童年還開心嗎? Unhappy Childhood?

Since 1980 China has had a one-child policy. The result is that traditionAlly large families have turned into 1)inverted pyramids with multiple grandparents for every treasured little one, a child on whom much attention is 2)lavished and of whom great things are expected.

自1980年起，中國實行獨生子女政策。其結果是傳統的大家庭變成了倒置的金字塔，在這個金字塔裏，每一個寶貝小孩子都有幾個祖輩老人，過多的注意力都集中在一個小孩身上，同時，很多期望也寄託在一個小孩身上。

This is the Long Yun Guzheng Training Academy. It's a private music school where girls learn to play the Guzheng. The school is run by Ms. Long, herself a fine 3)soloist, who has even toured in the U.S. I asked her how many of the students are only children.

這裏是成都的龍韻古箏藝術培訓中心。這是一家教女孩子學習彈奏古箏的私立音樂培訓機構。這個培訓中心是由龍德君女士開辦的，龍女士本身就是一名優秀的古箏演奏家，她還曾經在美國作巡迴演出。我問她，學琴的學生當中有多少是獨生子女。

Long Dejun: (via translator) All of the students in this school are only children. We have 300 students, a little over 300.

龍德君：（通過翻譯）這裏全部的學生都是獨生子女。我們有三百名學生，三百略多一點。

Ms. Long says the pressure that only children can feel might be too much for some students, but it might actually make others work harder.

龍女士說獨生子女受到的壓力對於一些學生來說可能難以承受，但也可能使另外一些學生更加刻苦用功。

In this practice room, three girls age six, six and a half, and ten play in 4)unison with a 5)metronome keePing time. Each is perched on her three-legged stool in front of her instrument. The six-and-a-half-year-old in the front chair is so little her feet don't reach the ground. As the children take their lessons, the parents or grandparents who brought them wait. A few told us their kids practice at least an hour a day. I asked Ye Ping about the phenomenon of so many only children. She's an accountant who is waiting for her 10-year-old daughter. She said, yes, these kids live under a great deal of pressure.

在這個琴房裏，三個女孩子的年齡分別是六歲、六歲半和十歲，她們在節拍器的幫助下練習合奏。每個女孩子都坐在琴前的三腳凳上。那個六歲半的小女孩兒身體太矮小了，她的腳都夠不着地。而在孩子們練琴的時候，把她們送來的父母或者家裏的老人則在一旁等候。有幾個人告訴我們，他們的孩子一天至少要練一個小時的琴。我向葉萍（音譯）問起她對獨生子女現象的看法。她是一名會計師，正在等她十歲的女兒。她說，是的，這些孩子都在巨大的壓力下生活。

Ye Ping: (via translator) Children here don't have a very happy childhood.

葉萍：（通過翻譯）這裏的孩子沒有一個開心的童年。

Reporter: What would be a better word to describe their childhood?

記者：你覺得什麼詞描述他們的童年會更合適？

Ye Ping: (via translator) Hard work.

葉萍：（通過翻譯）辛苦。

Song Daode is a 66-year-old retiree who happily admits to 6)doting full time on his 12-year-old granddaughter. She's his only grandchild. He says many more people now can provide their kids with a good education and they feel that they have to so that their children can compete.

宋道德（音譯）是一名六十六歲的退休人員，他很樂意承認自己把全部時間都花在他十二歲的孫女身上，她也是他惟一的孫輩。他說，現在有更多的人有條件讓自己的孩子接受良好的教育，他們覺得如果想讓自己的孩子將來能與他人競爭，就必須這麼做。

Song Daode: (via translator) The big difference between China and other countries is that there are so many of us, so the pressures on the children are so much greater. I've been to Singapore and they don't have as many people. Pressure on their students is not as great as here. In China, the pressure to study is great. So we parents and grandparents are all running around in circles for our kids.

宋道德：（通過翻譯）中國與其他國家的一個很大的不同點就是中國人太多了，因此孩子要承受的壓力就更大了。我去過新加坡，他們沒有那麼多人，因此他們學生的壓力就不像這裏的學生壓力大。在中國，小孩的學習壓力很大，所以我們這些父母和老人全部都爲孩子忙得團團轉。