I'm lucky enough to have been sent on a reporting trip last week to the beautiful country of Uganda, in central Africa. My China Daily colleague, Xiao Xiangyi, and I have been able to see some of the dams, farms, and industrial parks being built by Chinese companies and entrepreneurs.
我有幸于上周被派往非洲中部美麗的烏干達進行報道。《中國日報》的同事肖湘怡和我在此見到了一些中國的公司和企業(yè)家正在建造的大壩、農(nóng)場和工業(yè)園區(qū)。

While driving back from the almost completed Isimba dam on the Nile River in the eastern part of the country, I saw a large crowd of people holding what looked like an outdoor festival in a village. Thinking I would just take a few photos, I asked the driver to stop.
當(dāng)我們驅(qū)車從該國東部尼羅河上幾近完工的伊辛巴水電站返回時，我看到一大群人似乎在村子里舉行戶外慶?；顒?。我想拍幾張照片，便請司機停車。

As I got closer, I could see that a Roman Catholic priest was holding an open-air mass, as lines of people waited for communion. I was surrounded by the incredibly beautiful African singing.
走近時，我看到一位天主教神父正在舉行露天彌撒，人們排隊等待圣餐，而我置身于非洲的美妙歌聲之中。

A man named Daniel, who is a teacher in the local school, explained to me that this was the funeral of an elder of the village. He invited Xiangyi and me to join in. Everyone else there was so warm and welcoming to two strangers who had just crashed a funeral. We met the ladies of the village gathered together preparing food for a festival and visit by the local bishop, scheduled for the next day. We were invited to have lunch with the priest.
一位名叫丹尼爾的男子是當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)校的教師，他向我解釋說，這是村里一位老人的葬禮。他邀請我和湘怡同去。對我們這兩個闖入葬禮的陌生人，其他人表現(xiàn)得十分熱情好客。我們看到村里的女人聚在一起，為明天的慶?；顒雍彤?dāng)?shù)刂鹘痰牡皆L準備食物。我們受邀和神父共進午飯。

After the service, the whole village joined in procession through some woods and fields to the burial place of the obviously much loved and respected elder. The whole time, we were enveloped by that other-worldly singing — so beautiful that I teared up.
儀式過后，全村的人結(jié)隊穿過幾片樹林和田野，前往這位顯然深受愛戴和尊敬的長者的墓地。這期間，我們身邊環(huán)繞著超凡脫俗的歌聲，美到讓我落淚。

Busana village is poor, even by Ugandan standards. It has no electricity and no running water. It does not even have a well or a reliable nearby source of clean water. Life is hard there. But, the people do have neighborliness, a feeling of brotherhood, which we seldom see in modern society.
即使按照烏干達的一般生活水平，布薩納村也十分貧窮。這里沒有電也沒有自來水，甚至沒有一口水井，或是一處可靠方便的干凈水源。這里的生活很艱苦，但是，這里的人和睦友善，有一種兄弟情誼，這是我們在現(xiàn)代社會很少見到的。

Uganda reminds me very strongly of the southeastern part of the US when I was in elementary school, in the 1960s. It's not just that the landscape is similar — though it does look remarkably like north Florida, and the southern parts of Alabama and Georgia. If I didn't know where I was, I could easily be tricked into believing that I was driving down an old two-land highway in north Florida, not in central Africa.
烏干達這個國家讓我回憶起上世紀60年代我上小學(xué)時的美國東南部。盡管烏干達看起來非常像北佛羅里達州、阿拉巴馬州和喬治亞州的南部，但它們不僅僅是風(fēng)景相似。如果我不知道自己所處何處，我甚至以為自己就在佛羅里達州北部沿著一條古老的雙車道高速路行駛，而不是在非洲中部。

More importantly, Ugandan culture seems very similar to Southern US culture, both white and black, from 60 years ago. I remember going to Sunday "dinners on the ground", where everyone gathered to cook and eat and talk for hours. Sometimes, I hated it as a child — I remember just wanting to go home — but I can now see the importance of such gatherings for a community. I'm not sure whether people still do this in the US, but my visit to the Ugandan village brought back many memories of my childhood.
更重要的是，烏干達文化似乎和60年前的美國南部的白人文化和黑人文化都非常相似。我記得曾參加周日的“戶外聚餐”，所有人都聚在一起做飯、吃飯、聊上幾個小時。我兒時曾討厭這個活動，我記得自己只想回家。但現(xiàn)在我能感受到這種聚會對于一個社區(qū)的重要性。我不確定在美國是否還有人這樣做，但這次到訪烏干達的村莊讓我回想起許多童年的記憶。

In many material and social ways, there have been big improvements in the US since the 1960s. When I was a young child, few people had air-conditioning, TV was black & white with two channels, and, of course, computers were unheard of. Black people were discriminated against in horrible ways at that time.
從二十世紀六十年代起，美國在物質(zhì)和社會方面都有了很大的進步。當(dāng)我還是個孩子的時候，幾乎沒有人有空調(diào)，電視是黑白的，僅有兩個頻道，當(dāng)然，人們還沒聽說過電腦。那時，黑人受到可怕的歧視。

But, in other ways, the culture has deteriorated.
但是，其他方面的文化已經(jīng)退步。

The Amish are a religious group, mostly farmers in Pennsylvania and the Midwest states, who don't use modern technology. You can see their well-kept, productive farms if you visit the area around Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For a long-time, I had a hard time understanding their rules. They will not own a car, but they are sometimes willing to ride in one. They don't own telephones, but they will borrow a neighbor's in an emergency. Some Amish communities allow their members to ride bicycles, others forbid it.
阿米什是一個宗教團體，成員主要是賓夕法尼亞和中西部州中那些不使用現(xiàn)代技術(shù)的農(nóng)民。如果你參觀賓夕法尼亞蘭開斯特地區(qū)，你可以看到管理良好的高產(chǎn)農(nóng)場。很長一段時間，我都很難理解他們的規(guī)則。他們沒有車，但他們有時愿意乘坐一輛車。他們沒有電話，但他們會在緊急情況下借用鄰居的電話。一些阿米什社區(qū)允許他們的成員騎自行車，其他社區(qū)禁止騎自行車。

It turns out that the logic of Amish rules is that they prohibit any technology that lessens the connectedness of the community. For example, they forbid car ownership, because all members of the community need to live close enough to help each other.
事實證明，阿米什規(guī)則的邏輯是，他們禁止任何減少社區(qū)連通性的技術(shù)。例如，他們禁止擁有汽車，因為社區(qū)的所有成員都需要住得很近才能互相幫助。

Ugandan culture is far from perfect. I'm told that there is a lot of violence and high rates of deadbeat fathers. But, everyone who visits here comments on the warmth and honesty of the Ugandan people.
烏干達文化遠非完美。我聽說這里有很多暴力問題和高比例的不負責(zé)任的父親。但是，所有來過此地的人都說烏干達人民熱情誠實。

Modern technology has brought lots of benefits. But, my visit to the "dinner on the ground" in a Ugandan village reminds me that we have lost something important, too.
現(xiàn)代技術(shù)帶來了許多好處。但是，這次來到烏干達的村莊參加“戶外聚餐”提醒我，我們也失去了一些重要的東西。

翻譯：房宇馨（實習(xí)）
編審：董靜 丹妮
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About author and broadcaster

David Blair writes for the international weekly editions of China Daily.