法国有句谚语：―un jour sans fromage, c’est un jour sans soleil.‖意思是说，对法国人而言，如果哪天少了奶酪，那天就没了阳光。而我却觉得，如果哪天他们的生活里少了咖啡，那他们一定会比没了阳光和奶酪还要无精打采。法国人的日常生活离不开咖啡。咖啡对他们来说不只是一种饮品，它隐含着丰富的文化内涵。遍布城市与乡村的咖啡馆是法国生活方式的一种标志。
如果有一天你去法国观光旅行，在五光十色，车水马龙的香榭丽舍大道，蔚蓝色的地中海岸，或外省清静冷僻的街道，看到那些或富丽堂皇，或古朴雅致，或斑驳简陋的咖啡馆，建议你不妨进去坐一下，感受一下那里的环境和氛围。法国人曾对外国游客作过一个调查，被问及巴黎最吸引人的东西是什么时，许多人的回答不是卢浮宫、埃菲尔铁塔等脍炙人口的名胜，而是散落在巴黎大街小巷的咖啡馆。有人曾把咖啡馆比作是法国的骨架，说如果拆了它们，法国就会散架。徐志摩也说过，―如果巴黎少了咖啡馆，恐怕会变得一无可爱。‖
As a French proverb goes, ―un jour sans fromage, c’est comme un jour sans soleil.‖ This literally means that for a Frenchman. A day without cheese is a day without sunshine. In my view, however, life would be far worse if someday French people would have to dispense with coffee. For them, coffee is not a mere beverage; it carries abundant cultural implications. Look at the coffee houses scattered across France, and you will see this is perfectly true.
Imagine yourself visiting the country as a tourist, you are perhaps walking down the glamorous, crowded Champs-Elysees Avenue or on the beach of the blue Mediterranean Sea, or you may wander along a quiet and secluded road in a provincial town. Then you will find there are cafes everywhere—cafes which look imposing, or refined, or even a bit ―crude‖. Why not dive into one of them and sit for a moment there? You would love the atmosphere of warmth surrounding you.
Once a local agency surveyed a number of foreign tourists. When asked what in Paris they found most impressive, many of the tourists didn’t mention such famous places as the Louvre Palace or the Eiffel Tower. Instead, they expressed their admiration for the cafes dotting the city’s streets and lanes. Someone aptly compared cafes to a buttressing system of France, saying that if those were demolished, the entire country would fall to pieces. ―If cafes were gone, Paris would
become too boring‖, observed Xu Zhimo, a prominent modern Chinese writer, after traveling to that country.
有时候，我想要惹一惹Mary ，我就会把嘉嘉夸奖一番。
―嘉嘉长得太好看了，‖我对她说。
―很丑呀，‖他妈妈会马上接过话头。
―他很聪明啊。‖
―很笨，‖她说，―一点都不聪明。‖
―算了吧。‖听到这里，Mary 会用英语这样说道，不过，我还是继续夸奖他：―小孩真乖！‖ ―一点都不乖！‖
在乡下，做父母的有个习惯，就是尽量不替孩子说奉承话。因此，她妈妈的那种反应是不由自主的--------就像用橡皮锤敲击膝盖那样。她不想宠着孩子，不过，也有点出于中国人的迷信心里，那就是―满招损‖。我唯一听到嘉嘉的父母给他的夸奖是一个形容词：老实。字典上对这个词语的解释是―诚实‖，不过要准确翻译出来却并不容易。这个词有―听话‖的意思，也有乡下人特有的懂得礼数。―嘉嘉很老实，‖他的爸爸妈妈会这样说，那就是他们非常近乎于表扬的话语了。
Sometimes, if I wanted to annoy Mary, I’d praise Jiajia.
―Jiajia is so good-looking,‖ I’ say.
―He’s ugly,‖his mother would answer immediately.
―He’s so smart.‖
―He’s stupid,‖ she said, ―Not one bit smart.‖
―Cut it out,‖ Mary would say in English, but I’d continue: ―What a nice child.‖
―He’s a bad boy.‖
In the countryside, traditional parents avoid flattery, and the mother’s responses were automatic-----it was like knocking her knee with a rubber hammer. She didn’t want to spoil the child, but there was also the Chinese superstition that pride attracts misfortune.
The only praise I ever heard the parents give Jiajia was a single adjective: laoshi. The dicti onary defines it as ―honest‖, but the term is difficult to translate. It also means obedient, as well as having a certain sense of propriety that is characteristic of people in the countryside.
―Jiajia is laoshi,’ his parents would say, and that was the closest they came to pride.
中国考古人员曾经在距今4000多年前的―二里头文化‖中发现盛酒的陶器，可见，在那个时候，就有人开始饮酒了。
中国历史上有关酒的故事很多：晋代诗人陶渊明不能一日无酒；唐代大诗人李白―斗酒诗百篇‖等。
中国是个礼仪之邦，凡事注重规矩。就拿喝酒来说，也有很多有意思的事儿。比如在宴席上，如果想表示对长辈或者上级的尊重，晚辈就会主动举杯敬酒，在喝掉酒之前，两人会碰杯表示亲近，碰杯的时候，晚辈举杯不能比长辈的高，这表示尊重。主动敬酒的人会把一杯酒全部喝完，以此来表示自己的诚意。中国人喝酒一般比较热闹，大家说说笑笑，气氛融洽。有时候为了增加热闹气氛，喝酒的时候还要行酒令。其实行酒令就是在酒桌上的游戏，不同的酒令有着不同的规则，参与游戏的人，输了就要喝酒。古代的读书人行酒令一般是对诗或是对对联。
Chinese wine
Chinese archaeologists have discovered pottery wine the ruins of Erlitou Culture which dates back to over 4000 years ago. It proves that the Chinese people began to drink wine at that time.
There are many stories about wine in Chinese history. Tao Yuanming, a poet in the Jin Dynasty, could not live without wine for a day. The great poet Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty could poems after drinking wine---- the more wine he drank, the better the poem would be.
China is a country of attaching the importance of rules to everything. Taking drinking for an example, there are so many interesting things. At a banquet, for example, if someone wants to express his/her respect to their elders or superiors, he/she will toast. Before to show their affection. And the younger’s cup will be lower than the superior’s to show h is/her respect when clinking cups. The person who proposes a toast will empty one cup of wine first to show his/her sincerities. It’s a jolly time when the Chinese drink wine. On this occasion, everyone will be in a friendly mood. Sometimes rules for drinking will be set in a game when people drink in order to increase the liveliness. There are various kinds of rules for drinking, one of which is unchangeable, that is , for the people
participating in the games, the loser will drink. In ancient times, among the intellectuals, the rules for drinking were generally to supply the antithesis to a given poem or phrase.
在中国，对中小企业家来说，要获得贷款不是那么轻而易举的事，时常需要用到关系这个东西。王老板对我说，那得跟银行官员和审批贷款的人员结交朋友，大家都希望有人请吃送礼。为了免掉这样的开销，王老板主要用现金进行投资。他告诉我，在丽水市，这样的干部会要求送礼的金额在两千块钱上下。在温州，行贿的代价还要更高一些，那也正是他们把厂址选在这个地方的原因之一。―这儿的租金便宜一些，拉关系的费用也少一些，‖王老板解释道。
一开始，关系这个东西的方方面面显得十分神秘复杂，因为我是一个外国人，是无法参加宴会和秘密会谈这些活动的。不过，过了一阵子，我终于明白，那其实已经形成了体系。送出去的礼物已经标准化，需要便于携带，这就是它们更像某种现金。某个商人可能收下一条中华香烟，他送给了另外某个人，然后又转手送到了某位干部的手中，而这位干部可能又把它送给了某个职位更高的人物。要是中华香烟能够说话就好了！也许一箱箱中华香烟就这样踏上旅程，送到了杭州的某个庭院，最后转遍浙江全省，一路上只在纽扣城或者仿皮村做过短暂的停留。不过，最要紧的是，有了关系就方便多了。
In China, acquiring such a loan isn’t easy for Small and medium-sized enterprises, and it always requires more guanxi. Boss Wang told me they would need to make friends with bank officials and loan officers; everybody would expect dinners and bribes. In order to avoid this expense, Boss Wang had invested strictly cash. He told me that in Lishui such cadres required a gift with a value of roughly two thousand yuan. In Wenzhou,it would have been even more expensive, which was one reason they had located in this part of the province. The rent is cheaper here, and it’s cheaper to pull guanxi , Boss Wang explained.
At first, the details of guanxi seemed mysteriously complex, because as a foreigner I was distracted by the rituals of the banquets and the secret meetings. But over time I realized that it’s actually a system. Gifts are standardized and portable, which makes them a kind of currency. A carton of Zhonghua can be received by one businessman, given to another, and then passed on to a cadre, who might in turn bestow it upon a higher-up. If only Zhonghua cigarettes could talk! There are probably boxes that have been on traveling to the gardens of Hangzhou, spanning the whole
length of Zhejiang Province, pausing for brief sojourns in Button Town or Fangpi villege. And most important, guanxi is convenient.
这也是为什么我们夫妇在国外访问时，不只参观宫殿、议会和会晤国家元首。我们也来到学校，与像你们一样的学生见面。因为我们相信，国与国之间的关系不只是政府或领导人之间的关系，它们是人民间 特别是年轻人之间的关系。因此，我们认为海外留学项目不只是为学生提供的教育机会，还是美国外交政策至关重要的组成部分。
通过现代技术奇迹，我们的世界比以往任何时候都更多地联系在一起。思想可以通过点击按钮跨越海洋。全球各地的公司可以进行业务往来和相互竞争。我们可以与各大洲的人们通过短信、电子邮件和Skype 进行沟通。
因此，出国留学不只是以开心的方式度过一个学期——它正迅速成为全球化经济中取得成功的关键。因为要走在当今职场的前沿，只在学校里取得好成绩是不够的，还应拥有国境外的真实体验：体验完全不同的语言、文化和社会。正如中国的一句古话所说：―读万卷书，不如行万里路。‖
That’s why when my husband and I travel abroad, we don’t just visit palaces and parliaments and meet with heads of state. We also come to schools like this one to meet with students like you, because we believe that relationships between nations aren’t just about relationships between governments or leaders -- they’re about relationships between people, particularly young people. So we view study abroad programs not just as an educational opportunity for students, but also as a vital part of America’s foreign policy.
Through the wonders of modern technology, our world is more connected than ever before. Ideas can cross oceans with the click of a button. Companies can do business and compete with companies across the globe. And we can text, email, Skype with people on every continent.
So studying abroad isn’t just a fun way to spend a semester; it is quickly becoming the key to success in our global economy. Because getting ahead in today’s workplaces isn’t just about getting good grades or test scores in school, which are important. It’s also about having real experience with the world beyond your borders –- experience with languages, cultures and societies very different from your own. Or, as the Chinese saying goes: ―It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.‖
在中国，温州人以创业能力著称。在这个国家，几百万人口从农村向城市转移，从农业向商界进军，而温州人则是农民创业者的原型。20世纪80年代，中国的私有经济迈出实验性的步子，温州人的反应非常迅速，连中央政府都赞扬那是农村发展中的―温州模式‖。他们的经商策略简单得不能再简单：低投入，低质量，低盈利。教育程度也低---即便在今天，经历了二十多年的经济快速发展，百分之八十的温州老板接受学校教育的时间基本上不超过九年。不过，这一套策略很管用，这座城市因此在某些行业占据了主导地位。现在，中国差不多四分之一的鞋子来自温州。估计全世界百分之七十的打火机产自温州。在温州，超过百分之九十的经济属于个体经济---跟其他地方不同，温州的国有经济在当地经济发展中所扮演的角色微乎其微。
1. 打火机 cigarette lighters
ALL ACROSS CHINA THE people of Wenzhou are famous for their entrepreneurial skill. In a nation where millions have made the transition from countryside to city, from farming to business, the natives of southern Zhejiang are the prototypical peasant-entrepreneurs. Back in the 1980s, when China’s private economy took its first tentative steps, the Wenzhou people responded so quickly that the central government began to praise the Wenzhou model of rural development. As a business strategy it couldn’ t have been simpler: low investment, low-quality products, low profit margins. Low education, too. Even today, after two decades of a booming economy, nearly 80 percent of all Wenzhou entrepreneurs have fewer than nine years of formal schooling. But somehow it works, and the city has come to dominate certain industries. Today, roughly a quarter of the shoes sold in China come from Wenzhou. The city produces an estimated 70 percent of the world’s cigarette lighters. Over 90 percent of the Wenzhou economy is private.Unlike other parts of the nation, state-owned industries have played little role in local development.
农历正月十五，是中国民间传统的元宵节。因为正月又叫元月，正月十五的晚上是一年里的第一个月圆之夜，―宵‖是―夜晚‖的意思，所以，正月十五这个节日就叫元宵节。元宵节，中国人有赏灯和吃元宵的习俗。俗话说―正月十五闹花灯‖，因此，元宵节也叫灯节。
元宵节赏灯的习俗是从汉朝开始的，到现在已经有2000多年的历史。元宵节这天，到处张灯结彩，热闹非常。夜晚一到，人们就成群结队地去观赏花灯。五光十色的宫灯、壁灯、人物灯、花卉灯、动物灯....... 汇成一片灯海。有的花灯上还写有谜语，引得观灯人争先恐后地去竞猜。
元宵节吃元宵是中国人的传统习俗。元宵是一种用糯米粉做成的小圆球，里面包着用糖和各种果仁做成的馅，煮熟后，吃起来香甜可口。因为这种食品是在元宵节这天吃，后来人们就把它叫做元宵。中国人希望诸事圆满，在一年开始的第一个月圆之夜吃元宵，就是希望家人团圆、和睦、幸福、圆圆满满。
The lantern festival
The 15th day of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival (yuanxiao festival in Chinese). Yuanxiao comes from the fact that the first lunar month is also called the Yuan month and xiao means night. The night of the 15th day of the first lunar month marks the appearance of the first full moon. On the Lantern Festival, the Chinese people have the custom of enjoying lanterns and eating . There is a common saying that ―playing on t he Lantern Festival‖.
The custom of enjoying lanterns on the festival started during the Han Dynasty, and has a history of more than 2000 years. On that night, every place is decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers and there is a bustling atmosphere. As night falls, people go in crowds to enjoy colorful lanterns: palace lanterns, wall lamps,figure lanterns, flower lanterns, animals lanterns......forming a sea of flickering light and color. Some lanterns have riddles on them, which encourage people to strive to be the first to find the answer.
It is also a traditional custom to eat glutinous rice dumplings at this time . It is a round ball made of glutinous rice flour with a filling of sugar and kernels. When it is boiled , it is very savory, and tasty. Since it is eaten on the Lantern festival, people call it yuanxiao. The Chinese people hope that everything is satisfactory (yuanman in Chinese), and to eat glutinous rice dumplings on the first night with a full moon in a year is to wish that family members will remain united, harmonious, happy and satisfied.
一本好书可以是一位最好的朋友。它往日如此，今日依旧如此，且永不改变。它是最具耐心、最令人愉快的友伴。当我们身处逆境或感到苦恼时，它不会背弃我们，总是以同样的和蔼态度接待我们：在我们年青时，它愉悦我们，教导我们；在我们年老时，它怡情我们，慰籍我们。
书籍具有一种不朽的特质。它们绝对是人类努力成果中最能持久的。神殿与雕像会腐朽，但书籍长存。时间无损于伟大的思想，直到今天，那些伟大的思想仍然与很久以前初次在作者脑海中闪现时一样新颖。作者当时所言所思，印刷成书，如今依然生动地向我们诉说。时间唯一的影响是淘汰不良的作品，只有真正好的作品，才能在文学领域里长存。
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness: amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors'' minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products, for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
法国有句谚语：―un jour sans fromage, c’est un jour sans soleil.‖意思是说，对法国人而言，如果哪天少了奶酪，那天就没了阳光。而我却觉得，如果哪天他们的生活里少了咖啡，那他们一定会比没了阳光和奶酪还要无精打采。法国人的日常生活离不开咖啡。咖啡对他们来说不只是一种饮品，它隐含着丰富的文化内涵。遍布城市与乡村的咖啡馆是法国生活方式的一种标志。
如果有一天你去法国观光旅行，在五光十色，车水马龙的香榭丽舍大道，蔚蓝色的地中海岸，或外省清静冷僻的街道，看到那些或富丽堂皇，或古朴雅致，或斑驳简陋的咖啡馆，建议你不妨进去坐一下，感受一下那里的环境和氛围。法国人曾对外国游客作过一个调查，被问及巴黎最吸引人的东西是什么时，许多人的回答不是卢浮宫、埃菲尔铁塔等脍炙人口的名胜，而是散落在巴黎大街小巷的咖啡馆。有人曾把咖啡馆比作是法国的骨架，说如果拆了它们，法国就会散架。徐志摩也说过，―如果巴黎少了咖啡馆，恐怕会变得一无可爱。‖
As a French proverb goes, ―un jour sans fromage, c’est comme un jour sans soleil.‖ This literally means that for a Frenchman. A day without cheese is a day without sunshine. In my view, however, life would be far worse if someday French people would have to dispense with coffee. For them, coffee is not a mere beverage; it carries abundant cultural implications. Look at the coffee houses scattered across France, and you will see this is perfectly true.
Imagine yourself visiting the country as a tourist, you are perhaps walking down the glamorous, crowded Champs-Elysees Avenue or on the beach of the blue Mediterranean Sea, or you may wander along a quiet and secluded road in a provincial town. Then you will find there are cafes everywhere—cafes which look imposing, or refined, or even a bit ―crude‖. Why not dive into one of them and sit for a moment there? You would love the atmosphere of warmth surrounding you.
Once a local agency surveyed a number of foreign tourists. When asked what in Paris they found most impressive, many of the tourists didn’t mention such famous places as the Louvre Palace or the Eiffel Tower. Instead, they expressed their admiration for the cafes dotting the city’s streets and lanes. Someone aptly compared cafes to a buttressing system of France, saying that if those were demolished, the entire country would fall to pieces. ―If cafes were gone, Paris would
become too boring‖, observed Xu Zhimo, a prominent modern Chinese writer, after traveling to that country.
有时候，我想要惹一惹Mary ，我就会把嘉嘉夸奖一番。
―嘉嘉长得太好看了，‖我对她说。
―很丑呀，‖他妈妈会马上接过话头。
―他很聪明啊。‖
―很笨，‖她说，―一点都不聪明。‖
―算了吧。‖听到这里，Mary 会用英语这样说道，不过，我还是继续夸奖他：―小孩真乖！‖ ―一点都不乖！‖
在乡下，做父母的有个习惯，就是尽量不替孩子说奉承话。因此，她妈妈的那种反应是不由自主的--------就像用橡皮锤敲击膝盖那样。她不想宠着孩子，不过，也有点出于中国人的迷信心里，那就是―满招损‖。我唯一听到嘉嘉的父母给他的夸奖是一个形容词：老实。字典上对这个词语的解释是―诚实‖，不过要准确翻译出来却并不容易。这个词有―听话‖的意思，也有乡下人特有的懂得礼数。―嘉嘉很老实，‖他的爸爸妈妈会这样说，那就是他们非常近乎于表扬的话语了。
Sometimes, if I wanted to annoy Mary, I’d praise Jiajia.
―Jiajia is so good-looking,‖ I’ say.
―He’s ugly,‖his mother would answer immediately.
―He’s so smart.‖
―He’s stupid,‖ she said, ―Not one bit smart.‖
―Cut it out,‖ Mary would say in English, but I’d continue: ―What a nice child.‖
―He’s a bad boy.‖
In the countryside, traditional parents avoid flattery, and the mother’s responses were automatic-----it was like knocking her knee with a rubber hammer. She didn’t want to spoil the child, but there was also the Chinese superstition that pride attracts misfortune.
The only praise I ever heard the parents give Jiajia was a single adjective: laoshi. The dicti onary defines it as ―honest‖, but the term is difficult to translate. It also means obedient, as well as having a certain sense of propriety that is characteristic of people in the countryside.
―Jiajia is laoshi,’ his parents would say, and that was the closest they came to pride.
中国考古人员曾经在距今4000多年前的―二里头文化‖中发现盛酒的陶器，可见，在那个时候，就有人开始饮酒了。
中国历史上有关酒的故事很多：晋代诗人陶渊明不能一日无酒；唐代大诗人李白―斗酒诗百篇‖等。
中国是个礼仪之邦，凡事注重规矩。就拿喝酒来说，也有很多有意思的事儿。比如在宴席上，如果想表示对长辈或者上级的尊重，晚辈就会主动举杯敬酒，在喝掉酒之前，两人会碰杯表示亲近，碰杯的时候，晚辈举杯不能比长辈的高，这表示尊重。主动敬酒的人会把一杯酒全部喝完，以此来表示自己的诚意。中国人喝酒一般比较热闹，大家说说笑笑，气氛融洽。有时候为了增加热闹气氛，喝酒的时候还要行酒令。其实行酒令就是在酒桌上的游戏，不同的酒令有着不同的规则，参与游戏的人，输了就要喝酒。古代的读书人行酒令一般是对诗或是对对联。
Chinese wine
Chinese archaeologists have discovered pottery wine the ruins of Erlitou Culture which dates back to over 4000 years ago. It proves that the Chinese people began to drink wine at that time.
There are many stories about wine in Chinese history. Tao Yuanming, a poet in the Jin Dynasty, could not live without wine for a day. The great poet Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty could poems after drinking wine---- the more wine he drank, the better the poem would be.
China is a country of attaching the importance of rules to everything. Taking drinking for an example, there are so many interesting things. At a banquet, for example, if someone wants to express his/her respect to their elders or superiors, he/she will toast. Before to show their affection. And the younger’s cup will be lower than the superior’s to show h is/her respect when clinking cups. The person who proposes a toast will empty one cup of wine first to show his/her sincerities. It’s a jolly time when the Chinese drink wine. On this occasion, everyone will be in a friendly mood. Sometimes rules for drinking will be set in a game when people drink in order to increase the liveliness. There are various kinds of rules for drinking, one of which is unchangeable, that is , for the people
participating in the games, the loser will drink. In ancient times, among the intellectuals, the rules for drinking were generally to supply the antithesis to a given poem or phrase.
在中国，对中小企业家来说，要获得贷款不是那么轻而易举的事，时常需要用到关系这个东西。王老板对我说，那得跟银行官员和审批贷款的人员结交朋友，大家都希望有人请吃送礼。为了免掉这样的开销，王老板主要用现金进行投资。他告诉我，在丽水市，这样的干部会要求送礼的金额在两千块钱上下。在温州，行贿的代价还要更高一些，那也正是他们把厂址选在这个地方的原因之一。―这儿的租金便宜一些，拉关系的费用也少一些，‖王老板解释道。
一开始，关系这个东西的方方面面显得十分神秘复杂，因为我是一个外国人，是无法参加宴会和秘密会谈这些活动的。不过，过了一阵子，我终于明白，那其实已经形成了体系。送出去的礼物已经标准化，需要便于携带，这就是它们更像某种现金。某个商人可能收下一条中华香烟，他送给了另外某个人，然后又转手送到了某位干部的手中，而这位干部可能又把它送给了某个职位更高的人物。要是中华香烟能够说话就好了！也许一箱箱中华香烟就这样踏上旅程，送到了杭州的某个庭院，最后转遍浙江全省，一路上只在纽扣城或者仿皮村做过短暂的停留。不过，最要紧的是，有了关系就方便多了。
In China, acquiring such a loan isn’t easy for Small and medium-sized enterprises, and it always requires more guanxi. Boss Wang told me they would need to make friends with bank officials and loan officers; everybody would expect dinners and bribes. In order to avoid this expense, Boss Wang had invested strictly cash. He told me that in Lishui such cadres required a gift with a value of roughly two thousand yuan. In Wenzhou,it would have been even more expensive, which was one reason they had located in this part of the province. The rent is cheaper here, and it’s cheaper to pull guanxi , Boss Wang explained.
At first, the details of guanxi seemed mysteriously complex, because as a foreigner I was distracted by the rituals of the banquets and the secret meetings. But over time I realized that it’s actually a system. Gifts are standardized and portable, which makes them a kind of currency. A carton of Zhonghua can be received by one businessman, given to another, and then passed on to a cadre, who might in turn bestow it upon a higher-up. If only Zhonghua cigarettes could talk! There are probably boxes that have been on traveling to the gardens of Hangzhou, spanning the whole
length of Zhejiang Province, pausing for brief sojourns in Button Town or Fangpi villege. And most important, guanxi is convenient.
这也是为什么我们夫妇在国外访问时，不只参观宫殿、议会和会晤国家元首。我们也来到学校，与像你们一样的学生见面。因为我们相信，国与国之间的关系不只是政府或领导人之间的关系，它们是人民间 特别是年轻人之间的关系。因此，我们认为海外留学项目不只是为学生提供的教育机会，还是美国外交政策至关重要的组成部分。
通过现代技术奇迹，我们的世界比以往任何时候都更多地联系在一起。思想可以通过点击按钮跨越海洋。全球各地的公司可以进行业务往来和相互竞争。我们可以与各大洲的人们通过短信、电子邮件和Skype 进行沟通。
因此，出国留学不只是以开心的方式度过一个学期——它正迅速成为全球化经济中取得成功的关键。因为要走在当今职场的前沿，只在学校里取得好成绩是不够的，还应拥有国境外的真实体验：体验完全不同的语言、文化和社会。正如中国的一句古话所说：―读万卷书，不如行万里路。‖
That’s why when my husband and I travel abroad, we don’t just visit palaces and parliaments and meet with heads of state. We also come to schools like this one to meet with students like you, because we believe that relationships between nations aren’t just about relationships between governments or leaders -- they’re about relationships between people, particularly young people. So we view study abroad programs not just as an educational opportunity for students, but also as a vital part of America’s foreign policy.
Through the wonders of modern technology, our world is more connected than ever before. Ideas can cross oceans with the click of a button. Companies can do business and compete with companies across the globe. And we can text, email, Skype with people on every continent.
So studying abroad isn’t just a fun way to spend a semester; it is quickly becoming the key to success in our global economy. Because getting ahead in today’s workplaces isn’t just about getting good grades or test scores in school, which are important. It’s also about having real experience with the world beyond your borders –- experience with languages, cultures and societies very different from your own. Or, as the Chinese saying goes: ―It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.‖
在中国，温州人以创业能力著称。在这个国家，几百万人口从农村向城市转移，从农业向商界进军，而温州人则是农民创业者的原型。20世纪80年代，中国的私有经济迈出实验性的步子，温州人的反应非常迅速，连中央政府都赞扬那是农村发展中的―温州模式‖。他们的经商策略简单得不能再简单：低投入，低质量，低盈利。教育程度也低---即便在今天，经历了二十多年的经济快速发展，百分之八十的温州老板接受学校教育的时间基本上不超过九年。不过，这一套策略很管用，这座城市因此在某些行业占据了主导地位。现在，中国差不多四分之一的鞋子来自温州。估计全世界百分之七十的打火机产自温州。在温州，超过百分之九十的经济属于个体经济---跟其他地方不同，温州的国有经济在当地经济发展中所扮演的角色微乎其微。
1. 打火机 cigarette lighters
ALL ACROSS CHINA THE people of Wenzhou are famous for their entrepreneurial skill. In a nation where millions have made the transition from countryside to city, from farming to business, the natives of southern Zhejiang are the prototypical peasant-entrepreneurs. Back in the 1980s, when China’s private economy took its first tentative steps, the Wenzhou people responded so quickly that the central government began to praise the Wenzhou model of rural development. As a business strategy it couldn’ t have been simpler: low investment, low-quality products, low profit margins. Low education, too. Even today, after two decades of a booming economy, nearly 80 percent of all Wenzhou entrepreneurs have fewer than nine years of formal schooling. But somehow it works, and the city has come to dominate certain industries. Today, roughly a quarter of the shoes sold in China come from Wenzhou. The city produces an estimated 70 percent of the world’s cigarette lighters. Over 90 percent of the Wenzhou economy is private.Unlike other parts of the nation, state-owned industries have played little role in local development.
农历正月十五，是中国民间传统的元宵节。因为正月又叫元月，正月十五的晚上是一年里的第一个月圆之夜，―宵‖是―夜晚‖的意思，所以，正月十五这个节日就叫元宵节。元宵节，中国人有赏灯和吃元宵的习俗。俗话说―正月十五闹花灯‖，因此，元宵节也叫灯节。
元宵节赏灯的习俗是从汉朝开始的，到现在已经有2000多年的历史。元宵节这天，到处张灯结彩，热闹非常。夜晚一到，人们就成群结队地去观赏花灯。五光十色的宫灯、壁灯、人物灯、花卉灯、动物灯....... 汇成一片灯海。有的花灯上还写有谜语，引得观灯人争先恐后地去竞猜。
元宵节吃元宵是中国人的传统习俗。元宵是一种用糯米粉做成的小圆球，里面包着用糖和各种果仁做成的馅，煮熟后，吃起来香甜可口。因为这种食品是在元宵节这天吃，后来人们就把它叫做元宵。中国人希望诸事圆满，在一年开始的第一个月圆之夜吃元宵，就是希望家人团圆、和睦、幸福、圆圆满满。
The lantern festival
The 15th day of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival (yuanxiao festival in Chinese). Yuanxiao comes from the fact that the first lunar month is also called the Yuan month and xiao means night. The night of the 15th day of the first lunar month marks the appearance of the first full moon. On the Lantern Festival, the Chinese people have the custom of enjoying lanterns and eating . There is a common saying that ―playing on t he Lantern Festival‖.
The custom of enjoying lanterns on the festival started during the Han Dynasty, and has a history of more than 2000 years. On that night, every place is decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers and there is a bustling atmosphere. As night falls, people go in crowds to enjoy colorful lanterns: palace lanterns, wall lamps,figure lanterns, flower lanterns, animals lanterns......forming a sea of flickering light and color. Some lanterns have riddles on them, which encourage people to strive to be the first to find the answer.
It is also a traditional custom to eat glutinous rice dumplings at this time . It is a round ball made of glutinous rice flour with a filling of sugar and kernels. When it is boiled , it is very savory, and tasty. Since it is eaten on the Lantern festival, people call it yuanxiao. The Chinese people hope that everything is satisfactory (yuanman in Chinese), and to eat glutinous rice dumplings on the first night with a full moon in a year is to wish that family members will remain united, harmonious, happy and satisfied.
一本好书可以是一位最好的朋友。它往日如此，今日依旧如此，且永不改变。它是最具耐心、最令人愉快的友伴。当我们身处逆境或感到苦恼时，它不会背弃我们，总是以同样的和蔼态度接待我们：在我们年青时，它愉悦我们，教导我们；在我们年老时，它怡情我们，慰籍我们。
书籍具有一种不朽的特质。它们绝对是人类努力成果中最能持久的。神殿与雕像会腐朽，但书籍长存。时间无损于伟大的思想，直到今天，那些伟大的思想仍然与很久以前初次在作者脑海中闪现时一样新颖。作者当时所言所思，印刷成书，如今依然生动地向我们诉说。时间唯一的影响是淘汰不良的作品，只有真正好的作品，才能在文学领域里长存。
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness: amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors'' minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products, for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.