What on earth do New Zealand people do?
新西兰群众平时到底都干些什么?
New Zealand is, actually, paradise on earth. You will never see more beautiful mountains, lakes and beaches. Kilometre after kilometre of mountains, lakes and beaches…
新西兰,都说是人间天堂,在这儿你会看到无穷无尽的山峰、湖泊和沙滩,简直是青山、绿水和沙滩紧紧相连,美不胜收......
There's also something about New Zealand that people don't like to say… it can be a little boring sometimes.
不过有些事情可能新西兰的群众们不愿说起...…说出来可能也会让人觉得有些乏味。
My colleague Phyllis went on holiday around some of New Zealand's best tourist spots in the South Island.
我的同事Phyllis曾趁着假期去新西兰南岛最有名的一些景点玩了一圈。
She asked me, almost embarrassed, "in those towns where everything is closed by 5pm… what do people do at night?"
回来的时候,她有些困惑地问了我一个问题,“我去过的那些小镇,似乎每天下午5点左右的时候,镇上所有的店子就都打烊了…长夜漫漫,这些人到底都做些啥呀?”
Ummm
好吧……
I had never thought about this before!
我还当真从来没想过这个问题!
Maybe it's this:
他们可能会做以下这些事情吧:
Go home and watch TV 回家看电视
Eat dinner 吃晚饭
(In summer) go to the beach (夏天时候)去海边走走
Wow. It sounds like kiwis are not busy people. But I know busy people! What are they doing?
天啦!听上去我们kiwi好闲呐!但是我知道还有其他忙碌的群众!那他们又在做些什么呢?
Renovating their house (a big hobby of New Zealanders, and the inspiration for many of our reality TV shows)
打造他们理想的房子(新西兰群众的一大爱好,也是很多真人秀节目的灵感来源之处)
Participating in a club, association, church, arts group, or other social group
参加俱乐部、社团、教会或艺术小组等社交群体活动
Buying and selling stuff on trademe
在新西兰“闲鱼”(二手交易平台)买卖货物。
Maybe this is a big part of New Zealand culture: the side hobby.
这可能是新西兰文化的重要一部分:业余爱好。
(点击图片,加入移民交流群)
One of the best examples of the side hobby is my friend Sam. He is a very talented IT guy, but what he really loves is growing incredibly large pumpkins.
举个好栗子:我的朋友山姆,他是一个非常出色的程序猿,但猜猜他的爱好是什么?他的爱好是种南瓜!他每天研究如何种出来炒鸡炒鸡大的南瓜!
Sam is a great example of New Zealand's work-life balance. He likes to do his job, then he likes to come home and grow large pumpkins. One activity keeps him in balance with the other activity.
说到新西兰的工作-生活两平衡,山姆就是一个很好的例子。他既热爱他的工作,同时也喜欢回家培育超大号南瓜。一种活动(本职工作)和另一种活动(业余种南瓜)很好地彼此相平衡。
I think, somewhere along the way, I learnt the Chinese way of life. In fact, it's also the Auckland way of life, and the London way of life, and the New York way of life. It's the "always-on" life. But there is some benefit in being a little bored … sometimes.
从我个人经历来看,业余学习中文就是我的生活方式。实际上,这也是奥克兰人的生活方式,也是伦敦人的生活方式,也是纽约人的生活方式…这是一种“持续在线”的生活方式,尽管偶尔有些无趣,但我们还是能从中获益。
Which lifestyle do you prefer? Can you handle boredom, if it is in the midst of beauty?
那么,你最喜欢的生活方式又是怎样的呢?尽管身处这好山好水之中,你也能hold住寂寞空虚冷吗??
P.S. 以上图片来自生活在新西兰的辽宁小伙:默片