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xucyuan
China
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Dear Joy, Thank you for your mail. In regard to driving license, I believe it can be tough trying to pass driving license examination in Europe and North America, but it will be a lot easier to actually drive on road in Europe and America, because the drivers and people at large in those countries behave more careffuly and more keenly observe traffic regulations, and the roads there are generally in better conditions. According to my experience driving in Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand, if you ever had such experience roaming on road and end up survived in Thailand, you can drive anywhere in the world, with no problem. Beijing's traffic at present is sort of comparable with that in Bangkok now, but you have to imagine, with everything in place, you have to add 50% more passengers on pavement and several hundred thousand bicycle riders on roads. No wonder my friends coming back from Europe or America dare not to drive a car in Beijing or other large cities in China. It indeed requires a lot more than normal driving knowledge and experience to stay on road and survive here. For the career development, I think it is a matter same as academic study. You cannot expect real good result without a keen interest in that particular aspect. Same as the case as my English study. When I compared the essential elements in securing some achievement in English study with my daughter, the result of the comparison are all in my daughter's favor: When I studied English, i have no textbook, nor did I afford to buy good dictionary, let alone tape recorder, MP3, T.V., English soundtrack films, English books or magazines, newspaper, etc. I had none of those things, while all these things are taken for granted in my daughter's generation. But I was able to receive the highest academic degree in English study in China – the senior translator's and interpreter's certificate issued by the Secretariat of the United Nations, which means a greenlight to get a translator's or simultaneous interpreter's job in all duty stations of the United Nations in the world. But alas, with all the favorable academic conditions available, my daugher, and her generation at large in general sense, still fail to come up to the same academic height in which I had ever succeeded some 20 years ago. I thought of the reasons for this situation, my conclusion is: 1. Interest, you have to have an intense interest in a thing before you have a chance to be successful in that matter; 2. hard work, no other things can replace hard work towards success, there is virtually no short cut in this matter. And whether a person is intelligent or less gifted, there is no much difference if it comes to English study, a hard-wlring retarded person will end up a better and more efficient student than an intelligent but lazy person in this academic world, very much like what the story of Tortoise and Rabbit in Race had portrayed. It is perhaps too long for a letter, so I end up now and hopefully have your reply when you have time. Sam
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