钓鱼台往事（四）青春闪动的夏威夷杨伯翰大学校园

作者简介 

鲁秋莲 钓鱼台国宾馆大连山庄总经理，1974年至2015年在钓鱼台国宾馆工作至退休，先后在钓鱼台国宾馆总统楼从事服务接待工作，在国宾馆业务部担任楼经理；在当时局长朱贵玉的要求和指导下，查找、收集、整理、存档自国宾馆建馆以来接待国宾的档案；钓鱼台大酒店担任办公室主任等职。

通过成人高考，进入外交学院夜大学英语专业学习，先后被国宾馆选派去参加瑞士饭店集团在北京港澳中心举行的饭店管理培训、德国大西洋饭店学习饭店管理、美国杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校学习饭店行政管理。

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汉堡，给我留下了很好的印象，因为那里勤奋而友好的人民，因为他们充满激情的生活，因为物质和精神和谐发展的社会。德国汉堡是满满的美好回忆，美国的学习生活也很出彩。接下来，从我在美国杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校学习生活的经历和见闻中，分享其中几件往事。

作者在珍珠港留影（作者供图）

对夏威夷的美，我早有耳闻，但当我真真切切地进入这个美轮美奂之地时，还是不敢相信自己的眼睛。在我见过的美景中，如果说人间有仙境，非夏威夷莫属呢！我在心中惊叹。

作者游览菠萝种植园（作者供图）

一提到夏威夷，人们总是把它与美丽绝伦的自然风景联系在一起。与我所在之地北京的四季分明不同，夏威夷总是四季如春，阳光明媚，凉爽湿润，空气清新，海天一色，远处天空的云朵宛如绵延巍峨的雪山，快乐的小鸟在树上尽情欢歌……如此得天独厚的地方，真的令人心旷神怡。

杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校坐落在夏威夷州的欧胡岛上，它是美国一所有名的宗教大学，最初是一所慈善学校，援助太平洋群岛上那些上不起学的孩子。如今，该校已经发展成为一座综合性的大学，学生来自世界的四面八方，包括来自美国本土的。

作者在波利尼西亚景点留念（作者供图）

因为杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校坐落在风景如画的夏威夷海滨，所以这座大学拥有大量的海景，这是其他大学无法企及的得天独厚的优势。校园氤氲旖旎，非常美丽。一大群白鹭总是紧跟割草机，收获它们的美食。当它们在享受美食时，成为了校园的一道有趣而美丽的风景。校园规模不大，自然风景与校园管理看上去不但没有漏洞，而且相得益彰，是个非常理想的求学和读书的佳地。

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作者与美国室友及中国同学 （作者供图）

比如，学生宿舍就是其中的一方充满温馨而靓丽的净土。宿舍分为三部分——男生宿舍、女生宿舍和已婚学生夫妇住的公寓。宿舍配备了电脑室、洗衣房、会客室、乒乓球室、微波炉等公用设施，为学生学习和生活提供了方便。宿舍有专人负责，管理人员认真负责，管理严格，不属于同一栋宿舍的人不允许串宿舍。

波利尼西亚文化中心成立40周年游行（作者供图）

另外，这所大学里学生的勤勉给我留下了深刻的印象。该校沿袭一种实行了多年的做法——为了照顾那些需要挣钱交学费的学生，学校给他们提供工作机会。在校期间，那些学生可以在完成学业的同时，到紧挨学校的波利尼西亚文化中心工作（一个介绍夏威夷群岛人文、接待旅游客人的景点），以完成相应的工时来换取在校的开销。这种做法，赢得了那些需要自力更生挣学费的学生的青睐。因此，那些边打工边上学的学生，还有不用打工、只要专心致志上学的学生，在校园和波利尼西亚文化中心穿梭忙碌，形成了青春闪动的一抹亮色，让原本美丽的校园锦上添花。

白天，总能看到充满朝气、青春涌动的年轻学子们，迈着轻快的步伐，忙碌在校园里。那是他们去上课，要么是下了这堂课，马上赶去另一个教室上课；要么，下课后他们把书本放回宿舍，会马上赶到波利尼西亚文化中心上班。

晚上，则是另一番景象。夕阳西下，天渐渐暗下来，白天忙碌喧嚣的校园变成了喑哑幽静的花园。只有暗淡的路灯照明，凉爽的海风轻轻拂动树叶，白云点点，或寥寥星星，点缀在校园的上空。

然而，校园里的学习场所，比如，图书馆、自习室、电脑房等场所日光灯射出的强光，使得它们灯火通明，如同白昼，直到深夜。 

真诚的美国朋友、给予作者英语学习巨大帮助的格里芬博士夫妇（作者供图）

在那些学习场所里，除了能听到轻轻敲击键盘的声音，没有声音的安静和没有运动的安静并存。在那样的寂静中，同学们或是完成功课，或是沉浸在知识的海洋中遨游。

回想着校园里年轻的学子们忙碌和勤勉的身影，他们强大的意志，我想起了齐老师在授课时讲授的美国国父之一、前总统亚伯拉罕.林肯关于勤勉的那句名言：“懒散中，世间皆是难事；勤勉时，举目全是通途。”

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校园休闲时光（作者供图）

人类世界，正因为有一代又一代的优秀者，比如，像杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校这样忙碌和勤勉的年轻人，用他们的能量和智慧先后加入到建设人类家园的队伍中，才使得世界变得越来越美好。作为他们的校友，我为自己所见到的杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校的学子们而骄傲，以他们为荣，为他们祝福。

当时，从生理年龄而言，我青春的容颜不再，但是，人生能有机会和杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校的这些既勤奋又充满朝气的年轻同学在一起，共度一段学习时光，颇感欣慰。

此时此地，我想起了齐先生在第63课结尾分享的人生智慧：“青春与年龄无关”，以及一段与这层意念相关，充满青春朝气的散文：青春不是如花的朱颜、红润的双唇和敏健的关节；青春是强大的心志、丰沛的想象和激昂的情感；如果生命是幽深的泉，青春，则是它的永新。

的确，和年轻人在一起，被他们激情所感染，从内心也感觉自己年轻了，真有一种“青春是一种态度，与年龄无关”的真真切切的感觉。同时，亲历这些年轻人勤奋学习、自力更生、争取经济独立的奋斗历程，从他们身上，美好的未来依稀可见。

在我把英语学习当成爱好来学习的课程中，当穿着那件花短袖衬衣出现在银屏课堂时，我感到非常亲切。因为，这仿佛让我再次回到了那春风和煦、景色甚美的夏威夷，并让我眼前立刻再现了整个夏威夷岛上那个常见的风景。男士们在日常生活中的穿戴风格——花短袖衬衣、宽松短裤，搭配一双拖鞋，可以在夏威夷的任何一个地方出现。这样的穿着风格，应该与夏威夷的气候和地理条件有关。

不但男士们户外这样穿着，连知识界人士也是如此，比如，杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校那位个头高高的讲授饭店人事管理的教授，总是穿着不同花式的短袖上衣到教室给我们上课（不过，他下身穿的是长裤和皮鞋）。除了夏威夷风格的穿着，这位教授即幽默又严格。比如，有一次我发现，在我的作业批改中，他把我写的“三十年的工作经历”用红笔体圈了起来，并在旁边有这样一句诙谐的批语：“Candy（我的英文名字），看上去，你还没有三十岁呢！”同样是这位老师，给来自香港的一名同学的一门课程考试打了不及格的59分（60分及格）。这个同学去找他，期待老师给他加1分，让他及格，可老师坚决地对他说“NO” ，那名同学不得不补考。

教授批改的作业（作者供图）

我和另一名同事之所以能获得去BYU-Hawaii进修的机会，这要感谢波利尼西亚文化中心。因为，这个中心和钓鱼台国宾馆签署了免费为国宾馆培训管理人员的合同。这个项目的人事部负责人John和办公室的会计（一位女士）是我经常接触的人。这两个人最为显著的特征是土生土长的太平洋岛上居民的体型，皮肤黝黑，John高大壮实，女会计体态丰腴。尽管两个人体型相同、待人都非常友善，但两个人性格截然不同。

毕业典礼日，作者及同学与项目负责人John合影留念（作者供图）

John含蓄低调，朴实无华，说话面带微笑，温文尔雅，体贴他人，一幅善良大叔的模样；那位女会计则是个非常健谈的人，快言快语，说话从不拐弯抹角，外向乐观，有着与生俱来的快乐天性。他俩的性格合二为一，是典型的夏威夷人待人接物热情、友好、乐观的体现，这与大都市人情关系中的淡薄、冷漠、疏远形成鲜明的对比。

作者获得的证书（作者供图）

比如，我们每次和John见面，他总是面带友善的微笑。有一次，他对我们说：“迎来送往，我接待像你们一样的一批又一批的人，离开后，他们都会和我保持密切联系，可时间久了，联系也越来越少了，甚至消失了。Okay，我知道，大家都忙自己的事情去了。”

作者一行在去檀香山的路上留影（作者供图）

神殿谷陵园缅怀张将军和赵四小姐（作者供图）

有一天，女会计开车陪我们去檀香山游览，车行进在群山连绵蜿蜒的滨海道上，一条跨山的彩虹在我们前面忽隐忽现，非常美丽。一路上，女会计和我们轻松愉快聊天，她说：“有人邀请我去美国本土工作，说那里的工资待遇比在夏威夷优厚得多，可我果断婉拒了，因为我特别喜欢夏威夷，觉得在这里很幸福快乐。”我表示赞同，说她的选择是明智之举，因为钱是永远赚不完的，而拥有了幸福之所就值得珍惜。

既然杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校是一所宗教大学，下面，我来说一说与此有关的话题吧。

在杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校，不管你是信教的还是不信教的，或者是信奉别的教的，所有的学生都被要求上Mormon教的基本课程，即老师给学生介绍这个教的基本理念。

在课堂，上课前和下课时，都会由一个学生领着有个简短的祈祷。于是，在上第一堂课时，老师给班里的同学每人发个小纸条, 询问大家是否愿意领头祈祷。我们同一个项目的几个中国学生，因为不信奉这个教，所以都回答"no"。果真，在以后的课堂，老师仅仅轮流叫那些愿意带头祈祷的学生，不叫我们领着祈祷。

当然，有益身心的宗教信仰都值得尊重，所以，在课堂祈祷的时刻，我们都会闭上眼睛，保持安静。

那里的教职员工和学生绝大部分信奉Mormon教（基督教的一个分支），包括很多在那里上学的中国学生。看得出，这里的教徒对Mormon教的信奉，热情、挚爱和虔诚不亚于中国共产党的创立者以及其他革命先驱们当年对共产党、对共产主义的信仰。

《摩门经》由宗教老师皮尔森先生和太太签名赠与作者（作者供图）

比如，教徒们按时缴纳会费，积极参加每周的礼拜活动。我在杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校的中国室友，一个已经加入摩门教的教徒，一大早起来，激情朗读《摩门经》。透过玻璃窗的晨曦映在她的脸庞，与她对摩门教的虔诚相得益彰。

作者在夏威夷典雅庄重而美丽的教堂一隅（作者供图）

尽管信仰在我们国家是自由的，但我生长在共产党领导下的新中国，从小沐浴着党的光辉，自愿加入了党组织，我终生不会改变对党的忠诚，不会改变对党的信仰。但通过观摩BYU-Hawaii这所宗教大学的宗教活动，我认为，人有信仰是好事。

作者在毕业典礼那天和另一名同学在校园里与皮尔森夫妇合影（作者供图）

因为，信仰让人善良、友好、正直和坚韧不拔。一个人有信仰，灵魂才会有归宿；灵魂有了归宿，他才有精神支柱；有了精神支柱，他才不会迷失人生的方向，他才会有敬畏之心，知道该做什么，也知道不该做什么；有了精神支柱，当他面对极度困境时，他就可以从信仰中寻找摆脱的方法，让自己的灵魂从中得以升华。

相反，没有信仰的人，灵魂难免空虚，容易走极端。这样的人，当被负面心态主导时，不该做的事，甚至罪恶的事，会不计后果而为之。因此，他们将会成为人类社会产生动荡，甚至邪恶之源，当然也会毁了他们自己的人生。

因此，我期待有朝一日，人类社会人人有信仰，有高尚的精神境界；正义战胜所有邪恶；友好取代无聊的争斗；善良取代一切伪善；和平取代残酷的战争；不存在征服与被征服, 所谓“丛林法则”、种族歧视之类的弱肉强食的社会顽疾和行为，都被人类的盛世太平所取代。

作者俯瞰洛杉矶市容（作者供图）

让人类这个地球村成为一个团结友爱、和谐共荣的生命共同体，让这样的生命形态组成一个巨大的鲜花簇拥的圆环，全世界人民彼此携手，像家人一样，围绕这个鲜花盛开的圆环同欢共舞，互敬互爱，共享人类世界的美好，繁荣和文明，一起向未来。

和同学游览檀香山

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作者游览檀香山（作者供图）

人生能有机会到太平洋上美丽的夏威夷走马观花一游，已经是幸福而难得的经历，而我，不愧为幸福之人中更幸运的人。因为，我获得了在BYU-Hawaii学习和生活的体验。 

古镇休闲时光（作者供图）

对此，学完齐先生的最后一堂课后，我学到了一个新的表述：我拥有一次夏威夷探索之旅（我深度旅游了夏威夷）。在那里，我不但学习了专业知识，而且分享了那里美若仙境的景色——阳光、清风、沙滩、蓝天、海浪、白帆、高大的棕榈树、一望无边的菠萝园，还有夏威夷人独有的Aloha精神…… 

作者与同学的纪念照，他是一位波利尼西亚人，穿着土著服装，正在波利尼西亚文化中心工作。图中二人的手势是夏威夷特有的手势，表示“你好！欢迎，再见……”（作者供图）

还有，身处那些优秀者之间，一次又一次被他们启迪、感动。比如，幽默、时尚而不乏严格的教授；那些为了实现自己梦想边勤奋学习边自己挣学费的学子；那些非常自律的学生在校园慢跑，在健身房、游泳馆、网球场等地方健身的身影；校园里敬业而有序的管理者；每个周日不同内容的宗教礼拜活动；善良、友好、淳朴，充满幸福感，总是打着他们那个象征“Aloha”精神手势欢迎来宾，欢送朋友，向亲朋表示忠诚的爱的夏威夷人……

作者和同学春节团聚包饺子（作者供图）

现在看起来，这些已成往事云烟，但有着我无法用语言表达的美好。尽管随着时间的流逝，他们已是越来越遥远的记忆，有的人的名字已经淹没于尘烟往事或变得模糊，但那一张张充满热情和善良的脸庞，那些令人愉悦的言语，一件件令人回味无穷的往事，于我而言，却依然徘徊于心，萦绕不绝。

作者BYU-Hawaii 毕业典礼日纪念照（作者供图）

他们如同金子永远会闪耀一样，会在我心中永不褪色，照亮我余生的精神家园。他们已经成为我宝贵的精神财富，被我永生珍爱，让我终生享之不尽。感谢上苍赐予我如此美好的礼物！

毕业典礼日，作者与来自马来西亚的同学合影留念（作者供图）

好啦，“寒暄”是个微短语，而我把它当成这篇文章的主干，把我的思绪，通过手指与键盘合一，让我期待的文字，在雪白的纸上尽情流淌。

万圣节的“小鬼们” （作者供图）

它们，宛若藤蔓缠绕树枝，或如同枝叶从树干延展。经过我花时间在花园里辛勤打理，渐渐地，树干、藤蔓、枝叶连成赏心悦目的整体景观，在我精心扩建的花园越长越旺。

作者和同学参观迪斯尼乐园（作者供图）

同时，我用篱笆把我的花园围住，从而，当你光临我的花园，进入这方美丽而与喧嚣绝缘的小天地中，迎接你的是枝繁叶茂，繁花满眼的小世界。你可以在这里漫步休闲，观景赏花，享受宁静；你可以深深呼吸，吐故纳新，享受花园上空随风而至的馨香。真心期待你喜欢我的花园。

最后，借此平台，衷心感谢钓鱼台国宾馆钓鱼台大酒店往届总经理付水根先生鼎力推荐并促成了我到杨伯翰大学夏威夷分校进修！

附 | 上下滑动阅览译文

I was favorably impressed with Hamburg, for its hard-working and friendly people there, the passionate of its life, the harmonious development of material and spirit of the society. Hamburg, Germany is full of good memories, and the study life in the United States is also very splendid. 

Next, I would like to share something about my experiences and observations during my study at BYU Hawaii USA.

98、I heard about Hawaii's beauty, but I still couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that beautiful place as large as life.  In all the wonderful sceneries I had seen, It's the nearest thing to a wonderland in the world, I amazed in my heart.

When it comes to Hawaii, people always connect/associate it with stunning natural beauty. It differs from four seasons in Beijing, where I live, Hawaii has four seasons like spring. The sun is always bright, it is cool and wet, the air freshening, the sea blends into/in the sky, and the clouds in the distant sky just like the stretching and soaring snow mountains, Happy birds sang heartily in the trees… such a unique place, making people feel relaxed and happy.

BYU-Hawaii is located in the island Oahu of Hawaii State. It is a famous religious university in the United States. It began as a charity school to help children in the Pacific Islands who could not afford to go to school.  Today, it has bloomed into a comprehensive university, its students come from near and far/far and wide of the world, including from other States in America.

Because, BYU-Hawaii is located in the picturesque scenery Hawaiian coast, hence, it is in the happy position of having sea views in plenty that no other universities can reach.  The campus is charming, very beautiful; a great flock of egrets always followed tightly the lawn mower to harvest their yummy food /delicacies. When they were enjoying their meal, they became an interesting and beautiful scenery of the campus. The campus was small in size. The natural scenery and campus management not only seemed to have no loopholes, but also complement each other, making it an ideal place to study.

For instance, the student dormitories were a pure land dripped with warmth and beauty. They were divided into three parts -male dormitories, female dormitories, and apartments for married-couple students. They were equipped with computer room, laundry room, reception room, table tennis room, microwave oven and other public facilities each，which provided convenience for students to study and live. There was a special person in charge of each part of the dormitory, and the management was serious and strict. People who did not belong to the same dormitory building were not permitted to visit the dorms.  

In addition, I was deeply impressed by the industrious students in that university. For the convenience of the students who needed to earn money to pay their tuition, the university had followed a long-standing practice of offering jobs to them.  During the school years, those students could work at the Polynesian Cultural Centre（a tourist attraction） where close to the BYU-Hawaii while completing their studies, to gain the corresponding working hours in exchange for school expenses.

This approach won favor with those students who needed to earn their tuition on their own.  Hence, those students who worked while attending school, as well as who did not need to work, as long as focused on learning, with busyness, they were shuttling back and forth between the campus and the Polynesian Cultural Center, formed brilliant colors of youth, making the original beautiful campus icing on the cake.  

During the day, you could always see the young students dripped with youth and vitality , walking with brisk, were busy in the  campus, that's they rushed to have a class，or finished one class, and swiftly went for another one; Or, after class, put back their books in dorm, and dashed to work at the Polynesian Cultural Center.   

At night, the campus was a different view. With the receding sunset, it was getting dark. The busy and noisy campus of the day was transformed into a secluded garden. Only the dim street lamps were illuminating, the cool sea breeze gently rustling, a few white clouds or sparse stars dotted over the campus sky. 

However, the places of study on campus, such as libraries, study rooms, computer rooms and so on, were emitted/radiated by the powerful light, which made them as bright as in the daytime until mid-night.

In those places of study, existed both the dumb silence and the stillness without movement, except for the soft tapping of the keyboards. In the silence, students were finishing their homework or immersing themselves in the ocean of knowledge.

109、Recalling the busy, diligent, and stout will of young students in the BYU-Hawaii campus, I remembered the famous saying of the former president Abraham Lincoln, one of the fathers of the United States, about diligence that Mr. Qi taught in our class: “sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy”. 

The world is a better place because generations of talented people -busy, hard-working youngsters like BYU-Hawaii - use their energy and ingenuity to help build the human homeland. As their schoolmate, I am very proud of the students I met at BYU-Hawaii and wish them well.   

At that time, in terms of my biological age, my faces had lost the youthful bloom. However, LIFE could have the opportunity to spend a period of learning time with the young schoolmates whom were good mixture of diligence and youth at BYU-Hawaii, I feel very gratified.

Here and now, I remind of the wisdom of life shared by Mr. Qi at the end of Lesson 63: "Youth has nothing to do with age", and a youthful passage of prose related to this idea: Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it's not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it's the matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Sure, being together with young people, had been radiated by their passion, I also felt young inside.  It let me have a true feeling that "regardless of the grand age, youth is an attitude" as large as life. At the same time, witnessed those young people’ hard work and struggled for financial independence, their bright future could be dimly seen. 

In my English learning course that I took as a hobby, when teacher Qi wore a flowered shirt in the screen class , I felt very affability, as if it let me went back to the warm spring breeze and beautiful scenery of Hawaii, and brought back to me a common sight over the Island of Hawaii - the way men dress in their daily lives - flowered short-sleeved shirts, baggy shorts, and a pair of slippers.  with this style, they could go anywhere they would like within the whole Hawaii State.  Such a dress style should be related to the climate and geographical conditions there.

Not only did men dress this way outdoors, but intellectuals, too. For example, the tall professor at BYU-Hawaii who taught Hotel Personnel Management, always wore different kinds of flower short sleeved tops to lecture us (though he wore pants and leather shoes).

In addition to his Hawaiian dressing style, the professor combined humorous with strict. Such as, I once found in my project correction, the teacher circled the "thirty years of work experience" in red ink, and next to it was his witty remark: “Candy, you don't look older than thirty!!! "  The same teacher, gave one of my classmates from Hong Kong a-59 for falling (60 will pass) in a course exam.  The student went to him, looking forward to the teacher giving him a point more, let him pass, the teacher stubbornly said NO to him. My classmate had    to take a make-up exam.   

Another colleague and I were obtainable to go to BYU-Hawaii for further study thanks to the Polynesian Cultural Centre.  The center signed a contract with Diaoyutai State Guesthouse to train executive management staff for free. The human resource manager John, who was in charge of our project, and the accountant in the office, a lady, were people I was to contact with in regular.

Both of them were tanned, and of the most striking feature of a native Pacific Ocean islander build.  John, mountainous figure; the accountant, a plump lady. Although the body type of the two had something in common and they were very friendly, their personalities were vastly different. 

John was quiet, plain and simple, smiling, gentle and considerate, and looked like a kind uncle. The accountant was an expansive person, fast-speaking and never beating around the bush, outgoing and optimistic, with a merry nature (or I can say, endowed with joy). The combination of their personalities and manners were typical of the warm, friendly and optimistic Hawaiian people, which were in sharp contrast to the frost, cold and distant of human relations in the metropolis.

For example, John，every time we saw him, was always  with friendly smile. Once he said to us, "greeting and sending off, I've received people group after group just like you, after leaving, they will keep in close touch with me, but as time goes by, the contact is less and less， even vanished.  Okay, I know. they're all busy with their own things.”  

One day, the female accountant drove me and my friend in the unit to tour Honolulu. Cars were moving along the winding coastal path of the mountains, a rainbow flickering across several mountains in front of us, very beautiful.  We were chatting all the way, she said, "I offered to work in the U.S. mainland, where to be said the payment will be much generous than in Hawaii, but I stubbornly declined because I love Hawaii so much and I'm happy here. " I approved of her idea, saying that her choice was a smart move, because money earning will never end, and having a happy place was worth cherishing.

Since BYU-Hawaii is a religious university, here. I'm going to say something related to it.

At BYU- Hawaii, all students, religious and nonreligious, or some other religions, are required to take Mormon's basic course, in which teachers introduced students to the basic ideas of the religion.  One of the students in the class would lead a short prayer both at the start and the end of classes. Therefore, on the first class, the teacher gave each student a note asking if one would like to lead the class in prayer.  Several Chinese students in our same program answered no because we did not believe in this religion.  

Sure enough, in later classes, the teacher only took turns calling those students who were willing to lead the prayer, and did not ask us to do. certainly, healthy religious beliefs deserve respect, hence, we all close our eyes and kept quiet during class prayer. 

Most of the faculty staff and students, including many Chinese students who got to school there followed Mormon（it is said a branch of Christianity）. It could be seen that the believers there believed in Mormon, their enthusiasm, fervent love, and piety, no less than the founders of the Communist Party of China and other revolutionary pioneers believed in the Communist Party, and Communism.

For example, members of the congregation paid their dues and attended weekly services.  My Chinese roommate at BYU-Hawaii, a Member of the Mormon Church, got up early in the morning and read the Book of Mormon with passion. The morning sunlight spilled in the room from outside the window matched her face and devotion to the Church pretty well.  

Although religion is free in our country, I grow up under the leadership of the Communist Party of New China, from the start of life, I bathed in the glory of the Party, later, and voluntarily joined/participated the Party Organization, I will not change/convert my loyalty to the Party, the belief in the Party forever.  But after observing the religious activities at BYU-Hawaii, a religious university, I consider that it is good for people to have faith.

Because faith makes people kind, friendly, upright and persevering. A person has faith, the soul will have a home; When the soul has home, the person can have spiritual support; With spiritual support, the person will not lose the direction of life, will have a heart of awe, know what to do, and what not to do; With spiritual support, when the person faces with extreme difficulties, can turn to one's faith for a way out and lift the soul from it.  

On the contrary, people without faith, their souls are inevitably empty, easy to go to extremes.  Such people, when dominated by a negative mindset, will do things they shouldn't do, even evil things, regardless of the consequences.  As a result, they will be a source of unrest, even evil, and, of course, ruin of their own lives.  

Therefore, I look forward to: one day, everyone will have faith in the human society, and lofty spiritual realm；Justice will conquer all the evils; Friendship will replace robbery and fighting; Goodness will supersede all hypocrisy; peace will replace cruel war; There will be no conquest or conquered, and stubborn social diseases, such as racial discrimination, the so-called law of the jungle, will be replaced by prosperity/a time of peace and plenty of mankind.

Let the global village of mankind become a life community of solidarity, friendship, harmony and common prosperity.  Let this form of life, forming a huge circle dripping with flowers, people all over the world join hands with each other like families, around the flowers blooming circle dance together, to love and honor each other, and share the beauty, prosperity and civilization of the human world, to the future together.  

It is already a happy and rare experience to have a swift visit to Hawaii, the beautiful island on the Pacific Ocean, and I, worthy of being the luckier of the blessed. Because I got the experience of studying and living in BYU-Hawaii.

For this, after Mr. Qi's last lecture, I learned a new expression about it: I had an exploration trip to Hawaii（Meaning I travelled an in-depth tour of Hawaii）. From there, not only I learned professional knowledge, but also enjoyed the beautiful wonderland scenery-sunshine, breeze, sand-beach, blue sky, white sail, tall palm trees, boundless pineapple plantation, and the peculiar/unique Aloha Spirit of Hawaiians...

Also, I was in those outstanding people, was inspired and moved by them again and again.  For instance, humor, fashion and strict professor; Those who studied diligently to fulfill their dreams while earning their tuition at the Polynesian Cultural Center; Those who were very disciplined jogging around in the campus, exercising in the gym, the swimming pool, tennis court and other places on campus; Dedicated and orderly administrators; Religious services of different content every Sunday; Kind, friendly, simple and plain Hawaiians who always use their “Aloha” spirit gesture to welcome guests, send friends away/off, and show loyal affection to loved ones...

Now, they are distant memories but more beautiful than I can say. And though some of the names are melted away in the mists of time, or foggy/vague/obscure, but those warm, kind faces, those happy words, those memories, till linger my heart.

They will shine like gold forever, will never fade in my heart, light up my spiritual home for the rest of my life. They have become my precious spiritual wealth/riches, cherished by my eternal life, let me enjoy them all my life. Thank God for my blessed and grand gifts!  

137、Well, "small talk" is only a micro/short-phrase, and I take it as the backbone of my article here, put my train of thoughts, through my fingers and keyboard integration, let my expecting words, flowing on the snow-white paper fluently, freely.

138、They are like vines looped themselves over the tree branches, or as branches and leaves extended far and wide from the trunk of a tree. After I spent industrious work in the garden, the trunk, the vines, the branches and leaves have formed a pleasant overall landscape that grow and flourish in my carefully enlarged garden gradually.

139、At the same time, using the noisy-repellent materials, I enclosed my garden with a fence, as a result, when you walk into my garden, entering this isolated but beautiful small world, you are welcomed/greeted by a world of luxuriant foliage and busy with flowers. Here, you can wander leisurely, enjoy the scenery，flowers, and tranquility, breathe deeply , exhale the old, inhale the fresh, smell the smell of the flowers that swirling over in my garden.  I really hope you enjoy your time here.  

Finally, I would like to take advantage of this platform to express my sincere appreciation to Mr. Fu Shuigen, the former general manager of Diaoyutai Hotel of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, for recommending and promoting me study at Brigham Young University Hawaii!

- 结束 -

图文 | 鲁秋莲

编辑 | 外交官说事儿 青岩

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