and I needed a shower. So I spent my first night in England in London. And that seemed right.

The hotel was a budget9 one but central to all the sights， sites and attractions of that great city. However， I was not going to see any of that on my first day in England. I was going to look in amazement10 at all the other young travellers staying at the budget hotel， then check in， shower， and sleep—way too long—and watch the elections on television. Sounds crazy， but its true.

I fell asleep and only woke up late in the afternoon. That night， completely unbeknown11 to me， just happened to be the night of the national elections. Everyone over 18， who wished to， had voted for the party and leader of their choice to govern the United Kingdom. Now the votes were being counted and the results made public.

I myself had never been interested in politics or elections much， but almost all of the young people seemed glued to12 the TV screen watching as the results came in. I decided to act interested as well. Soon enough I did in fact become interested in the debate and discussion， on the all night TV coverage13 and amongst the young people， about the different parties， and who might be the next prime minister. Suddenly I was learning everything about the history of Britain and its political systems！

There are two major political parties： the Conservatives and Labour.14 From what I learned in my brief history and political lesson， the Conservatives tend to represent the wealthier classes perhaps the rising middle class of people. They tend to support the traditional or existing powers. There seemed to me to be a stress on the idea that people who are successful have worked hard for it or deserve it—and so should be encouraged to build more wealth.15 The Conservatives seemed more in favour of business， lower taxes and the idea that the government should not interfere16 with people too much. This is a bit like the Republicans17 in the United States.

The Labour Party tended to represent that—labour， the working class of people. They seemed to want change in society to allow wealth to go from the richer people to the poorer. This will be done through higher taxes on wealthier people and the wealth then redistributed18 by government spending on education， health and help for the poor. This is closer to the Democratic Party19 in the United States.

This rough idea is my perspective and Im sure that other people would describe the differences in different words. At that point the Conservatives had been in power for a long time.

Newspapers and other media try to find out what the outcome of a vote will be in advance， so they hold polls20 （surveys）. All the polls predicted that finally the Conservatives would lose and Labour would be in. There were high hopes and enthusiastic talk from many of the people in the hotel lounge but， as the results came in from the different areas， their faces and hopes dropped lower and lower.21 It seemed to me that what was happening here was far more exciting than anything ha ppening outside so I had yet another long night awake and only went to bed when it was confirmed that the Conservatives had won again.

The only break I took from the elections was to find out about the buses going to Henley-on-Thames， where I finally was to meet up with Shannon. Quite a few buses went during the day， but I wanted to be there by 3 pm so that I could meet her at the pub where she would be working a lunch shift22.

I woke the next morning ready to go. Finally， I was going to see Shannon. The bus trip was an hour and a quarter to the west. Once you had passed the greater London area， you entered pretty green countryside， though still busy and with many towns and developments23 all around. Henley is a small town in the Chilterns—a landscape of hills covered in woods and with green fields beneath. It is situated on the Thames River； that is why it is called Henley-on-Thames. We drove through it， to get to the White Hart Inn where Shannon was working. I had instructions to stay on the bus till that stop was announced.

When I stepped off， I saw Shannon standing on the road outside the Inn. She had an apron wrapped around her waist.24 It was such a strange scene； a different country on the other side of our world； she was standing beside what seemed to be a very old stone-built hotel， as pretty as a postcard； and she was dressed for a job I couldnt have imagined she would do （washing dishes）. Yet it was her. Besides the apron， she looked exactly the same—my best friend. We saw each other at the exact same moment and， oh， what joy！ It felt like the highlight25 of my life. I was with my friend who knew me and where I came from. The screaming， the shouting， and the crying we did. We fell into each others arms and danced on the spot. We jumped up and down. There was no happier reunion ever！ Our years of planning and dreaming together of travelling Europe together was finally here. And we didnt need to feel alone in a foreign world anymore.

We had all the people in the street turn and look at us. We had to hurry inside as her shift was not yet over. She still had some dishes to wash. We went through a side door into the kitchen area. Shannon loudly introduced me to everyone： the chef， the waiters， the cleaners and the owner as we met them. “My best friend is here，” she told everyone. I pitched in26 to help her finish up as fast as possible. Im not sure we were doing the best job because the floors were awfully wet when we were done.

We spoke to the owner and he said that he could give me a job as a bartender， but only for two weeks. Apparently their usual lady would be on leave for that time. I had never drunk， let alone served， a beer. Nonetheless I acted enthusiastic and excited. Here was a new challenge though I felt sure I would be better at washing dishes... I knew that a job is valuable and the opportunity to work at the same place as Shannon was awesome， not to mention convenient. My new life was truly starting！

1. ferry： 渡輪。

2. Henley-on-Thames： 泰晤士河畔亨利（英國牛津郡東南部城鎮）。

3. disembark： 登陸，上岸。

4. motorway： 高速公路。

5. déjà vu：〈法〉似曾相識。

6. brochure： 小冊子。

7. hustler： 耍詭計騙錢的人。

8. fellow countryman： 同胞，同鄉。

9. budget： 便宜的，價格低廉的。10. in amazement： 吃驚地。

11. unbeknown： 不為人知的。

12. （be） glued to： 緊盯住。

13. coverage： 新聞報道。

14. Conservatives： 保守黨；Labour：工黨。

15. 在我看來，這強調了這樣一個觀念：成功的人都是努力奮斗的，而成功也是他們應得的——所以應該鼓勵他們獲取更多的財富。

16 . interfere： 干涉，妨礙。

17. Republican： 共和黨。

18. redistribute： 再分配。

19. Democratic Party： 民主黨。

20. poll： 民意測驗。

21. 旅店休息室里人聲鼎沸，大家都期望很高，然而，隨著各地區結果紛紛公布，大家臉色都漸漸沉了下來，期待也越來越低。lounge：（旅館等公共場所的）休息室。

22. shift： 輪班。

23. development： 新開發的房產，新住宅區。

24. apron： 圍裙；waist： 腰。

25. highlight： 最重要（或最有趣的）事件（或時刻）。

26. pitch in： 出一份力。