2005年NPR美国国家公共电台八月-Breaking Into City Life in Modern China

Today we are going to wrap up our series A Nation of Individuals. All week we’ve been examining the rise of individualism in China. We've heard about an Internet entrepreneur, an AIDS activist¹, a village leader and an evangelical Christian². In this final piece, NPR’s Rob Gifford talks to a young woman faced with a very simple but a very difficult choice. It’s a choice that will decide her future.

The leaders of China have many difficult choices today: how to keep the economy growing; what to do about pollution; how to deal with Taiwan. Many of these choices have top-down impact on the lives of ordinary Chinese people. For decades under Maoism everything was decided³ top down. Big political decisions still are. But the choices that are really transforming China are not being made in the party Politburo, they are being made by ordinary people.

Sitting in a coffee bar in the university district of northwest Beijing, 21-year-old Li Jia has a choice of her own to make that will change her life. She is a confident polite young woman who is happy talking about her life to a Western reporter, but like many people here conditioned by China’s recent totalitarian past, she will not let her real name be used. She has come to Beijing for a 6-month teacher training course from a town in a remote part of southern China, where she worked for two years in a government-paid job as an English teacher. During that time she attained⁴ a Bachelor’s degree by correspondence course. After two years’ teaching, though, she couldn’t help thinking there must be more to life. The principal of her school allowed her to come to Beijing on condition that she return after the course is over.

I think life should be wonderful and colorful. I think in the big cities there are more chances and more opportunities I can get. And I can do more things I want. But in the small towns I have some feelings of confinement⁵. I don’t like that and as a young girl I have a lot of dreams. And I think in the big cities I can fulfill⁶ my dreams.

For decades under Mao and in fact for centuries under the imperial system before that, most Chinese people could only dream of fulfilling their dreams. Now for the first time many have both the social space and the economic wherewithal to do it. There are still many migrant workers in China who leave their tiny hometowns and come to find work out of sheer necessity. But there are also a new breed of young people who are leaving their safe jobs in small towns all around China to dive into the sea of risk and opportunity in the big cities. They are the dreamers who are reshaping China’s urban landscape just as the European migrants did to North America 100 years ago. But Li Jia now has a dilemma⁷. She doesn’t really want to return to her safe, stable teaching job as she had promised.

My dilemma is that should I go back to my old job in the, in my hometown, or should I just stay in the big cities to lead a new life. I feel a little nervous. Um, because I think this is really a very big decision for me in my whole life, this is a turning point. And I know that if I make the decision, en, the life will be totally different from the previous one.

Standing⁸ at the crossroads of life is made more difficult for Li Jia because her parents do not want her stay in the big city. Confucian tradition, the One-Child Policy and just general concern about safety in China’s convulsing urban centers make many small town Chinese parents very protective of their children. But after 21 years of obedience⁹ as a very filial Chinese daughter Li Jia has taken the radical¹⁰ step of going against her parents' wishes and is about to inform her old school that she is not coming back.

It is a big change for me to make the decision by myself and according to my thinking and my judgment¹¹. And, yeah, it’s really a big change. And, it’s a difficult process. And it’s not so easy for me to persuade my parents to agree with me.

A few days later with classes finished for the summer and the deadline for her decision looming¹², Li Jia is out shopping with one of her friends. Wei Yu is from Li Jia’s hometown and was also a teacher there. She's decided not to return. And Li Jia is leaning that way, too. Li Jia says they love going out shopping together in Beijing stores that are overflowing¹³ with goods.

Beijing is much more expensive than my hometown. There are more choices and you, you can buy anything that you want. But maybe in my hometown sometimes the goods are limited.

While Western women juggle¹⁴ at post-modern lives, many Muslim women still struggle to win basic freedoms, Chinese women seem to fit somewhere in between. Maoism destroyed China in many ways. But Mao also said that women hold up half the sky. Although he did much to enslave the entire nation to his political creeds¹⁵, he undoubtedly¹⁶ did much to liberate¹⁷ women. There are of course still many inequalities, but Li Jia and Wei Yu seem to have an unbounded optimism that the world is full of opportunities for them. Li Jia wants to be a businesswoman in a smart suit carrying a briefcase¹⁸. Wei Yu wants to become a scientist or a researcher.

I want to say nothing is impossible. As a woman, as a young woman in China, I think, just I think, if you try your best nothing is impossible. Chinese women are liberated¹⁹ and also in our society there are many many good examples, female examples that they really make a big success in their career as well as have a very good family. I think it’s more equal at this than Japan.

In fact, the choices made by Chinese women like these could well play as a large role in China’s emergence²⁰ as women who've ever played in any country's emergence as a world power.
Rob Gifford. NPR news, Beijing.

You can meet the other people profiled in our series at our website npr.org.
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to wrap up: to conclude, to close
top-down:至上而下的
correspondence course:函授课程
wherewithal:资金，手段

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 attained   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• She has attained the degree of Master of Arts. 她已获得文学硕士学位。
• Lu Hsun attained a high position in the republic of letters. 鲁迅在文坛上获得崇高的地位。

5 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

6 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

7 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 obedience   

n.服从，顺从

参考例句：

• Society has a right to expect obedience of the law.社会有权要求人人遵守法律。
• Soldiers act in obedience to the orders of their superior officers.士兵们遵照上级军官的命令行动。

10 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

11 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

12 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

13 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

14 juggle   

v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招

参考例句：

• If you juggle with your accounts,you'll get into trouble.你要是在帐目上做手脚，你可要遇到麻烦了。
• She had to juggle her job and her children.她得同时兼顾工作和孩子。

15 creeds   

（尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• people of all races, colours and creeds 各种种族、肤色和宗教信仰的人
• Catholics are agnostic to the Protestant creeds. 天主教徒对于新教教义来说，是不可知论者。

16 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

17 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

18 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

19 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

20 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。