文/史蒂芬·方嘉提 (Steven Fogarty)译/史聪一

（作者单位：广州誉德莱国际学校）

（the author is from Utahloy International School Guangzhou）

史蒂芬·方嘉提的全家福

我愿意同诸位分享的故事不胜枚举，这次我要讲述的故事却使我感到尤为贴心。

这个故事讲述了我们一家来到中国最初几日的所见所闻。

当一个人初次来到一个国度，缩手缩脚的经历或将不可避免，尤其是带着两个孩子并且不会讲任何中文，而且对新的地方一点儿也不了解。幸运的是，我们得贵人相助，迈克费什先生（非其真实姓名，以下简称费什先生）来机场迎接我们：他不仅是我未来在学校的同事，还是邀请我们来华之人。对此，我记忆犹新，因为当时费什先生本人一直处于紧张不安的情绪中，他似乎急于将我们送到巴士之上，并尽快让我们入住其体贴安排的公寓之中。总之，一切越快越好！

There are many stories that I would like to tell, but this is one that is particularly close to my heart.

This is the story of my family and myself, and our first couple of days’ experience in China.

Now arriving in any country for the first time can be a rather daunting experience especially if you have a family with two small children, you don’t yet speak any Chinese and you have no idea what to expect. Luckily for us we were in good hands and were met at the airport by Mr. MacFish (not his real name),one of my future colleagues at the school that invited us here. I remember it vividly because he is a rather nervous man, and he seemed to be in a great hurry to get us on the bus and to the flat that they had kindly arranged for us, as quickly as possible.

对我而言，每当来到一个新的国度后，寻找自动取款机并兑换一定金额的当地货币，已然成为例行公事；如若不然，我便会在机场的外汇兑换点，用先前随身携带的本币兑换一些外币。但是，费什先生雷厉风行的举动，让我不敢有丝毫的耽搁与拖沓。

At this point I should say that having arrived in a new country,it is a custom of mine to visit an ATM (cash point) and collect some of the local currency or, failing that, to visit an exchange point at the airport and change some of the cash that I brought with me, but Mr. MacFish seem in such a sweaty rush that I didn’t have the nerve to delay him.

接着，我们全家被接送至一所属于自己的公寓中，这天是个周六。这里相当不错，并附带一些指引信息。因为筋疲力尽与时差作梗，当得知这里能够在周一早晨乘坐巴士前往学校后，我们一家随即瘫倒在凌乱的床上睡了几个小时。但对我们而言，休息时间并没有持续太久，因为孩子们在飞机上睡得很香（小孩子的典型特征），在一个陌生的环境中，孩子们热衷于探索每一个角落，所以我和妻子必须保持警惕。……