老外在中國：如何講好中國故事？
Disco Beach was a shoreline where crowds who danced to electronic music created vibrations that coaxed oysters to the surface.
在江蘇省南通市的“迪斯科海灘”上，有許多人跟著電子音樂跳舞，音樂的振動將生蠔誘騙出海面。
Visitors arrived in donkey-drawn carts. They scooped up the mollusks to cook at this attraction in Jiangsu province's Nantong or take home.
游客們乘驢車來到這里，把那些軟體動物撈上來后，就地直接煮了吃，或者帶回家享用。
Today? Who knows?
現在呢?誰知道呢?
I don't.
反正我是不知道。
I can't find English information about it online aside from the story I wrote after visiting in 2009.
除了我在2009年到訪這里時發(fā)過一篇報道，我就再也沒有在網上找到相關的英文消息了。
I could search the web in Chinese. But it would take a long time at my intermediate-reading level to reliably confirm it still exists.
我可以用中文搜索有關信息，但以我的中等閱讀水平，需要大量時間才能確認這個地方依然存在。
But what I've seen recently is more such destinations throughout the country are developing informational English-language materials — those that not only inform but also entertain.
但我最近發(fā)現，在中國各地，更多類似景點有了相關英文信息材料，這些內容不僅傳遞了信息，讀起來還很有趣味。
China has continued moving up the quality chain in terms of sharing its story globally.
中國一直在提高向全球講述中國故事的能力。
Twenty-one of the 50 NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members I interviewed on camera during the recent two sessions explained their suggestions during the country's largest annual political gathering in plain English.
今年兩會期間，我采訪過的50名人大代表和政協(xié)委員中，有21人用淺顯的英文闡述了自己的議案或提案。
The video series, Two Sessions, One Minute, about the recently concluded National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee meetings cover a domestic affair — although with international impact.
《一分鐘看兩會》系列視頻報道了剛剛閉幕的全國人民代表大會以及中國人民政治協(xié)商會議，這些中國國內的事也會有國際影響。
The series has been viewed over 60 million times.
該系列視頻的瀏覽量達6000多萬次。
Foreign journalists received multilingual materials and could sometimes conduct interviews in foreign languages.
外國記者會議期間收到了多語種版本的材料，有時甚至可以直接用外語進行采訪。
English was scant when I arrived 12 years ago — when my Chinese level was also low.
我12年前到中國時，中國人的英語水平勉勉強強，而那時候我的中文水平也很低。
Then, a growing number of "Chinese-English" materials started to emerge. They were generally understandable but loaded with errors.
從那時起，出現了越來越多的“中式英語”材料，大多數都能讓人讀懂，但是也有很多的錯誤。
Later, the translation levels improved. But storytelling didn't.
后來，中國的翻譯水平提升了，但是講故事的能力并沒有。
Many of the materials were encyclopedic in tone — informative, but dry as a mummy.
許多材料都是科普式的語氣——信息量很大，但是像木乃伊一樣干巴巴的。
More Chinese authorities and event organizers from the village level up are today developing English-language materials that are, sometimes, fascinating.
現在，有更多村級以上政府以及活動組織者制作出語言質量很高的英文版材料。
A testimony to this is The Allure of Suzhou — a book published by the city's publicity authorities to introduce the settlement that's known as China's Eden for its gardens and as China's Venice for its canals.
蘇州市宣傳部最近出版的《情調蘇州》就是一個有力的證明，這本書主要介紹了蘇州，蘇州因其園林而被稱作中國伊甸園，又因其運河被稱作中國威尼斯。
Local officials invited talented foreign writers to explore Suzhou's offerings and share compelling stories about their experiences and discoveries.
地方官員邀請了才華橫溢的外國作家去探索蘇州的魅力，并將他們的經歷和發(fā)現寫成極富感染力的故事。
It was a useful backgrounder for journalists but also engaging enough that I kept it for pleasure reading after my assignments were done.
對于記者來說，這本書不僅是實用的背景材料，而且書的內容也非常引人入勝。當我完成工作后，會把讀這本書當做消遣。
It would inform any leisure trip I took in this delightful city I've already visited half-a-dozen times.
我已經六次探訪這座愉悅的城市，這本書涵蓋了我的每趟輕松旅程。
Working as a journalist in China over the past 12 years, I've often discovered the stories I've written about many of the places and topics seem to be the first — and sometimes only — in English.
過去12年，我一直在中國做記者。我常常發(fā)現，我對許多地方和話題的報道都是第一條，有時是唯一一條英語新聞。
Like Disco Beach.
就像“迪斯科海灘”的故事一樣。
How can you know about something if there's no information about it in a language you can comprehend?
如果沒有用你能理解的語言傳達消息，你怎么能了解那些事物呢?
You can't.
你無法了解。
I strongly believe that many of the global community's misunderstandings of China's realities stem less from different beliefs and more from ignorance generated by a lack of communication that's largely linguistic.
我確信，許多時候，國際社會對于中國真實面貌的曲解不僅是因為信仰不同，更多是因語言上缺乏交流，而對中國缺乏了解。
China is increasingly speaking to the world in a way the global community not only understands but also finds captivating.
中國正開始用全球都能理解且更有吸引力的方法，向世界講述中國故事。
