女兒語錄(24）Quote of My Daughter(24)

曾铮

Photos: Jennifer's daughter performing at the school choir.
圖：曾錚的女兒在學校合唱團表演。

When she finished her one year’s English language course in the language school, my 12 year old daughter was ready for “normal” school. I enrolled her in year 7, one year “lower” than her grade in China, as the teacher said a 12 year child belonged to year 7 instead of 8. I also thought it was better for her to “go down” a little bit so that she wouldn’t feel too much pressure with her study. It was a totally new environment for her after all.
女兒在語言學校學完一年英文以後，就該轉入「正常」中學了。這時她12歲，按澳大利亞的規定應該上七年級，所以我也就給她報了七年級，比她在中國的年級「降」了一級。我想她總是到了一個新環境，慢慢來好些，不要給她太大壓力。
On the first day of her “normal school”, I took her to school by bus; as the school was only a few stops away. Students can have free bus ride in Australia. I thought she would be able to come back home by bus herself as she already knew the way; so I told her to do that.
上正常學校的第一天，我帶著她坐公交車去只有幾站地遠的學校。澳洲學生坐公交都是免費的。我覺得以女兒的智力水平，這麼近的路，她完全可以自己找回家，所以就跟她說，放學後自己坐公交回家吧。
However, in the afternoon, I suddenly received a phone call from her, saying that she had lost her way and didn’t know where she was. We later found out she boarded on a wrong bus which took her to the opposite direction from home. I asked her not to panic, go to a cross road and read the road sign to me so that I could check the map to locate her. At that time we didn’t have smart phone or GPS yet. She read the sign to me as instructed. I asked her not to move, stand there and wait for me. Then I started checking the map.
結果到了下午，我突然接到女兒的電話說她迷路了，不知到了哪裏了。我們後來發現她坐錯車了，跑到離家相反的方向去了，她越坐越覺得不對，下了車就已經完全不知道自己在哪裏了。我告訴她別慌張，走到路口去，把路牌上的路名念給我聽，然後我對著地圖找那是哪裏。那個年頭還沒有智能手機，也沒有GPS，開車都是靠地圖的。我讓女兒站在原地別動，等我開車去接她。
A few minutes later, before I could figure out my daughter's location on the map, another phone call from her arrived. This time she exclaimed happily, proudly and excitedly, “Mom, you don’t need to come to pick me up now, as I am in the police car! The police are driving me back; and we’ll be home in no time!”
結果還沒等我查明白地圖，女兒又來電話了，興奮又無比驕傲的說：「媽媽，你不用來接我了，現在我在警車裏！警察正在送我回家！」
In no time they indeed arrived. Several police officers escorted my daughter upstairs to our apartment; and asked her, “Is this your mom?” After confirmation from my daughter, they waived good-bye and left.
果然，沒過多久，幾名警察就帶著女兒出現在樓梯上。我迎上前去。一名警察問女兒：「這是你媽媽嗎？」女兒說是，警察們就笑嘻嘻地把她交到我手裏，揮揮手走掉了，連門都沒進。
I asked my daughter, “What happened?”
She said, “I don’t know. Seems somebody saw me standing there in school uniform; and contacted the police. She or he must know that I had got lost.”
For both of us, this was a beautiful “accident”. The kindness of Australian public; and the high efficiency of Australian police really impressed us. In China, “serving the people” is only an empty political slogan and later on a laughing stock for everybody. But here in Australia, the police are really serving the people without shouting out loudly about it.
我問女兒：「怎麼回事？」
女兒說：「我也不知道。好像是有人看見我穿著校服站在路邊，猜想我一定是迷路了，就報了警。警察就來送我回家了。」
對於我和女兒來說，這是一個美麗的「意外」。澳洲民衆的善良，澳洲警察的高效率，讓我們深受感動。在中國，「爲人民服務」只是一句空洞的政治口號，再後來變成一個大笑話。而在澳大利亞，警察真的是在爲人民服務，只不過人家不吭不哈地服務就是了。