致青春：12歲/25歲の英語水平——那些年，興趣帶我飛了多遠？
我曾經是個記錄狂，喜歡拍照、寫日記、收集代表自己一個時期的小物件。我想，要是長大以後能看到，肯定很有意思，或覺得自己當時很傻。
認為自己以前傻是好事，說明在進步，沒有停滯了下來，沒有滿足於安逸。
同時，我又是一個表達欲很強的人，整天想東想西的一大堆古靈精怪的鬼點子。很有幸的是，我保留下來了我初中一二年級寒假的時候寫的一篇英語長篇遊記，記錄了參加學校組織的赴日訪問團回國後的心得，放出來給大家看看一個小毛孩的英語是什麼個樣子；後面還放了一個我的第一篇短篇驚悚小說，給大家看看，這個小毛孩長大後的英語是什麼個樣子，以及那些年，興趣帶著他飛了多遠。
我記得在很多年前似乎對這個文章做了一些小的修改，但為了真實，基本上還是保留了當年的語法、搭配和拼寫中的不當之處。
文首配的圖為友好學校所在的飯山市春景，但我十幾年前去時是白雪皚皚的冬天。
About the trip tonJapan (Part of Iiyama)
The whole trip around thenmainland of Japan was extremely impressive and unforgettable, the overseasnholidays was just a terrific and indescribable relaxation, and that was also annopportunity of using the foreign languages for a student.
Our 44 student-and-teacher』sntourist group (20seniors, 20juniors and 4teachers) left for Japan in Jan.28th,n2005 just before the Chinese Spring Festival.
That special Friday noon, I hadnjust finished our test paper correcting lesson and had my last school』s lunchnin this semester. Then we got on the school bus with heavy luggage but lightnmood, some friends of mine went to see me goodbye and so did my daddy!! I wasnmoved and almost cried my eyes out cause I thought that he wouldn』t come, innthe other hand, I』m such a character who misses parents when he』s far away fromnthem. Considering it was in a public place, however I stopped it.
The bus reached the ShekounFerry and within 1 hour, reached the Hong Kong Airport. After about 3.5 hours』nflight, we landed on the round of a new land!! That was my first time I wentnabroad. Normally, I would feel quite excited, I did, but not 「quite」. Anyway,nChina is different from Japan. When I saw the posters, advertisements, signsnwritten in both Japanese and English, and heard the citizens speaking fluentnforeign languages .I said to myself that I was looking forward to meeting thosenchallenges which would appear in my new life in Japan.
Actually, our primary goal ofnthis trip was not only for sightseeing, it was going to the Iiyama City (ornRicemoutain if I could call it so). There is a middle school which joined handsnwith our school several years ago, and we might visit them every 2 years. Thisntime, it was our turn to represent our school, our city, our dear motherland tonvisit them, it was a great pleasure and honor.
As soon as we arrived at thengate of the main government office, the leaders of the school and the leadersnof the city came to greet us, the a meeting was held between us to talk aboutnthe programs we were going to do while we stay there. Everybody took part innthe meeting, and we introduced ourselves and got some uniforms to protect usnfrom coldness. It was so formal that the local reporters cam to join us. But itnwas a big event for a tiny city to have s here.
It was snowing heavily,neverywhere it was clean and white. I had never seen snow so I couldn』t helpntouching it several times, but it wasn』t that cold as I thought it was. It wasnlovely and chubby.
I suddenlynrealized, at the moment, what a simple and happy life we were having: withnfriends, no work, and no study at school but in the magnificent nature.
The dust and thendawn there was absolutely gorgeous, the melancholy sun shines indirectly andnshyly onto the thick and thin snow, onto frozen water, onto the icy neat pavement.
In the evening wenchecked in the local personal thermal spring hotel. At night, when everythingnindoors was silent, there were some noises. Ha!! That』s the falling of sowingnfrom the roof cause the roof could not stand the continuing snow any longer, sonit dropped into the snow on the ground and disappeared. I spent plenty of timenwatching the sights in the deep night and leant against wall. I opened thenwindow and let the snowflake in, and let it melt on my fingertip although thentemperature was about –20 degrees Celsius. But that』s all romantic you satnalone and had something in mind to think about.
The following day, we went tontheir school and took an English class in the morning with 20 Japanese students.nIt brought me so much fun that the way they spoke except their Englishnteachers.Ofcourse the alien one who speaks English. The students don』t enjoy angood English pronunciation or a large vocabulary, but I could tell that theyntried very hard to say a word better as they could. I made a friend with one ofnthe English teachers, Mr.Ishida. We communicated in English so I got thenachievement that I spoke to a Japanese speaker naturally and got the replies.nRegarding the educational problems and new concept in both China and Japan, andnI mentioned that Japan should popularize the English in order to be moreninternational. I tried my best expressing and explanation,he tried his bestnunderstanding.
After class, we went to the gymnto watch the performances and gave our prepared performances, including theirnjudo and their traditional dance called The Little HeavenlyHound.nIt was a little bit strange from the common dances, but it is a kind of culture,nlike our Beijing opera. And we sang the song The Sea Is My Home. Therenwere 5 or 6 sentences which required me to sing alone on the stage, in front ofnthe microphone. It was really a harsh time that we voices stood out like anfool. That experience was frightening. After all, it was a great success.
In the afternoon, we wentnskiing and I made a small snowman.
That evening, I had my homenstay in a Japanese student』s villa on the midway up mountain with my friendnChang Hao. That student is one-year-old younger than I. They have a kitten, 2 dogsn(small one is black, big one is white) and some goldfish at home. Chang Hao andnthe student, Koike Liki are so introverted. They didn』t talk too much andnwouldn』t talk too much. So I, this outgoing and crazy guy just used my poor Japanesenwith the gestures to address to him and his family members.
Their house style was the mostnorthodox Japanese one, tatami, narrow stairway and you could see some exquisitendecorations if you paid attention to studying the housing structure.
While we were having our dinner,nmy translator and I had to get used to crossing legs or kneeling down, seemednlike Buddhists. Our calf muscles hurt. But the food provided was plentiful andnyummy although I couldn』t tell the names of those I have eaten. We talked somethingnabout our daily life. I guessed what they meant a lot, and they often slowedndown intentionally and made words clearer and easier to comprehend. I was embarrassednif I couldn』t understand what they were talking still after their questions fornus. But we absolutely had a wonderful night, cause after supper, we two wereninvited to play the games on the television, in which one fought against thenother. After that Liki』s father drove usnto the top of the snowy mountain and had our soak in the thermal spring andnsauna bath. Outside was snowing tenderly and suddenly I saw a pool offered nearnthe sauna bathroom, it was outdoors!!!At first, hang Hao and I were astonished.nThen I decided to have a try.
How could you share the exactlynsame feeling of the time when the cool air and warm water added together at thenvery temperature. We all enjoyed the coziness, touched the steam, and snugglednonto the stone.
That was too comfortable to leave,nbut we shouldn』t stay in this sort of mineral water too long, perhaps 20nminutes at most. So we soon got dressed but we still could hardly bear parting.
And on the last day in Iiyama,nat 7 sharp a.m. Kili』s lovely grandma woke us up by saying 「good morning」 in anbeautiful English intonation. It really made me think I was in Europe or somenplaces like that.
Japanese do the washing (brush teeth,nclean face) after breakfasts. Well I just follow the common rule so that Inwouldn』t be strange in their eyes. We had a full bowl of rice with eggs, thenones which hadn』t been cooked entirely yet! When we finished eating, wenexchanged the presents and took photos. Then we went back to the school in hernmum』s car. As I know, they had at least 3 vehicles, and they ran a small inn.
We thanked them again for thenwarm welcome we had given, and said goodbye to them.
The last thing wenwere going to do was to visit the art gallery and professional ski slope innIiyama. In the noon, after having the lunch in the government office, we wouldnleave Iiyama for the Fuji Mountain and then, Tokyo.
I am missingnIiyama<and I am missing japan
The end
時間一晃就是十幾年。這些年對英語的興趣越來越大，還轉移感染到了其他的語言。
去年某一天給學生們講英語的虛擬式，想要給學生寫一個小故事用來作"if"的假設練習。於是動手開始寫，故事講的是一個人由於起晚了而導致的一堆悲催的串連鎖反應（the knock-on effect）。後來越寫越起勁，腦洞越來越大，就發展成了下面的這篇。
ThenCall
John was woken up by the autumn chill. He sat up and stared at the window he had left open the night before.
Because of his sore back and a phone call he』d received, John had been having trouble sleeping – a frustrating, hours-long struggle. A thought had crossed John』s mind that when he was to fall asleep eventually, he would not be able to wake up in the morning; and hopefully, never again.He DID wake up after all; and he was late for work.
He hastened to check the voicemail; none, as expected. 「Great,」 mumbled John, closing the window and opening the closet door. The elevator in his complex was a long wait too, and he missed his bus, hence the Uber. It was a shabby Toyota; and judging from the smell of the air trapped inside, the driver apparently had been drinking a lot. John was too late for work to think straight, so it came as no surprise when the car was brought to a sudden halt by a street sign. 「Great…」 John mumbled.The driver, who was just coming to his senses, saw John rubbing his own back in the rear-view mirror. Panicked, he clicked on the navigator, found a clinic nearby, and insisted on escorting John there to make sure he was alright. The Toyota, now with the logo missing, pulled over at a curb in front of a dilapidated five-storey building. If you』re just driving by, you』d think it must be either deserted or haunted, or both; and you would never guess it』s a private hospital, as there were no signs that suggest so, except for the 「dead」 silence. The clinic had in fact been on the edge of bankruptcy, probably due to the very fact that its existence was not known to most people, including the Uber driver, and John. The ensuing hours were a fast blur. A young doctor with plaits was put in charge of John. A yellowish pill was given to John. John put it into his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it, and went unconscious in no time. Later, a nurse passing by thought John had passed away, so she had John moved to the morgue. The morgue!!!! John woke up later; found himself lying on an iron table in an icy chamber and surrounded by many silvery big drawers against the walls. Shivering with cold and the excruciating back pain that was not only still present, but was getting worse, John thought 「Might as well put me in hell already.」 John』s face was emotionless; his guts and his goose-bumped skin, however, urged him to get out before being frozen to death. The morgue was locked from the outside. He was frightened; he was furious; he was desperate; and he was giving up. He thought he would die in there. However, 12 hours later, at 9:00 pm that day, a guy named Mark, a human organ trafficker, sneaked into the hospital trying to steal a kidney for an overseas buyer. John heard somebody walking outside, so he tried to yell for help. No voice was coming out, for he had exhausted himself doing that all day long. So instead, he climbed towards the door, picked himself up, and as soon as Mark pried the door open, John jumped out. Not prepared for such a sudden surprise, Mark fainted and fell to the ground.When Mark woke up, he felt as if his body had been emptied. No sooner had he unbuttoned his clothes to examine his own body than it hit him: he was not the only person who had planned to break into the morgue that night. His 「beloved」 competitor must have come and left... with his OWN kidney!
As for John, resisting the pain, he ran straight back home, sprinted up the stairs, pressed the voicemail button on his home phone, and rushed into the shower. Still in the state of terrible shock, he tried to wash away the chain of crappy incidents that had been happening to him all that day. He broke down in tears, just for a few seconds, before he heard a beep from the answering machine.... "Its me… again. Forget what I said last night. Weve found a kidney for you… farm-fresh…" (The end)
此圖來源於網路~《鱷魚的太平間》
《來電》
秋天的寒意將約翰從睡夢中喚醒。他坐了起來，望著昨晚沒有關上的那扇窗。
那是一個充滿掙扎的長夜，他的背痛和之前接到的一通電話讓他難以入眠。他曾想，如果最終睡著，次日早晨他一定醒不來。愛醒不醒。 他還是醒了，眼看上班就要遲到了。 他急匆匆地查了一下語音留言。果然，還是什麼都沒有。 「好吧」，約翰嘟囔著說。他把窗關上，把衣櫃打開。公寓樓的電梯又是一輪漫長的等待，他因此錯過了巴士，繼而決定打車。來的是一輛破舊的豐田，從困在車內的氣味可以判斷司機顯然沒少喝。約翰心裡清楚，但他只顧著不要遲到。所以當車子狠狠撞上路牌時，他並不無心裡準備。
「好吧」，約翰嘟囔著說。 司機同志這才恢復了神志，他看到約翰在後視鏡里揉著自己的背，一下慌了。他連忙在導航儀上亂摁一通，找到了最近的一診所，堅持要陪約翰去看看。 沒有了標誌的豐田車在一幢破舊不堪的五層樓房前的道牙子旁停了下來。如果你只是開車經過，你絕對不會猜到這是一所私家醫院：除了周圍一片「死」寂之外毫無跡象。事實上，這個診所瀕臨破產，大概正是因為它的存在並不為大多數人知曉，這其中就包括這司機，以及約翰。 接下來的幾小時就像一攤朦朧的漿糊。一個留著辮子的年輕醫生被叫來照看約翰。約翰拿到一顆黃顏色的藥丸，放進口中，嚼了嚼，咽了下去，然後不久就失去了知覺。過了一會兒，一個護士以為約翰去世了，所以她讓人把約翰抬到了停屍房。停屍房呀！ 約翰不久就醒來了，他發現自己躺在了一間冰庫里的一張鐵桌上，周圍是靠著牆聳立的銀晃晃的大抽屜。約翰哆嗦著，背痛不僅還在，而且還惡化了。他想，還不如趕緊送我下地獄算了。約翰面無表情，可他的內心和他起滿了雞皮疙瘩的皮膚都在催促他離開這個快要把他凍死的地方。 可，停屍房被反鎖了。恐懼變成了狂憤，狂憤又變成了絕望……他想這也許就是生命的終點了。 可是，12小時之後，在那天晚上9點鐘，一個叫馬克的人體器官走私販為了替一位海外買家偷腎潛進了醫院。約翰聽到了門外的腳步聲，他想呼救，但卻因為叫了一整天，喉嚨里沒了聲響。於是他爬向門口，踉蹌地攙扶自己起來。此時馬克正好把門撬開，約翰一下子就撲了出來。絲毫沒有心理準備的馬克立即暈倒了在地。 當馬克醒來時，他感覺自己的身體似乎被掏空了。當他解開紐扣去檢查身體時他突然想起一個驚人的事實：那天計劃潛入醫院的人不只他一人，他的競爭對手肯定也來過，並帶走了……他的腎！ 至於約翰，他忍住了疼痛徑直地往家跑，飛奔上樓，按了電話座機的語音留言鍵後「唰」的一聲跳進浴室。此時的約翰還在一陣餘悸之中，想到今天發生的一連串破事，他抱頭痛哭。但沒哭上幾聲，他就聽到留言機傳來了清脆的響聲……「是我，沒錯，忘了我昨晚說的吧，我們找到了一個腎給你，非常新鮮……」
【劇終】
兩篇文章，13年的學習，有多少別人看不到的汗水，又有多少別人想像不到的驚喜。我建議大家可以平時多用外語來寫寫，記錄自己的思緒和生活中的點滴。不一定要是流水賬式的日記，也可以是一段鼓勵自己的話，一個短小精悍的小故事。
幾年光陰後，感嘆自己那些年想的如此的真，如此的可愛。
我的其他文章：
為什麼不要背單詞——知乎專欄：種地私塾
學英語，是會上癮的！——知乎專欄：種地私塾
英語單詞中的"音節"--我猜你就沒理過——知乎專欄：種地私塾
澳大利亞的英語有多土？——知乎專欄：種地私塾
用「盜夢空間、記憶碎片」法複習英語單詞——知乎專欄：種地私塾
[如果覺得本文對你的求學之路有幫助，可以關注知乎專欄【種地私塾】或者是我本人「種地羅」！初來乍到，將在2017年陸續分享語言學習和教學的心得，不斷熬制乾貨送給大家]
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