廣場舞引入外援! 美國退休教師'中毒太深'

There are about 100 million middle-aged women dancing in parks and on squares in China, and Debrah Roundy, a retired U.S. school teacher, is one of them.

在中國的公園裏、廣場上，約有1億中年婦女在跳廣場舞，而美國退休教師德布拉·羅迪就是其中一員。

Mrs. Roundy is the only foreigner on the Shanghai dance team at Tongji University, where she is currently teaching English.

羅迪是同濟大學（她目前在該校教英語）上海舞蹈隊中唯一一名外國人。

Mrs. Roundy stumbled upon a dozen or so middle-aged women dancing to the tunes of Chinese songs in 2012. At the time, she felt unaccustomed to the new environment and wanted to have some fun in her life. She was invited to join the dancing team.

2012年的時候，羅迪偶然發現十幾個中年婦女在中文歌曲的伴奏下跳舞。當時她對新環境還不太熟悉，想找一點兒樂趣。後來她便被邀請加入了該舞蹈隊。

At first, Mrs. Roundy communicated with her teammates by exchanging notes or by asking her Chinese students to help translate for her. Now she uses a translation app on her iPad.

最開始，羅迪通過交換筆記、請自己的學生幫忙翻譯的辦法和舞蹈隊的隊員們交流。而現在她用的是自己iPad裏的翻譯軟件。

Language is not the most difficult thing for her, masting Chinese dance is. Mrs. Roundy used to do ballet. She said dancers in the U.S. always dance facing the audience. But in China, they change directions all the time, and it was very confusing for her at first.

對她來說語言並不是最困難的事情，掌握中國的舞蹈纔是。羅迪曾經跳過芭蕾，她表示，美國的舞者總是面向觀衆表演，但是在中國，人們總是在改變方向，剛開始這讓她非常困惑。

After day-to-day learning from her teammates and lots of practice, Mrs. Roundy is now confident enough to dance in the middle of the team, and she sometimes shows them American dance steps.

在和隊友們日復一日的學習、以及自己的大量練習之後，羅迪現在已經擁有了足夠的信心在隊伍中間跳舞，而她有時還會展示自己的美國舞步。

Square dancing opens a window for her to understand China, Mrs. Roundy said. Besides dancing, she and her husband have been active in community life, teaching English, and helping elderly neighbors.

羅迪稱，廣場舞爲她打開了一扇瞭解中國的窗戶。除了跳舞以外，她和丈夫也一直積極參與社區生活、教英語、幫助年老的鄰居。