跨文化學習讓世界更美好

四年前見到扎維薩克理查納（Thavisack Litsana）時，我正在老撾首都萬象的東明宮（Dongmieng temple）採風。扎維薩克出生在北方農村，後被當地一座寺院收留，當了修行僧。

老撾40%的人民生活在貧困線以下，每日僅靠約7元人民幣補貼度日。但即使在那樣的條件下，他也是一個充滿好奇心的小沙彌，能講英語，語速緩慢但語法正確。他憧憬着學習商業管理，而爲此則需“學習英語和計算機”。他還知道如何實現，說：“我四點起牀先做早課，再學習。每天早晨在化緣的路上通常背上10個新單詞，這樣英語技能就會突飛猛進了。”

有了這樣的專注，今日扎維薩克給我的郵件自然言語流暢，充滿了修習得來的'早慧。事實上，他的英語水平非常高，位列今春全球雅思考生第97名。介於此，扎維薩克獲得了每年分配給老撾學生的僅有的幾個美國大學交換項目名額。扎維薩克認爲，修行生活前三年與其他7名沙彌擠在一間房裏令他學會超越。“寺院經歷塑造了今日之我。”他說。
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Four years ago, I met Thavisack Litsana while I was taking photos at Dongmieng temple in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. He was a Buddhist monk-in-training in the care of a local monastery, having been born poor in the country’s northern farmlands. Forty percent of Laotians live below the poverty line, subsisting on around seven renminbi per day. Even back then Thavisack was a very curious young man who spoke English slowly, but well, for a boy of 16. Even though he was a “novice” monk, he wanted to study business administration, and to accomplish that he needed to "learn English and computers.” And he knew how to make that happen: “I would get up at four in the morning to pray and learn afterwards,” says Thavisack. “I often recited over ten new English words every morning when I walked to beg for alms. This way, I could improve my English skills very fast.”

Given such dedication, it’s not surprising that Thavisack’s emails to me today are eloquently phrased and full of early wisdom borne of a life of prayer and study. His English is so good, in fact, that this spring Thavisack took the IELTS exam and scored in the top 97th percentile of all test takers. That accomplishment earned him a spot in a university exchange program in the United States, one of only a handful given to Laotian students every year. Thavisack believes his austere life at the monastery where, for the first three years, he shared a room with seven other novices gave him the discipline to excel. “Entering the temple has shaped who I am today,” he says.