《电影之外的美国》书影

　　你无法知道，什么时候的一次轻轻触动可以改变人生的轨道。你也无法预料，一次偶然的相遇会延续出数十年的友谊。让你跨洋越海，有了自己的孩子，而这个孩子的名字承载了两个伟大国家对未来的期许。这次邂逅也成就了你捧在手中的这本书。

　　1997年，我刚开始我的外交生涯，在美国驻北京大使馆担任外交官，非常渴望增进美国与中国的相互了解，就在这个时候我遇到了章珺。那个时候，她在中国中央电视台电影频道工作，是一位非常严肃真诚的作家。她满怀好奇，希望更多地了解美国。进入会客室时，那只是一个工作面谈，我们却一见如故，道别时已心有灵犀。我们有很多共同的语言和志趣，我们对彼此国家的喜爱最终促使她来美国做访问学者。从此，生活重塑轨道。这个来自最古老文明国度的，曾经的好莱坞电影评论家在这个新的土壤中慢慢扎下根须，并且在这里萌发了强烈的展现“电影之外的美国”的愿望。

　　很快我们发现，4月11日是她的生日，我的生日是4月12日。但如果我们都身处对方的国家，因为时差，不论根据何种历法，我们竟可以同时庆祝我们的生日，两个生日一天过。我后来还了解到，章珺来自孔子的故乡---中国东部的山东曲阜。孔子是历史上最伟大的教育家之一。恰如这位伟大的圣贤，章珺的父母也是桃李满天下。而章珺追随孔子和自己的父母，后来也从事教育。自1997年以来，我一直在向她学习有关中国和友谊的知识。我认为这本书便是根植于曲阜的一系列宝贵文献中的又一个篇章。

　　最优秀的社会故事讲述者往往来自异域。十九世纪法国政治学家阿历克西·德·托克维尔是最杰出的美国生活观察家之一。他仅在美国旅行九个月后，就撰写出了著名的《论美国的民主》。相比之下，章珺在美国已生活二十年之久，很少有人能像她这样深入洞察美国生活的核心。她始终怀有一颗中国心，在讲述她的第二故乡--美国的故事时，她不仅表达了由衷的赞赏，同时也有严格的审视和善意的批评，展示出一个来自异域的家庭新成员的真情实感。

　　其实，章珺眼中的美国是一个延伸了的大家庭。这本书中的人物就像她的家人一样鲜活。在与她的美国丈夫建立了家庭之后，她将视线投向更远的地方，并在下一代身上也寄托了在不同文化间建立相互理解的希望。她给自己唯一的孩子取名为Amerina，这个名字越过太平洋，将美国和中国这两个国家紧密联系在一起。

　　这并不是章珺第一次展示起名的艺术。因为不满意我的第一个汉语老师为我选择的中文名字，我恳求章珺帮我重新起名。经过一周的斟酌推敲，再见面时她带来一个绝佳的名字，令我的许多中国朋友赞不绝口。它不仅接近于“汤姆”的英语发音，还使用了传达“苍天之下，万国和睦“表意的汉字，寓意着上天赐予的和睦相处的祝福。对于一个刚崭露头角的外交官来说，这是一个何等吉祥的名字!

　　我朋友现在的名字是Jun Z. Miller，从这第三个名字上可以捕捉到她自身生活的变化。读到这里你大概已经知道Z意味着什么，它出现在英文字母表的末尾，然而又象征着她的故事的开始。希望你能像我一样喜欢她写的故事。

　　谨以此序表达我对章珺、她在中国的父母和她在美国的家人的感谢。

　　Tom Cooney(俞天睦)

　　2018年4月

　　Tom Cooney (俞天睦)，序言作者，书中篇目《两个生日一天过》的主人公，曾任职于美国驻北京大使馆新闻文化处；美国驻上海领事馆领事和公共事务总监；美国驻香港和澳门副总领事；现任美国驻阿根廷执行大使。2010年任职上海期间，他带领他的团队促成美国参加上海世博会，并出任上海世博会美国馆的副总代表。

　　柳明淮(Ming-huai Hall)，序言中文译者，现任职于美国纽约州长办公室，语言专家。

　　原文：

　　You never know when you will touch a life. You never know when a single encounter can lead to a decades-long friendship,to a leap across oceans, to a child whose name carries the promise of two great countries,to this very book in your hands.

　　I met Zhang Jun in 1997 when I was a junior diplomat stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, eager to build ties of mutual understanding between my country and China. She was an earnest writer for the movie channel at China Central Television and had a strong curiosity to learn more about the United States. We entered a meeting room as new professional contacts and departed it as kindred spirits. Our interests converged and ultimately helped her become a visiting scholar in the United States. From there, life took its course, and this one-time Hollywood movie reviewer from the most ancient of civilizations patiently grew roots in the New World and found a passion for telling America’s story "Outside the Movies."Only later did we discover that her April 11 and my April 12 birthday coincide perfectly whenever I am located in her birth country and she is in mine, a kind of shared leap day in defiance of all calendars. Only later did I discover that Zhang Jun hails from Qufu in eastern China, the birthplace of Confucius, one of the greatest teachers of all time. Like the great sage himself, her parents were also educators. And like her parents,Zhang Jun has become an educator, too. I have been learning from her about China and about friendship since 1997, and I consider this book to be another text in a long line of valuable texts with roots in Qufu.

　　The finest storytellers about a society often come from beyond its borders. One of the greatest observers of American life was the 19th-century French political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville. His seminal Democracy in America was written after travelling around the United States for just nine months. By contrast, Zhang Jun’s observations are steeped in 20 years of living in America, and she is able like few others to go right to the heart of what it is to be an American. Her own heart indelibly Chinese,she tells the story of her adopted country not only with the affinity of a true admirer but also with the exacting eye of a Chinese family member who demonstrates affection through loving criticism.

　　Indeed, Zhang Jun has embraced America as her extended family. The characters in this book come alive like family. After starting her own family with an American husband, she went even further and invested her hopes of cross-cultural understanding in the next generation by naming her only child Amerina, a name that stretches across the Pacific to bind two countries.

　　Nor was this Zhang Jun’s first foray into the art of name-giving. Not satisfied with the first Chinese-language name selected for me by an early Chinese instructor, I turned to Zhang Jun to rechristen me in Chinese. She thought carefully for a week and returned to me with the perfect name that has drawn the admiration of many Chinese acquaintances ever since. It recalls not only the English phonetic sounds of Tom but also features beautiful written characters that convey a meaning of harmony under heaven. An auspicious name indeed for a budding diplomat!

　　My friend is now known as Jun Z. Miller, a third act of naming that captures her own personal transformation. But you know what the Z is for now. It comes at the end of the English alphabet, but it symbolizes the very beginning of her story. I hope you also enjoy it.

　　In appreciation of Zhang Jun, her parents in China, and her family in America,Tom Cooney 俞天睦

　　April 2018

　　Tom Cooney(俞天睦), author of the preface, the subject of "Two Birthdays On The Same Day" in this collection, has variously served as Press Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the Consulate and the Director of Public Affairs in Shanghai, and the Deputy Consul General of the US Consulate General for Hong Kong and Macau, is currently the Acting Ambassador of the United States in Argentina. During his term of service in Shanghai in 2010, he led his Pavilion team to promote the United States to participate in the Shanghai World Expo and served as Deputy Commissioner General of the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.

　　电影之外的美国---作者简介

　　章珺(Jun Z Miller)，旅美作家，江苏苏州人，生于山东曲阜，曾在北京读书、工作十年，现定居美国华盛顿。

　　中国作家协会会员，已出版《归巢》《此岸，彼岸》等四部长篇和散文随笔集《简单的快乐》，发表过上百篇的散文、随笔、影评，参与多种电视节目的制作，编剧的电影《家园》获得中国电视电影百合奖。

　　做过媒体，教过书，千山万水之后，回归年少时的梦想，渴望用真挚饱满的文字，记录呈现丰富美好的生活和情感。