大开眼界 第8期

开篇：润墨网以专业的文秘视角，为您筛选了一篇大开眼界 第8期范文，如需获取更多写作素材，在线客服老师一对一协助。欢迎您的阅读与分享！

It’s tough to bunch up all the shells you got on the shore, especially when you got those too pied and too lustrous to discard any. My trip to America is just like that, a laborious trawl―painful but joyful―too many gains, too many losses at the same time, too much for me to leave out even a snippet. Eventually I decided to leach some of my shells. After all, seashells are supposed to be kept and shape pearls rather than be left to collect dust, aren’t they?

In America, you can’t get what you really want without poking around. What I found is: to live, and to know why you live, the art of poking around is a premise―either on a shore, or among an immense tract of land, not to speak of a land with boundless cement forests and high-tech aliens and... yup, consecutive non-skyscrapers in the 18th century array with pretty modern insides. The knowledge of poking around, it’s safe to say, one of my most cherished earnings during my one semester’s stay in America. The most fetching part is, there we were first heartened to poke around then were indulged to boggle at the results, whatever they might be. We would not have to bear pressure for the bad, nor catch special eyes for the good. All we needed to do is DO IT, ruminate the course of what we’d done then enjoy the surprise―even if we failed. American educationists seem to delight in fostering challenge-lovers: the more gripping the better, the more arduous the perkier. Trying and observing, perceiving and brainstorming thus become the major tasks of American students. They’re trained to make a mess, to think in odd ways, to solve problems by whatever means they grasp (surely not to break the law.) If it’s feasible, the ultimate outcome should be perfect; if not, try again. To be honest, on this point American people are much crazier than their language (American English), but it’s indeed a highlight of American education.

Eyes-Wide-Open Spot 1

My arriving day was by no means smooth: I was almost the last to be there (Thanks to Jesse’s family; otherwise, it could have been worse); The day was sprinkling hard like someone had punched a spray nozzle in the sky; and the worst was, I was the first to move into Voorhees 303, which means, I would have to stay in an empty double-room quad for a few days―alone! With the help of my friends, I settled my luggage. And I arranged my stuff before I could sit down to take a close look at my new dorm. There were four sets of furniture, each of which included a desk outfitted with a double-deck bookshelf, a soft-matted chair, a boxwood wardrobe and a nice bed. Two sets were located in the outer room, the rest in the other. Two of the beds overlapped. A sign on the upper read “Clamps available at Room XXX for stacking beds―RA (Residence Assistant): Laura Steel.” I was not comfortable with the original arrangement. I nosed around but still, no better idea came up to me. “Now that the Americans were comfortable with it,” I thought to myself, “Why not?” I furtively took pride in my happy-go-lucky aptitude, tossed back my head and strode straight for supper. So it was. I spent two days hanging around with my diplomat, busy registering and shopping daily uses in Wal-Mart, utterly leaving behind my whim to rearrange the rooms.

Days went on after my Nepali roommate Jolie arrived. Jolie was a social-butterfly, stunning and smart, good at most musical stuff. Hanging out with her Nepali friends took most of her time and she didn’t really care the furnishings, though she frowned as she poked her head in the first time and caught a glimpse of the inside.

The fifth day, however, was a blast.

It turned out that my two American roommates moved in really late, right the day before the New Student Orientation and... Well... they were such typical Iowans that their American way dumbfounded me. They had a jumbo cosmetic surgery on both rooms when Jolie and I were out: desks and chairs in one room, beds in the other. Emily brought her typewriter and mini-refrigerator while Caitlin spread her rug over the floor. They did it all by themselves while their parents took care of the hanging mirror and the Internet cord. “Oh, my gosh!” both of them paused and turned to me as I pushed in, mouth wide, “the...!” “What?” they wondered, looking puzzled. “...The...” I tried to contain myself, eyes still bulged, “the...I mean...” They followed my pointing fingers amusedly, then beamed, “Ahhh! You mean the arrangement? Yup, we rearranged. We just don’t like it. It’s much better now, isn’t it?” Yes, indeed. It looked like a suite deluxe...I thought. “We should have told you and Jolie first. But it takes time, you know,” they chirpily went on, “Come on, Terry! We have a study and a bedroom now! What a big surprise! Say, ‘Wow!’ Say it! Say it! ” They made at me before I could let out a word. What could I do? Run!!!

海滩拾贝不失为一种乐趣。但拾的贝太多、太美、太过于光彩照人，想要舍弃任何一个都有些于心不忍。我的美国之行便是如此。在那里交流生活很有些撒网捕鱼的味道――有得有失，留下的回忆令我难以释怀。而最终，我还是决定放下一些贝壳。毕竟海贝应该是被留在那里孕育出珍珠，而不是被带回家中积灰纳垢的。

在美国，不懂得“淘宝”是很难获取自己心仪的东西的。我的个人理解是：懂得“淘宝”的艺术是活着并做个明白人的要领和前提。这门艺术适用于延亘的海岸，灵动着广袤的平原，在美国高楼林立、科技纵横的国土之上，在其古朴的传统建筑风格与现代文明交融的文化群中更是不可小觑。这门“淘宝”的学问可以说是我在美交流学习期间最为宝贵的所得之一。更为有趣的是，在那里，学校不仅对我们的“不务正业”大加赞赏，甚至鼓励我们正视“淘”得的结果――不管最后淘得的是什么。我们大可不必为淘得鸟粪而闷闷不乐，也不会因为淘得金子而受到额外关注。我们所需做的一切就是放手做，仔细咀嚼做的过程，然后等着收割惊喜――即使事与愿违也快乐。美国的教育者们似乎偏爱培养热爱挑战的学生：这样一来，面临的坎儿越高学生便越来劲儿，越觉得刺激，奋斗便也顺理成章地成了一种享受而不是折磨。尝试与观察，认知与发散思维于是成为美国学生的日常功课。他们被训练成制造混乱的大师，思想奇特，处事新颖。如果他们闯荡出来的路走得通，那么成果一定要是十全十美的；如果闯关失败，没事儿，接着来！（中国都有句古训叫“失败乃成功之母”――宽容和经验造就人才啊）说句实话，在这一点上美国人比起他们的疯狂英语可厉害多了，但毋庸否认这也是人家教育价值取向的一大亮点。

大开眼界之一惊

我去寇伊学院报到的日子可一点也没省心：我抵校可以算是当天最晚一个（要不是热心的Jesse家人帮忙，情况也许更糟）；天又凑热闹下起了蒙蒙细雨，像是谁在天上捅了个不大不小的窟窿；最郁闷的是，我竟是第一个搬进Voorhees 303的人，也就意味着，我将面临单独一人在这间空荡荡的四人间里住上好几天的命运！在朋友们的帮助下，我安顿好了我的行李。整理好个人物品后我便开始仔细打量起房间来。屋子里配有四套家具。每套包括一台安着双层书架的书桌，一把软座靠椅，一件黄杨木衣橱和一张舒适的床。其中的两套摆在外间，而其余两套则摆在里间。有两张床重叠在一起。上铺有张纸条写着：“某某号房间提供架床铁夹――联系人：寝室长Laura Steel（美国学校的寝室长都按楼层选派）。”我不是很满意寝室的原装设计。可我转来转去就是想不出更好的办法。“既然这里的学生都觉得这样挺好，”我暗自思忖，“何乐而不为呢？”我为自己随遇而安的禀性着实偷乐了一番，随即昂首阔步去就餐了。就这样过了些时日。两天来我都一直在学姐的带领下东奔西跑，又是注册又是去沃尔玛买日用品――忙得不可开交，早把给寝室改头换面的兴致抛到九霄云外去了。

我的尼泊尔室友Jolie抵校后，日子涛声依旧。Jolie是个聪明、漂亮的女孩，能歌善舞，应酬挺多。“老乡会”里的活动几乎占据了她大部分空闲时间。尽管在瞅见屋内布局的一刹那她皱了皱眉头，她显然也没工夫花太多心思去和室内设计师过不去。

谁知第5天，奇迹发生了。

我那两位美国室友直到新生示范周的前一天才来，而且，她们那身美国劲儿着实把我吓晕了过去。我和Jolie出去那会儿她们说干就干，给303动了个大手术：桌子、椅子全移到外间；床呢，不用说，当然是全集中到另一间。Emily带来了她的打字机和迷你冰箱，Caitlin则为里间铺上了她心爱的褥子。她们闹得热火朝天，4位家长则在一旁打理着墙镜和网线。“啊！天哪！”我推门一进屋便禁不住失声惊呼了起来，嘴半天合不拢。她们停下手中的活儿，两道目光同时射向我。“这个……”“怎么了？”她们一脸疑惑地问道。“……这个……”我极力控制自己，眼睛却始终瞪得大大的，“这个……我是说……”她们被我胡乱挥舞的手指逗乐了，突然间恍然大悟：“啊！你是说房间布局？对呀，我们把它改了。一开始怎么看都不顺眼。你不觉得现在好多了吗？”“说得没错，都快成贵宾套房了……”我想道。“我们应该先告诉你和Jolie一声的。可这活儿费时，你能理解，对吧。”她们继续叽叽喳喳地说道，“得啦，Terry！我们现在书房、卧室都有啦！难道不是一个大惊喜吗？快说，‘Wow!’说呀！说呀！”没等我吭气她们就扑了上来。我还能干吗？赶紧溜！（责编：张楚武）