2015-08-18

【Aiden in English】

        Sometimes I look back and view scary events, and I can't help mumbling “hey, that wasn’t half bad!” Now that the moment has passed and the event is in your past, it seems quick easy. As I look back at one of the most monumental moments of my life, I say that it was a walk in the park.

        A 12-year-old boy flying on a plane by himself seems strange enough. To start, people would wonder if that were even legal, and they would also say if the kid were an orphan. My answers to those questions are a) yes, it’s legal, and b) no, I’m not an orphan or hobo. I’m just a 12-year-old kid flying by myself to Beijing from PA to visit my extended family before the summer is over. A regular child would think that I might be out of the mind, but I’m not the simple, every day sixth grader. In other words, I’ve traveled around the world, and a direct flight to China is as easy as getting a 103% average for my trimester in science. However, I haven’t really gone on a plane alone before. But there are a lot of things I haven’t done before and the only way to do them is to try.

        The plane seemed so much hotter when you’re alone. Or it was just because the air-conditioning wasn’t working. The waiting seemed to stretch out longer, even though I knew it was just an hour delay for refueling. And I also had to consistently go to the restroom. As a matter of fact, it was just that I chugged an entire bottle of water before the security checkpoint. Nevertheless, the attendants looked welcoming almost since I’d been on it so many times. I was delighted with the TV screen, and so I was set. I just needed to keep an eye on my passport, and all would be well. The plane took off and doing the math, I would need to sleep 4 hours to balance the time out. But something tells I slept way more than necessary. Although I was clonked out for a long, long time, plane flights were tricky since this plane followed the sun, and it felt like a 36-hour a day. There were 12 hours of the time difference between Beijing and the East Coast of the USA in the summer. So the jet-lag was kind of inevitable. Now the easy part was done, and I was ready for the challenges Beijing’s airport brought me at the destination. 

        The only reason I decided to travel alone to China was that I’d been on so many plane flights, going through customs and baggage claim, the process even got a tad boring. This time, “boring” was the one emotion and the trip wasn’t. Dad told me to follow the crowd at PEK, which got me confused at first since nearly half the plane’s passengers were transferring flights. Customs was easy too, although I was freaking out. Luckily, I didn’t have to say a word. I took a shuttle train to Terminal 3C where all the exits were. By then, I had the situation under control to a point where I could actually breathe normally. In Beijing, I was living with my uncle and his wife. They recognized me almost immediately as I stepped outside.

       The entire process wasn’t really all that bad. This moment stood as evidence for an individual person, and I guess I can do this again if I have to.

【红霞译文】

        蓦然回首，记忆中不时闪现一幕幕惊人场景，我禁不住喃喃喃自语“根本没那么糟糕！”如今时过境迁往事如烟，从前所经历的一切好像都变得非常简单，我甚至把永生难忘的某一时刻视作去公园漫步。

        一位年仅十二岁的男孩独自乘坐飞机，乍看起来好像异乎寻常，人们免不了质疑这么做是否合法，莫非真是孤儿不成。针对上述两个问题，我的回答是：第一，时至今朝，我有权天马行空独往独来；第二，本人既不是无依无靠，也不是无家可归，此行纯粹为了赶在暑假结束之前，由宾州专程到北京拜亲访友。同龄人也许认为我脑袋进水，可我哪像两耳不闻窗外事的初中一年级学生，换句话说，为了周游世界，我不惜浪迹天涯，直飞中国实在不足为奇，好比科学课三学制轻松拿下平均分103%。然而，只身飞行尚属我平生第一次。但世上有许多事情本人从未涉猎过，只要勇于尝试，才能掌握新知。

        人在独自飞行的时候，难免感觉机舱里异常闷热，或许因为空调失灵；候机时间似乎格外漫长，可能因为飞机加油要推后个把时辰起飞；上厕所的次数骤增，那是因为安检前我把随身携带的瓶装水一滴不落狂饮下肚。言而总之，乘务员笑容可掬，待人亲切如故，况且我又喜欢座前的电视屏幕，心情不觉镇定下来，唯一需要留意的就是护照，其它安然无恙。飞机起飞了，我开始盘算要睡足四小时方能确保充沛精力，但直觉在说这远远不够，即使我酣睡良久，航空生活仍叫我感觉天昏地暗，尤其这架飞机奔向东方太阳升起的地方，昼夜之间足有卅六钟头之长，夏末秋初时节，北京与美东一直维持十二个小时时间差，因此时差效应难以避免。到现在为止，一切进展顺利，我已经做好抵达终点站北京机场所需的心理准备。

        我决定独自前往中国的唯一原因无疑源于以往多次乘坐飞机、频繁出入海关、熟悉提取行李的氛围，完成上述全部过场确实耗费精力，而此行“耗费精力”更带有情感色彩，其实旅程本身并不乏味。事先爸爸叮嘱我，下了飞机后一定要紧随大流，这让我伤透脑筋，因为将近一半以上的乘客需要在首都机场转机。尽管我内心忐忑不安，但出关手续简便效率神速，何况又无需多费口舌。我坐上机场中转火车到3C号站台下车，所有到京的乘客均在此地离开机场，直到这时，我才长嘘了一口气。在京期间，我将与叔婶生活在一起，他们接机时一下子认出了我。

         整个过程真的没那么可怕，独行经历增强了自我意识，今后若有必要，我还会再来一次。