2006年11月1日，浙江《温州晚报》刊出一幅新闻图片：“21岁洋小伙插班读小学”。图片上被一群天真活泼的小学生围着的那位洋青年，正手持粉笔学写着汉字：“老师，您好！”这张图片引起了读者的热烈关注，它仿佛向我们传递了一个信息，改革腾飞的中国在国外有着何等的吸引力！
　　
　　“床前明月光”牵动中国梦
　　洋小伙是荷兰人，名叫霍顿·布兰迪（Huton·BLant）。他金发、碧眼、宽额、隆鼻，一看便知是典型的西方人。他父亲是位油画家，母亲任一所中学的校长，家境优裕，与中国本无渊源。然而自改革开放后，到荷兰创业的中国人日益增多，距他家乡不远的港口城市鹿特丹，更是汇集了温州人开办的数十家中餐饭馆以及几百家服装、皮鞋商店。远在异国的华人无不眷恋乡土母语，华侨子弟学校也应运而生，有一位乐清籍的林女士更是热心于教育事业。林女士由于和布兰迪的母亲同行，两人成了好朋友，每逢中秋或春节，华人们都要集会欢庆，林女士就邀请他母亲带着小布兰迪参加。布兰迪说，我从小就看过中国的滚龙、舞狮，还有五彩斑斓的京剧，特别是武打戏很让我入迷，尤其是神通广大的孙猴子更是丰富我童年的幻想。大约是8岁那年，华侨们举行中秋吟诗会，在古乐声中吟诵李白《思乡》：“床前明月光，疑是地上霜。举头望明月，低头思故乡。”那首声情并茂的诗，引得全场掌声如雷，似懂非懂的布兰迪也很受感动。经老华侨点拨和母亲的解释，他感到十分神奇：大诗人李白仅用了20个汉字，就能描写出如此动人的境界，这时他闪动了一个念头，我要学中文！
　　从此他流连于中国的音乐、电影、餐饮之间，关注来自中国的多种消息。高中毕业时他说服父母，放弃读大学，经一位中餐馆朋友的介绍来到中国成都，在一家餐馆边练厨艺边学汉语。半年多他学会了基本对话，但只能说不会写，尤其令他苦恼的是四川方言与标准的普通话还有距离。他和母亲商量，要请林女士牵线，索性到林女士的原籍乐清市翁镇小学读书。他下定一个决心：不怕起点低，甘从小学起步！2006年8月，经乐清市教育部门批准，布兰迪拖着箱包乘车搭船到乐清翁镇，插入翁镇第五小学二年级(1)班，跟班选修语文和音乐两门课。
　　
　　点横竖撇捺笔笔认真
　　翁五小地处偏僻海边，人们少见多怪。一下子来了个远隔万里的洋青年插班读小学，全乡都轰动了！一时间男女老少都来围观，叽叽喳喳，热闹极了。布兰迪事先就有准备，整天笑吟吟地“您好！您好！”招呼着，一点也不烦，甚至乐滋滋地说：“有这么多的人围着我，交谈的机会就更多了，这是好事啊！”校长王彩乐更是把布兰迪的到来看作是中外文化交流的平台，在开学第一周就召开全校师生欢迎会，既向师生提出文明待客的具体要求，又请布兰迪上台作自我介绍。布兰迪大大方方登上讲台，一字一顿地说：“尊敬的老师们、亲爱的同学们，我名叫布兰迪，是从欧罗巴洲荷兰来的，是你们的新同学，我想认真学好汉语，希望你们帮助我，我要和大家做好朋友！”同学听见都乐了，起劲地鼓掌欢迎他。
　　进班上课了，布兰迪身高坐最后一排，他听得忒仔细，记笔记也勤，点横竖撇捺一笔一划，端端正正。下课后，他和同学们一起唱歌做游戏，还充当“老母鸡”，和一群七八岁的孩子玩“老鹰抓小鸡”。几天的时间就与同学融为一体，还“赵钱孙李”的叫出男女同学的姓名。同学们也喜欢给他讲中国故事，介绍乐清的生猛海鲜、风味小吃，并且好奇地问他，为什么要来乐清，为什么学中文，荷兰有什么特点，大风车有多大等等。这一问一答，布兰迪感到中文知识扩充了，对话多了，书写汉字也顺当了。他为了感谢全班同学，特地叫母亲从荷兰快递52本精美的笔记本赠送给每一位同学，上面写着：“拜您做老师，请帮助我学好中文！”同学们好感动。
　　布兰迪进班后，班风也变文明了。他和蔼待人轻声说话，碰到老师、同学先说“您好！”离别时都道声“再见”。生活上他不随地吐痰，不往地上丢纸屑，体育课他都非常礼让，且热心帮别人。同学们才七八岁，有的很顽皮，跟他才两个多月都学乖了，文明了。
　　两个月里，语文有两次“月考”。语文老师张正义说，布兰迪中文进步快，现在已能端正写出汉字800来个，这要归因于他的“三个认真”：一是上课认真。两节语文课他竖着耳朵听，一丝不苟地练习写、练造句；二是不懂就问，问教师，问同学。问完后都要说一声“谢谢”或“多谢您”；三是学风正、诚实，不作弊。两次月考，第一次他得62分，全班最低。有几位热心的同学同情他，在第二次“月考”时有的丢给他纸条，有的挪过考卷让他看，示意让他抄，他都笑着一概回绝。考后，他解释：“我来中国要学真本事，不是来考分数。”结果第二次考试得了75分，全班同学鼓掌给他胸前戴上了大红花！
　　
　　
　　决心在中国生根开花
　　张正义老师说，布兰迪中文学得好，得益于他每天写日记，而且逐篇送教师批改。教师划上红笔的错别字、不当用词或不通的句子，他每处都要改写三四遍，直到正确为止。说起布兰迪的日记，张老师忍俊不禁，说他是个好学的青年，有时又充满童心与童趣。他在成都学厨艺的一篇日记中写道：“四川人真喜欢吃辣，菜辣汤辣，满间屋子气味全是辣的。兄弟叫辣哥，姑娘叫辣妹子。湖南人说不怕辣，成都人更说怕不辣。”布兰迪在温州住过几天，市场很繁华，他很喜欢。于是在日记中写道：“叫人奇怪，温州人那么多。街道不大，挤得像筷筒子，呼吸都门（闷）住了。”
　　布兰迪还写到：“荷兰低于海面，是大海堤拦住的低凹地。我看过海浪，看过大风车，大海滩，从来没见过山。乐清也在东海边，却有漂亮的群山，高高的，绿绿的，树木很多。特别是雁荡山，山峰柱挺，太有力量了！我21岁，从未看到过。”
　　有一次，张老师发现布兰迪一篇日记已写到300来字，尽管有错字也不通顺，但立意与表述挺新鲜的，毕竟是成人的思维，老外的好奇，张老师好好地表扬他一番。有一次放学他交来日记与造句本，不想半个小时后布兰迪又满脸通红地跑回来找张老师：“我写漏了两个词语，必须补进去。真对不起！”张老师翻出日记本作业本让他补写，只见他恭敬地补一个“决心”，一个“开花”。他那认真劲儿感动了张正义老师，张老师一遍又一遍地读了他写的一段文字：“常有同学问我，荷兰多发达，你来学中文干什么？我说心里话回答他们：中国历史长久，文化光芒。我决心把中文学熟练，以后有机会再读中文大学。学好了，能在中国生根开花。至少，我可以为荷兰青年来华旅行当导游吧？中国是一个很大很大的未打开的百宝箱！”
　　张老师深有感触地说，自从布兰迪插班来读小学，把整个校风、教风都激活了。
　　（本文摄影：夏子昂 杜小芬）
　　
　　21-Year-Old Dutch Goes to Chinese Primary School
　　By Gong Ming
　　
　　On November 1, 2006, Wenzhou Evening News in Zhejiang Province published a photograph with a caption that “the 21-year-old Foreigner Studies in Primary School”. The photograph shows a young man writing “Hello, my teacher” in Chinese on a blackboard with a piece of white chalk. He was surrounded by his classmates, a large group of 8-year-olds. The photograph story caused a sensation across the city.
　　
　　The young man in the photograph is Huton Blant from the Netherlands. The blond young man looks a typical westerner at a glance. His father is an oil painter and his mother a middle school principal. The family had no relations whatever with China. But since the 1980s the Chinese population in the Netherlands has grown rapidly, many people being from Wenzhou. In the city of Rotterdam, there have appeared dozens of Chinese restaurants and hundreds of shoe and fashion shops, all operated by business people from Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang Province. With the growing Chinese population, schools have appeared for the Chinese children. A lady surnamed Lin from Yueqing, Wenzhou was particularly passionate for education for Chinese children in the Netherlands. Since she was in education, she made friends with Huton Blant’s mother. The mother and the son were often invited to attend Chinese gatherings in celebration of Chinese festivals. This was when young Huton Blant was exposed to the Chinese culture. He decided to learn the Chinese language.
　　After graduation from high school, Huton Blant persuaded his parents to let him come to China to learn the language. A friend in the Netherlands introduced him to work in a restaurant in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province. After half a year, the young Dutch managed to speak elementary Chinese with some Sichuan accent. But he could neither read nor write and he worried his accent was far from standard Mandarin.
　　So Huton Blant asked his mother to ask Lin if it was possible for him to attend a Chinese school at the woman’s hometown in Yueqing, Wenzhou. With some strings pulled here and there, the proposal was approved by the education authorities in Yueqing. So in August, 2006, Huton Blant arrived in Wengyang Town and got himself ready to start at the second grade. He would study Chinese and music at the No.5 Wengyang Town Primary School.
　　His appearance in the school attracted local residents across the remote seaside villages in the rural town. Huton was pleased, for he knew the more the people, the more opportunities he got for learning Chinese. He blended quite well with his classmates just in a few days. They asked him questions about his purpose in Yueqing, his interest in learning the Chinese language, and the size of windmills in his homeland, etc. and they told him Chinese stories, seafood and local cuisine, etc. Such a full exposure to Chinese enabled Huton to absorb the language fast. He asked his mother to send 52 notebooks from home by express delivery, which he distributed as gifts to each of his classmates.
　　His classmates have attributed his fast progress to his earnestness. He is most attentive in listening to the teacher; he writes Chinese characters with greatest care and keeps asking questions if running into any problem. He never cheats in examinations. He scored 62 in his first monthly Chinese test, rather poor in the eyes of his classmates. In the second examination, some friends passed some tips to him, trying to help him out. He declined. He scored 75 this time, showing a great progress. The class clapped their hands when he was given a little red paper flower as an award for his achievement.
　　His teacher thinks one of the great contributing factors for his fast progress is that Huton Blant keeps a diary in Chinese and submits it to his language teacher for comments and corrections regularly. The teacher red-pencils misspelt words and corrects mistakes in syntax and diction. The teacher sometimes is amazed by the way Huton Blant writes about his life experience in Yueqing and his comments. One day, the teacher found that Blant wrote more than 300 words in an interesting piece of diary and praised Blant.
　　The gentle, polite, courteous, and warm-hearted Huton Blant behaves himself well, setting a fine example to his younger classmates. His presence in the school has brought about some subtle and positive changes in the school spirit. They learn from him.
　　(Translated by David)