一名外交官的中國故事大綱

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，我以外交官的身份來到中國，之前的兩年我開始學習中文。可這並不是我自己的決定。

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年進入英國外交部。我曾獲得歐洲歷史與語言學位，能講流利的德語。我曾天真地以爲我會被派到西歐或者中歐，但他們對我卻另有安排。外交部的決定也並非完全有悖常情，與所有大機構時而做出的變態決定還不同。他們認爲我有語言天賦，應當學習一種真正有難度的語言。當時外交部特別喜歡派年輕外交官去學阿拉伯語。（這並非僅僅出於中東地區戰略和經濟地位的重要性考慮，也是因爲那裏有衆多說阿拉伯語的國家，因此有同樣衆多的大使館需要人手）。

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.
當時我新婚燕爾，我妻子明確得對我說她可不想下半輩子生活在酷熱的沙漠。爲了不被派往阿拉伯，我需要個替代方案。我的學問都是有關歐洲的。當時我只模糊曉得中國在遙遠的東方，是個大國，除此這些，我對她一無所知。但爲了不被流放到中東沙漠，我假裝對漢學家這個職業抱有極大的熱情。

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.
我喜愛學習中文，但學漢字可以說得上是我這輩子遇見的最困難的事兒。在學中文時，我遇到的主要麻煩是：開課的第一週我大兒子降生了，當時他使我很難集中精力學習（夜裏也很難睡個好覺）。第二年我的二兒子在香港出生。歷時兩年的中文課程開始時我還沒孩子，而課程結束時我已是兩個男孩的爸爸了。

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年代我在中國度過了整整九年時間，孩子們漸漸長大，在客廳追着蟑螂到處跑，跟中國阿姨學着唱中文歌。遺憾的是，他們都沒有學會中文，因爲在使館區雖說有來自世界各國的家庭，卻唯獨沒有中國的。

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.
在中國期間，我的交際圈不僅僅侷限於外交官和外籍人士，因爲我身處中國，我想要了解這裏的人。80年代末，中國廢除了“裏通外國”的刑事罪名，這讓我和當地人成爲真正的朋友成爲可能，無論是在工作中還是在日常交往中遇到的。沒了藩籬的束縛，生活也豐富了起來。

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.
一開始我便發現中國人天性友好、容易相處。儘管歷史上中國曾與西方長期隔絕，但中國人對外國人沒有固有的猜疑與怨恨，也願意和外國人平等地結交。我意識到，尊重每一個我遇見的人非常重要；像大多數人一樣，中國人不喜歡被外國人瞧不起，有過殖民歷史的英國人更應注意這一點。

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.
作爲一名外交官，我忠誠得履行着我的職責。中國的外交官悟性都很強，且具有很高的職業素養，他們竭力維護國家尊嚴。我們之間的爭論常常非常激烈，卻又坦誠布公，過後我們經常友好地共同用膳。在這些會議上中國外交官給我留下的印象是，只要你尊重中國和中國文化，你就可以和中國人敞開心扉，暢所欲言。And, as a diplomat, there was always the danger of politics putting a strain on professional and personal relationships. The worst case of this was the terrible accidental NATO bombardment of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. It was a very difficult meeting a few days later when I had to go into the China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make formal apologies on behalf of my government, and had to listen to a lot of fierce and entirely understandable criticism. In the preceding days I had been besieged in the British Embassy for four days by stone-throwing demonstrators angered by NATO's dreadful mistake. While I sat in my office dodging missiles, I was delighted to receive a phone call from a young Chinese couple I had met a few days before. They expressed sympathy for my difficult situation, and said they hoped I wouldn't be prevented from appearing at the dinner to which they had invited me that evening!
身爲一名外交人士，政治動盪常會影響工作和人際關係。最糟糕的一件事情是，1999年位於貝爾格萊德市的中國大使館遭到北大西洋公約組織轟炸。事後數日，我代表英國政府到中國外交部致歉，我不得不面對許多完全合乎情理的激烈批評。在這之前，被北大西洋公約組織的暴行激怒的示威者向英國大使館投擲石頭，導致我被圍困在大使館四天之久。幸運的是，當我在辦公室躲避石塊時，我接到了不久前認識的一對年輕中國夫婦的電話，他們很同情我當時的境遇，並且希望我能如約參加當天晚上他們組織的晚宴。

It cannot be denied that living in faraway countries imposes strains on family life. Sadly, a lot of marriages fail in careers like diplomacy, and mine was one of them. I got very much involved in China, its people and its culture, which my wife did not do to any great extent, and gradually we discovered that we had been drifting apart. This is a fate which can be very difficult to avoid, as one can never tell in advance how a spouse will adapt to a strange environment.
不可否認，生活在遙遠的國度會給家庭生活帶來很大的壓力。讓人傷心的是，許多外交人士的婚姻以失敗告終，我的婚姻也未能倖免。我深深地融入中國人民和中國文化之中，而我的妻子卻不是這樣的。逐漸，我們發現彼此日益疏離。這是命運，難以避免。因爲此前我無法預知妻子適應陌生的生活環境的能力。

And so, in a development which is very common among expatriate men working in China, I acquired a new wife, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine from Chongqing. We are still experiencing the eternal ups and downs of a cross-cultural marriage; I love my fu-qi-fei-pian and she enjoys a full breakfast of sausages, bacon and beans at the weekend.
像很多在中國工作的外籍男人一樣，我開始了另一段婚姻。我的妻子是一名來自重慶的中醫。現在，我們仍然經歷着跨文化婚姻的坎坷與甜蜜；我喜歡吃夫妻肺片，她也喜歡週末早餐裏的香腸、培根和豆子。

Now I no longer work in China, but I have kept up a habit of visiting at least once a year, funds permitting. I still maintain a network of good Chinese friends, who are very important to me; some of them I have been close to for over twenty years. I never found it at all difficult to establish good friendships. In fact some of my Chinese friends are prepared to tell me secrets about themselves which they wouldn't tell to their Chinese friends! (Because a foreigner knowing your secrets doesn't make you lose face.)
現在我已不在中國工作，但只要財力允許，我每年仍然回到中國一次。我與許多中國朋友仍舊保持着聯繫，他們對我而言非常重要。我和其中一些人已經密切交往了20多年。和他們成爲朋友不是什麼難事。事實上我的許多中國朋友更願意向我傾訴心裏話，而不是向他的同胞朋友。（因爲一個外國人知道你的祕密不會讓你沒面子。）

I have been there to support a young family when their son was born; I have acted as interpreter at a Sino-British wedding; and I have attended the funeral of a lovely girl who died tragically young. My friends and I know all each other's histories, and I find it very reassuring that, while the China I knew in 1989 has changed beyond recognition, the people have not.
在中國，我一直資助着一對年輕夫婦，那時他們的兒子剛出生。我曾在一箇中英婚禮上擔任翻譯，我還曾參加一位可愛可惜英年早逝的女孩的葬禮。我和我的朋友們都熟知彼此的過去。可以肯定的是，雖然1989年後的中國已經變得無法識別，然而，那裏的人們始終沒有變。

Except in one respect. All my friends seem to have the most enormous children. The rapid improvement in nutrition in China over the last 30 years is really noticeable, especially in the north; medium-height parents are producing boys growing to 185-190 cm in height! It is quite alarming.
唯一改變的是，我的中國朋友們的孩子長得都很高大。在過去的30年裏，中國人的營養狀況迅速改善，特別是北方，中等個頭夫婦的兒子身高可達1.85到1.9米，這簡直太令人吃驚了。

I don't know whether I will ever live and work full-time in China again. I am in my fifties now, and as a long-term expatriate friend once said to me, China probably isn't the best place to grow old in. (If one does not benefit from a Chinese network of family relationships, that is.) What I would like is a little house in the countryside, perhaps somewhere in Sichuan near to my wife's family, in which I would live for five or six months a year writing books and journalism, and spend the rest of the year in Scotland, which has now become my home. But once China gets into your blood, you will never get it out again.
我不知是否還會回到中國全職工作和生活。如今我已年過五旬，一個和我一樣在國外工作過的老友告訴我，中國不適合養老（如果在中國沒有家人和親戚的話，的確如此）。我希望在中國的鄉間有個小院，最好就在我妻子四川老家那邊。每年我在那裏住上五、六個月，寫寫書、撰撰稿。其餘的時間我呆在蘇格蘭，那裏是我現在的家。沒錯兒，一旦中國融入你的血液，你就再也無法割捨。