我对甘肃省徽县的第一印象
来到中国之后，我先在北京培训了两个礼拜。一般人得知我的打算都感到很惊讶。甘肃，一个多么偏僻及贫穷的地方，你干嘛偏偏选择去那儿教英语呢！有的人，经过几分钟的对话之后，的确赞成我参加的这一个项目的目的,明白了我的动机。尽管如此，好多北京人对西部持有的印象，说白了是不正确的。
依我而言，徽县并不像他们所认为的那样贫穷落后，反而更加突出的是当地人的友好与诚意。徽县充满活力和激情，到处都是人在干活和玩耍。老师们(就是说我的同事) 路上常常会碰到他们认识的人，并且热情地打招呼。
在学校里，学生们活泼，积极。我们西方人习惯评价中国的教育制度只注重于对知识的记忆，以老师为中心的教学方法，大量的家庭作业。习惯认为老师们都很严格，不够和蔼，学生厌学。恰恰相反，学生看上去非常尊敬老师。还有，在中国的很多寄宿学校 (这一所不其中)，老师还得承担父母的角色。许多老师觉得英语考试的书面方式不利于学生的口语和听力的提高 – 关于这一点他们一遍又一遍发牢骚！
徽县县的确城充满了活跃的气氛。有一点要明确：尤其很吸引我的地方，是商品的低价位，特别是外面的摊位，很多而且商品的价格也很低。在徽县有许多老百姓摆放的摊位，比较简朴，他们的收入当然也不是很高。虽然如此，但这仍然是他们谋生的一种方式。随着经济的发展，人们的生活水平据各方面记述越来越高。
ENGLISH:
After arriving in China, I initially spent two weeks training in Beijing. My plan for the year surprised people. Why choose poor, remote Gansu to teach English, of all places? After a few minutes of conversation some people came to sympathise with the aim of my project overseas and understand what drove me to come here. Nonetheless it seems that many in Beijing’s impression of China’s west is far from correct.
To me Huixian seems hardly like the poor, backward Gansu that Beijingers imagine. Instead what stands out is the friendliness and honesty of local people. Huixian is full of life – the streets are filled with people earning a living and others hanging out. The teachers (that is to say, my colleagues) often bump into people they know in the street and say a cheerful hello.
Students at the school too are lively and energetic. We westerners often tend to criticise Chinese education for its undue focus on memorizing content, its teacher-centred teaching style, and its masses of homework. We assume that teachers must all be very strict and unfriendly, that students must end up hating school. On the contrary, it seems that students really respect their teachers. After all, in China’s many boarding schools (this school not being one of them), teachers have to take on something of a parental role. Many teachers recognize moreover that the writing-centred format of the English exam does little to improve students’ speaking and listening – they constantly grumble about this!
The atmosphere in Huixian is indeed lively, but one thing must be made clear. There’s no getting away from it – part of my attraction to this place lies in its low prices, above all at outdoor street stalls, of which there are many. These stalls, run by ordinary local people, are basic and of course people don’t make a whole lot from them. Still, it’s a way of making a living. Most people here do agree that people’s living standards are getting better and better with China’s growth.