飞云浦
申请大学的小论文之一：难忘的义工经历
星期二 二月 07, 2017 10:22 am
One of the most memorable volunteer experiences that I had was helping students from different backgrounds in a local middle school. It was last November when Ms. Zhao, my former bilingual teacher, came to me and said, “Peng, would you like to help me out at the homework club? I am its supervisor”. I asked her what it was about. She explained to me that some of her students just came to the United States as immigrants and they were having difficulties in their American schools.
我最难忘的义工经历之一，是曾经在我家当地中学帮助不同背景的学生。那是去年11月，我过去的双语老师赵老师跟我说：鹏，我是家庭作业俱乐部的负责人，你能不能来这儿帮帮忙？她跟我解释说，她的一些学生刚移民来美，在美国学校里有困难。
It sounded very interesting to me; because I was an immigrant myself who came to the United States when I was a 9th grade student, I had a personal understanding of how tough it was to learn a foreign language and to accommodate to an entirely new environment. I was ready to help her out.
对我来说，这事听起来很有意思，因为我自己就是在九年级时移民来到美国的，我切身知道学习一门外语以及融入到一个全新的环境中是多么艰难。我准备帮赵老师这个忙。
The image of myself in the past emerged before my eyes as I entered the room. Just as I had sat around Ms. Zhao two years ago, three to four middle school students surrounded me. With eagerness they asked me about some vocabulary that they were unfamiliar with. I told them the definition of the words and sometimes had to interpret the whole sentence because they were confused of the sentence structure, which was so different from their own languages.
当我进入教室时，自己过去的形象浮现在我的眼前。正如两年前，我坐在赵老师身旁一样，三、四个中学生围着我。他们如饥似渴地问我一些他们不熟悉的词语，我告诉他们这些词语的含意，有时还要解释整个句子，因为这些句子的结构与他们自己的语言大不相同，让他们感到困惑。
At first, I found it difficult to pay attention to one individual when multiple voices cried for help together. “Can you explain the Three Branches of Government?” “What is this hairy thing called in English?” “What does ‘heterogeneous’ mean?” This barrage of questions terrified me a little. But I was not daunted. Gradually, I learned how to be patient with students. Dealing with multitude of questions also helped me to shape better translating skills, for I had to constantly switch my mind between Chinese, English and Japanese. Surely I helped others, but I was a beneficiary of the homework club as well.
起初，当很多人同时嚷着寻求帮助时，我感到难以专心应对每一个人。“能解释一下政府的三个部门吗？”“这个毛茸茸的东西英语叫什么？”“‘异质的’是什么意思啊？ ”这些接二连三的问题让我有点吃不消，但是我没有被吓倒。渐渐地，我学会了怎样耐心对待学生。应对大量的问题也有助于改善我的翻译技能，因为我的思维得在汉语、英语和日语之间不停地转换。的确，我帮助了别人，但我也受益于这个家庭作业俱乐部。
Not only was I able to assist students in their studies, but I also enjoyed listening to their concerns about life, sharing our experiences together, and encouraging them with sincere suggestions. Once, a student described to me how the United States differed from his hometown, and his experience of the unanticipated “culture shock” between the two societies. It seemed to me that he was relieved when I told him that such an anxiety was common among immigrants and that I was able to overcome these feelings over the years.
我不仅在学习方面能帮助这些学生，而且也喜欢倾听他们生活中所关心的事情，与他们一起分享经验，并用真诚的建议鼓励他们。有一次，一个学生跟我描述美国和他的家乡有多么的不一样，还有他没有想到的在两种社会之间的“文化冲击”的经历。我告诉他，这样的焦虑在新移民中是共同的，经过几年的时间，我克服了这些情绪。看样子，听了我的话，他松了一口气。
Six months passed quicker than all of us thought. Many students showed their appreciation to my work. I was also grateful for the precious time we spent together. Friendships were built among us, and we were all reluctant to part. I wished them well with strong prospects for a bright future.
六个月过去了，比大家想得快。很多学生对我的工作给予好评。我也很珍惜我们一起度过的宝贵时间。我们建立了友谊，依依不舍。我祝愿他们前景无限，未来光明。
文/赵鹏（英译中：晓梅）
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