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编者按：本文作者Alan Paul是《吉他世界》(Guitar World)的高级编辑，同时也为美国篮球杂志《灌篮》(Slam)撰写文章。
An Expat's Exotica
I always understood that living in Beijing seemed pretty wild to most people back in the U.S. On visits home I had to make a conscious decision whether to exaggerate or downplay the exoticism.
我知道，绝大多数美国人觉得住在北京好像很刺激。回到美国后，我得有意识地做个决定，对在北京生活的这段日子，是说得夸张一点好呢，还是平淡一点好。
The truth is that in a big, rapidly developing Chinese city like Beijing or Shanghai it is possible to live a fairly cushy, Western-style life if you so choose. I was intrigued by expats living further off the beaten path.
真相是，在北京或上海这种快速发展的大城市里，只要你愿意，可以过上西方的那种舒适生活。然而，有些来中国的老外不落俗套的生活方式让我很感兴趣。
During my travels, I looked for little pockets of foreigners settling in China's remote corners. In Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei, I met Janie Corum and her husband Ralph, who have lived there for about six years. Ms. Corum estimates there are about 400 Americans and 4,000 resident foreigners in the city of 8.3 million, a ratio she finds attractive.
在中国各地旅行时，我喜欢去这个国家偏远角落的一些老外小圈子探寻一下。在湖北的省会城市武汉，我遇到詹妮•克伦姆(Janie Corum)和她的丈夫拉尔夫(Ralph)，两人已经在那里生活了六年左右。詹妮估计，在武汉这个人口830万的城市里，约有400个美国人和4,000个常驻外国人，这么小的占比对她来说很有吸引力。
'I wanted to be some place where there is a smaller foreign community because we really wanted to understand the local culture and have Chinese friends,' says Ms. Corum, 58. 'In Beijing or Shanghai it would be too easy to be with expats all the time.'
“我希望住在一个外国人群体较小的地方，因为我们真的想了解当地的文化，和中国人交朋友。”58岁的詹妮说，“而在北京和上海，很容易整天跟来中国的外国人混在一起。”
They had long wanted to live overseas and finally moved to Taiwan and began studying Chinese nine years ago, with a plan to eventually move to mainland China.
克伦姆夫妇一直都想在美国之外的地方生活，九年前终于迁往台湾，在那里开始学习中文，并计划最终搬到中国大陆居住。
