Campers Seek Immersion in U.S.
亞洲富家子女前進紐約夏令營
By Kyle Spencer

After hours spent performing cartwheels, American show tunes and jazzy dance routines in a cramped studio in Manhattan, 8-year-old Futaba Kawakami left TADA Youth Theater camp clammy and slightly hoarse. She pulled off her new camp T-shirt and marshaled enough energy to ask her mother for ice cream.
八歲的川上雙葉在曼哈坦一個擁擠的練習室裡，歷經幾小時的側空翻、學美國節目說話腔調、練習爵士舞步後，離開TADA兒童戲劇營，她渾身黏答答的，聲音有點沙啞。她把身上那件新的營隊T恤脫下來，提起精神要求媽媽讓她吃冰淇淋。

Then Futaba and her mother, Keiko, piled into a cab that whizzed them to a short-term luxury rental apartment behind the Plaza hotel. That’s where the Kawakamis, who are Japanese and live in Tokyo, were staying so that Futaba could experience what many city children take for granted: day camp.
接著雙葉和媽媽惠子擠進計程車，車子把她們母女載到廣場旅館後方一棟豪華的短租公寓。這對來自東京的日本母女下榻於此，好讓雙葉體驗許多紐約市兒童視為稀鬆平常的短期日間夏令營。

Camp directors say the children of well-off families from Beijing, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo now annually descend upon the city’s acting studios, sports centers, science labs and swimming pools in what has become, for those who can afford it, an international rite of passage.
營隊主管說，如今有許多來自北京、首爾、台北及東京的富家孩童，每年都蒞臨紐約市的表演工作室、運動中心、科學實驗室及游泳池，對那些負擔得起的人來說，這種營隊已成為他們見識國際世面的必經儀式。

Ten years ago, Cari Kosins, the camp director at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, rarely got so much as an email from abroad. This year, nine campers and their families have flown in from Bali, China, Japan and Singapore to take part in spy school, jewelry-making workshops, rock band sessions and soccer tutorials.
小紅學舍及伊麗沙白艾爾溫高中的營隊主管佳莉．柯辛斯說，10年前，他們很少收到來自國外的詢問電郵。今年，有9個學員與家人從印尼峇里島、中國大陸、日本和新加坡搭機前來，參加間諜學校、珠寶首飾製作工坊、搖滾樂團課程及足球個別指導。

“Families come and then they fly home, and tell their friends back home,” she said. “It’s not unusual for us to get several families from the same city or school.”
她說：「這些家庭來到此地，然後搭機返鄉，且告訴家鄉的親友。我們經常接待同一城市或同一學校的好幾個家庭。」

New York’s wealthiest families don’t usually send their children to day camp in the city, preferring instead to pack them off to summer-long sleep-away camps in Maine or the Adirondacks. More often, city camps cater to youngsters with two working parents, neither of whom can afford to take the summer off and who need a way to keep their children occupied. Well-to-do families from overseas, however, see day camp in New York as a coveted opportunity.
紐約市最有錢的人家通常不把孩子送來市內這種短期夏令營，他們比較喜歡把孩子送到緬因州或紐約州阿迪朗達克山，參加時間長達兩個月、需外宿的夏令營。更常見的情況是，市區營隊迎合的是雙薪家庭的小小孩，父母兩人都經不起整個暑假不工作，所以得想辦法讓孩子有事做。來自國外的有錢家庭則視紐約市的夏令營為難得的機會。

Futaba said that attending day camp in New York is a must-do for children from her set. “It’s kind of the really cool thing,” she said in near-perfect English.
雙葉說，像她這樣出身的孩童，參加紐約市的夏令營是一定要的，她以幾近完美的英語說：「這可以說是非常酷的事。」

“We do not have these kinds of opportunities in Japan,” Ms. Kawakami said. “We have music and dance camps. We don’t have variety.”
川上女士說：「日本沒有這種機會，我們有音樂營和舞蹈營，但我們沒有綜合營隊。」

Last summer, Grace Leng, an education consultant, accompanied 15 students, ages 7 to 12 to the United States from China for seven days. The children of technology executives, hoteliers and manufacturing magnates, they spent their mornings at Robofun designing electronic cars and robotic monsters.
去年夏天，教育顧問葛瑞絲．冷（譯音）陪伴15名7到12歲的學生從大陸來美國待了7天。那些孩子的家長是科技公司主管、旅館老闆及製造業大亨，孩子們每天早上都待在「趣味機器人工作坊」，設計電動車及機器怪物。

Other Asian children, like the half-dozen or so teenagers from China and Japan who last year attended CampusNYC, a two-week culinary camp, come without adult chaperones. Staying in a dormitory, they filled their days making blanquette de veau, Philly cheesesteaks and flourless ginger-chocolate cake and their weekends with city food tours.
另有些亞洲孩子，像去年從大陸和日本前來參加「紐約市校園」兩周烹飪營的大約六名青少年，則是沒有成年監護人員同行。他們住在宿舍裡，平日做白醬燉小牛肉、起司鐵板牛排堡、無麵粉薑心巧克力蛋榚，周末則參加市內各種美食觀光行程。

Most campers come with at least one parent, and stay in luxury rentals. Add airfare, camp tuition, spending money and the cost of supplies, and many families can end up spend more than $15,000 per child, according to Evelyn Sinae Jang, an education consultant from Seoul. Graphic novel camp for 10-year-olds at Curious Jane, for example, costs $585 a week. A two-week iD Tech programming camp can cost close to $3,000.
多數來紐約參加夏令營的孩子至少有一名家長陪同，住在豪華出租公寓。首爾教育顧問姜申愛（譯音）說，機票、營隊學費、零花及材料費加在一起，許多家庭花在一個孩子身上的費用會超過1萬5000美元（約台幣45萬元）。例如，一名10歲孩童若參加「好奇珍」圖像小說營，每周學費585美元（約台幣1萬7550元），為期二周的iD Tech程式設計營，近3000美元（約台幣9萬元）。

Douglas Murphy, who runs CampusNYC, said last year’s international campers came armed with their parents’ credit cards, and used them to spend hundreds of dollars on jewelry. One teenager spent $800 at a makeup store.
主辦「紐約市校園」營隊的墨菲說，去年該營隊的國際學員帶著家長的信用卡前來，且在珠寶首飾上花了數百美元，其中一名青少年在某家化妝品店花了800美元（約台幣2萬4000元）。

But most parents said they were sending their children to New York camp for something money can’t buy: ease with American culture.
但多數家長說，把孩子送去紐約市參加夏令營，為的是錢買不到的東西：自在面對美國文化。

One mother, Zou Lifen, said the family wanted her 5-year-old son, Cao Zilin, to learn English, and familiarize himself with American ways by attending Pierce Country Day Camp, in Roslyn, New York. The hope is that he will attend high school and university in America.
學員母親周麗芬（譯音）說，家族希望她的五歲兒子曹子林（譯音）參加在紐約州羅斯林舉辦的皮爾斯鄉村夏令營，藉此學英文且熟悉美國人的行事方式。他們希望曹子林未來能在美國上高中及大學。

At camp, Tony, as he was being called, dived for rings in one of the camp’s seven pools, played basketball, decorated pancakes and made a necklace with his name on it during arts and crafts.
在營隊中大家稱曹子林湯姆，他會潛到七個泳池中一個的池底找戒指，還會打籃球、裝飾鬆餅，藝術及手工藝活動中還做了條上頭有自己名字的項鍊。

During the first days of camp, after he had disembarked from the bus and was back at the family’s rented house, Cao asked his mother what “follow me,” a phrase often repeated at camp, meant. He also wanted to know how to say “cookie,” because they were abundance at the camp, he told her.
營隊頭幾天，曹子林放學搭巴士返回租處時，都問媽媽，「follow me」（跟著我）是什麼意思，那是營隊中經常重複的詞。他告訴媽媽，他還想知道如何以英文說「餅乾」，因為營隊裡有許多餅乾。

Ms. Kawakami said she also wanted Futaba to be able to express herself more fully.
川上女士說，她也希望女兒雙葉能夠更完整地表達自我。

“At home, she can be in her shell,” Ms. Kawakami said. “But she comes out of it when she is in New York. I want her to be confident like that all the time.”
川上女士說：「女兒在日本時，會躲避人群。但當她在紐約時，就不那麼害羞，我希望她時時刻刻都那麼有自信。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/nyregion/asian-families-travel-a-long-way-for-summer-camp.html

2014-09-02聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 馮克芸譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版右