6.The Green Banana(967)

Passage Six

This text comes from a book called "Beyond Experience: An Experimental Approach to Cross-Cultural Education" by Donald Batchelder and Elizabeth G. Warner, published in 1974. It tells a story about seeing what might happen in the future.

这篇文章摘自一本名为《超越经验:跨文化教育的实验方法》的书，作者是唐纳德·巴切尔德和伊丽莎白·G·沃纳，出版于1974年。它讲述了一个关于看到未来可能发生什么的故事。

The Green Banana

Donald Bechelder

【1】Although it might have happened anywhere, my encounter with the green banana started on a steep mountain road in the central area of Brazil, My ancient jeep was straining up through beautiful countryside when the radiator began to leak, and I was ten miles from the nearest mechanic.

【2】The over-heated engine forced me to stop at the next village, which consisted of a small store and a few houses that were scattered here and there. People came over to look, They could see three fine streams of hot water spouting from holes in the jacket of the radiator. “That's easy to fix," a man said, He sent a boy running for some green bananas. He patted me on the shoulder, assuring me that everything would work out, “Green bananas," he smiled. Everyone agreed.

【3】We chattered casually while all the time I was wondering what they could possibly do to my radiator with their green bananas. I did not ask them, though, as that would show my ignorance, so I talked about the beauty of the land that lay before our eyes. Huge rock formations, like Sugar Loaf in Rio, rose up all round us. “Do you see that tall one right over there?” asked the man, pointing to a particularly tall, slender pinnacle of dark rock.“That rock marks the center of the world.”

【4】I looked to see if he was teasing me, but his face was serious. He, in turn, inspected me carefully, as if to make sure I grasped the significance of his statement. The occasion called for some show of recognition on my part. “The center of the world?” I repeated, trying to show interest if not complete acceptance. He nodded. “The absolute center.Everyone around here knows it.”

【5】At that moment the boy returned with an armful of green bananas. The man cut one in half and pressed the cut end against the radiator jacket, The banana melted into a glue against the hot metal, stopping the leaks instantly. I was so astonished at this that I must have looked rather foolish and everyone laughed. They then refilled my radiator and gave me extra bananas to take along in case my radiator should give me trouble again.

【6】An hour later, after using the green banana once more, my radiator and I reached our destination.The local mechanic smiled. “Who taught you about the green banana?” I gave him the name of the village. “Did they show you the rock marking the center of the world?” he asked, I assured him they had. “My grandfather came from there,” he said. “The exact center, Everyone around here has always known about it.”

【7】As a product of American education, I had never paid the slightest attention to the green banana, except to regard it as a fruit whose time had not yet come. Suddenly, on that mountain road, its time had come to meet my need. But as I reflected on it further, I realized that the green banana had been there all along. Its time reached back to the very origins of the banana.

【8】The people in that village had known about it for years. It was my own time that had not come, all in relation to it. I came to appreciate the special genius of those people, and the special potential of the green banana. I had been wondering for some time about what educators like to call “'learning moments”, and I now knew I had just experienced two of them at once.

【9】It took me a little longer to fully grasp the importance of the rock which the villagers believed marked the center of the world. I had at first doubted their claim, as I knew for a fact that the center was located somewhere else in New England. After all, my grandfather had come from there.

【10】But gradually I realized the village people had a very reasonable belief and I agreed with them. We all tend to regard as the center that special place where we are known, where we know others, where things mean much to us, and where we ourselves have both identity and meaning: family, school, town and local region could all be our center of the world.

【11】The lesson which gradually dawned on me was actually very simple. Every place has special meanings for the people in it, and in a certain sense every place represents the center of the world. The world has numerous such centers, and no one student or traveler can experience all of them, But once a conscious breakthrough to a second center is made, a life-long perspective and collection can begin.

【12】The cultures of the world are full of unexpected green bananas with special value and meaning. They have been there for ages, ripening slowly, perhaps waiting patiently for people to come along to encounter them. In fact, a green banana is waiting for all of us if we would leave our own centers of the world in order to experience other places.

第六课

绿香蕉

【1】尽管在任何地方都有可能发生，但我与绿香蕉的邂逅却是在巴西中部一条陡峭的山路上开始的。我那辆古老的吉普车正艰难地穿过美丽的乡村，这时散热器开始漏水，而我离最近的机械师有10英里远。

【2】过热的发动机迫使我在下一个村子停了下来，村子里有一家小商店和几所分散在各处的房子。人们过来看，他们可以看到三股细细的热水从散热器外壳的洞里喷出来。“这很容易解决，”一个男人说，他让一个男孩跑去买一些绿香蕉。他拍了拍我的肩膀，向我保证一切都会顺利进行，“绿色香蕉，”他笑着说。每个人都同意了。

【3】我们闲聊着，而我一直在想，他们的绿香蕉会对我的暖气片做什么。不过，我没有问他们，因为那样会显得我无知，所以我谈论了展现在我们眼前的美丽的土地。巨大的岩层，就像里约热内卢中的糖面包，在我们周围升起。“你看到那边那个高个子了吗?”那人指着一块特别高、特别细的黑色岩石尖顶问道。“那块岩石标志着世界的中心。”

【4】我看了看他是不是在戏弄我，但他的脸色很严肃。反过来，他仔细地打量着我，似乎要确保我理解了他这句话的意义。这个场合需要我表示一下认可。“世界的中心?”我重复了一遍，试图表现出兴趣，即使不是完全接受。他点了点头。“绝对的中心。这里的每个人都知道。”

【5】就在这时，男孩抱着一抱青香蕉回来了。这个人把香蕉切成两半，把切好的一端压在散热器的外壳上。香蕉在热金属的作用下融化成胶水，立即堵住了泄漏。我非常惊讶，我一定看起来很傻，大家都笑了。然后他们给我的暖气片加满水，并给了我额外的香蕉，以防我的暖气片再次出问题。

【6】一个小时后，在再次使用绿香蕉后，我和散热器到达了目的地。当地的机械师笑了。“谁教你用绿香蕉的?”我告诉了他那个村庄的名字。“他们给你看了标志着世界中心的岩石吗?”他问，我向他保证说他们有。“我祖父就是那里的人，”他说。“确切的中心，这里的每个人都知道它。”

【7】作为美国教育的产物，我从来没有对绿香蕉有过丝毫的关注，只是把它当作一种尚未成熟的水果。突然，在那条山路上，我觉得是时候满足我的需要了。但当我进一步思考时，我意识到绿香蕉一直都在那里。它的历史可以追溯到香蕉的起源。

【8】那个村子的人多年前就知道这件事了。这是我自己的时代还没有到来，一切都与它有关。我开始欣赏这些人的特殊天赋，以及绿香蕉的特殊潜力。一段时间以来，我一直在思考教育家们喜欢称之为“学习时刻”的东西，现在我知道我刚刚同时经历了两个这样的时刻。

【9】我花了稍长的时间才完全理解那块岩石的重要性，村民们认为它标志着世界的中心。起初我对他们的说法表示怀疑，因为我知道这个中心位于新英格兰的某个地方。毕竟，我的祖父就是来自那里。

【10】但渐渐地，我意识到村里的人有一个非常合理的信念，我同意他们的看法。我们都倾向于把一个特殊的地方视为中心，在那里我们被认识，我们认识其他人，在那里事情对我们很重要，在那里我们自己既有身份又有意义:家庭、学校、城镇和当地地区都可以成为我们的世界中心。

【11】我渐渐明白的道理其实很简单。每一个地方对住在那里的人来说都有特殊的意义，从某种意义上说，每一个地方都代表着世界的中心。世界上有许多这样的中心，没有一个学生或旅行者可以体验到所有的中心，但是一旦有意识地突破到第二个中心，一生的展望和收集就可以开始了。

【12】世界的文化中充满了意想不到的具有特殊价值和意义的绿色香蕉。它们已经在那里很久了，慢慢成熟，也许在耐心地等待着人们来与它们相遇。事实上，如果我们愿意离开自己的世界中心，去体验其他地方，一根绿香蕉正等着我们所有人。