美語情景對話 第1045期:First Memories of Canada 對加拿大的第一印象

Jeremy: So Abidemi, you were born in Nigeria, but you moved to Canada and did most of your schooling in Canada.

傑里米：阿比德米，你出生在尼日利亞，後來搬到加拿大去生活，你大部分學業是在加拿大完成的。

Abidemi: That's right.

阿比德米：沒錯。

Jeremy: Can you tell me a little bit about what the transition was like coming from Nigeria to Canada and doing a Canadian education system?

傑里米：你尼日利亞去加拿大並融入加拿大教育體系，你能說說你對這種過渡的感受嗎？

Abidemi: Sure. For me, it was an interesting experience. Both great and at the same time—hmm, I don't want to say traumatic, but very different in terms of lifestyle. Since I was very young, I'd loved traveling. I wanted to travel. So when my family decided to make the move to Canada, I was really excited. But I have to say, I wasn't really prepared. I had no idea where is Canada, America, England—they're all the same to me at that age. So when we moved and my dad had initially made the move. He went ahead of us. He got a job. He found a place for us to live. And then, I arrived with my mom and my other sisters. There were five girls and we arrived at the airport. And my first memory is looking out, mid-December in Montreal—we arrived at Montreal airport—, looking out, and seeing this white thing covering the ground and thinking, "What is that? Why is it so white?" And I remember saying to my dad as he drove up to drive us home, "Let's play in that. I want to play in that. What is that?" So that was my first memory of Canada of the snow. And it was fun. It was great arriving in December but at the same time, it was very cold. Personally, I'm not somebody that likes the cold too much, but having the warmth of my family in the midst of that cold made it worth it. It was awesome. And then at school, making the transition was a little harder. At that time, the school we went to, there were not a lot of minorities. So, I think some of the teachers and some of the students weren't sure how to get accustomed to us, and we weren't sure what to expect either. But everyone tried their best and we flourished. And I went on to high school and then to university. And one of the things was having my teachers—like we were talking about before, recognized the potential in me and my sisters and really encouraging us, and being with my classmates and making friends and having fun with them. And during that time, it was the late '90s, and there were a lot of transitions going on in other parts of the world. So people from different countries, like I remember we had a lot of people from Bosnia because of the war coming to my high school, and from other parts of the world, from Asia, so it was a really multicultural school—high school that I went to. So learning about other cultures through my friends, too, made it really worth it. So I'm certainly glad that my family made the move. It's opened up amazing opportunities for me as well. And being able to come now to Japan and teach English, that was because of that. So yeah, although it was hard in ways that I hadn't imagined, but it was so worth it. And I'be grown and I'be had so many awesome experiences that yeah, I'm really thankful for it.

阿比德米：當然可以。對我來說那是一次很有趣的經歷。那個經歷很棒，但是又……我不想用痛苦來形容，不過那是兩種完全不同的生活方式。我小的時候非常喜歡旅行。我想到處去旅行。所以，當我的家人決定搬到加拿大生活時，我非常興奮。不過我也承認，當時我並沒有完全準備好。我當時不知道加拿大、美國和英國在哪裏，那個時候這些國家對我來說是一樣的。我們搬家時，我爸爸先搬去了加拿大。他比我們早過去，他在加拿大找了份工作。他爲我們找了住的地方。然後我和我媽媽還有其他姐妹一起搬了過去。我們五個女生抵達機場時……我們在12月中旬抵達了蒙特利爾機場，當時我四處張望，我看到地上被白色的東西覆蓋了，我還在想“那是什麼？地上爲什麼這麼白？”我記得我爸爸開車來機場接我們時，我對他說：“我們在那兒玩吧。我想在那裏玩。那是什麼？”雪是我對加拿大的第一印象。非常好玩。在12月抵達加拿大感覺太棒了，但是特別冷。個人來說，我不太喜歡那種寒冷，不過在寒冷中感受到家庭的溫暖還是值得的。那種感覺很棒。至於上學，完成過渡有些艱難。當時，我們上的那所學校沒有很多少數族裔。所以，一些老師和學生不知道如何讓我們適應新生活，當然我們也不知道應該怎樣做。不過所有人都竭盡全力，而且我們表現得很好。然後，我在加拿大上了高中和大學。我們之前談到過，我們讓老師認可了我和我姐姐們的潛力，這讓我們受到了鼓舞，可以和同學和睦相處，而且交到了朋友，一起度過了快樂時光。那是上世紀90年代末，世界其他地方也在經歷着過渡期。我們學校招收了很多來自不同國家的學生，我記得有很多波斯尼亞人因爲躲避戰爭來到我念的高中，當然學校也招收了一些來自亞洲等其他地方的學生，所以我上的高中是一所多元文化的學校。我通過朋友們學到了其他國家的文化，我認爲這非常值得。我很高興我們家搬到了加拿大。那爲我打開了不可思議的機會之門。我現在能來到日本教英語，也是受益於此。雖然經歷了一些我沒有想到的艱難，不過我認爲那很值得。這段經歷讓我更成熟，而且我還體驗瞭如此精彩的生活，我非常感激。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. in terms of 在…方面；從…角度看；根據…來說；
例句：We must now view agriculture in terms of its global impact.
現在我們必須根據農業的全球影響來考慮農業。
2. in the midst of 在…期間；當…時候；
例句：Eleanor arrived in the midst of a blizzard.
埃莉諾在暴風雪大作時到達。
3. try one's best 盡力；竭盡所能；
例句：The answer is no, as long as you believe in yourself and try your best, then nothing is impossible.
不，只要你相信自己並竭盡全力，那麼，一切皆有可能。
4. open up （使）（機會、可能性等）出現；（使）產生；
例句：Literacy, quite literally, opens up a new world.
實際上，識字能開啓一個新的世界。