Thank you, good evening. My name is Pauline Lin. First I want to tell you...Of course I am an member of Chinese community in New York. But when Sarah Jones asked me "please come to TED, aye sir". First I don't know...you know, before 2 years ago, you would not find me in front of audiences or people, much less like this. Because I did not like to give speeches...Because I felt as an immigrant, I do not have good English skills for speaking, but then, I decided, just like Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger, I will try this anyway. My daughter wrote that she told me always start your speech with humor, but my background...I want to tell you story only briefly.
谢谢，各位晚上好。我的名字叫Pauline Lin. 首先我想告诉大家...当然，我是在纽约居住的华人中的一员，但是，当Sarah Jones问我：“来上TED演讲大会吧”时，刚开始我不知道该不该来...2年前，你绝对不会看到我在这么多的观众前演讲，我并不喜欢演讲，因为我感觉像我们这样的移民英语口语都不是很好。但是后来我还是决定要来了，就像阿诺州长一样，不管怎样，我要试一试（观众大笑）。我的女儿写信告诉我演讲时要有一个幽默的开场...至于我的背景，我想简短地跟大家讲个故事。
My husband and I, we brought our son and daughter here in the 1980s, to have the freedom we could not have in China at that time. We tried to teach our kids to be proud of their tradiction, but it's very hard, you know, as an immigrant, I would speak Chinese to them and they answer me back in English. They love rock music and pop culture, American culture. But when they have got older, the time comes for them to start think about getting married, that's when we are expecting them to realize a little bit more of their own culture. But that is where we have some problems.
我和我的丈夫在20世纪80年代的时候带着我的儿子和女儿来到这里，因为这里在当时要比中国来的自由。我们试着告诉我们的子女要以他们的传统文化为荣，但是很难。大家可能也知道，我们是移民，我们用中文和子女交流时，他们总是用英语来回答我们。他们喜欢摇滚乐与美国流行文化。但是当他们长大到要结婚的年龄的时候，我们打算让他们更多了解一点他们自己的文化，但是这也是难题所在。
My son, he said he's not ready to get married, and he has a sweetheart. But she is an American woman, not Chinese. It's nobody's bad. But I told him:"what's wrong with the Chinese women? " But I think he will change his mind soon.
我儿子告诉我他还没准备结婚，他有一个女朋友，但是是个美国女生，不是中国人。我也不怪任何人，但是我告诉他“中国女生有什么不好的？”。我觉得他很快就会改主意吧。
So then, I decided, instead, I would concentrate on my daughter. The daughter's marriage is very special to mom. But first she said she is not interested. She only want to spend time with her friends, and then I notice that she never came home, and she doesn't want me to come and visit, so I said what's wrong in this picture. So I accused my daughter to have a secret boyfriend, but she told me:" mom, you don't have to worried about boys, because I don't like them". And I said:" yes, men can be difficult, but all women have to get used to that." She said:" no, mom, I'm in, I don't like boys, I like girls, I'm a lesbian". So I always teach my kids to respect American ideas, but I told my daughter this is one exception. But she is not gay, she is just confused by this American problem. But she told me:" mom, it's not an American". She said she is in love with an nice Chinese girl. So these are the words I am waiting to hear, but from my son, not my daughter. But at first I did not know what to do, but then over time I have come to understand this is who she is.
所以呢，我决定更关心女儿，而不是儿子。毕竟女儿的婚事对于她的母亲来讲十分特别。但是刚开始的时候，她告诉我她（对结婚）不感兴趣，她只想和她的朋友们在一起。接着我开始注意到她从来不回家，而且也不想我去看她。所以我在想到底出了什么问题。我猜我的女儿有一个秘密的男友，但是她告诉我：“妈，你用不着担心男生的问题，因为我不喜欢他们。”然后我说：“是的，和男人相处会比较难，但是所有女人都要适应这点。”她说：“不是啦，妈，我不喜欢男的，我喜欢女的。”以前我常常教我的子女们要尊重美国的文化，但是我告诉我的女儿这肯定是个例外。但是她也不是同性恋，只是同样被这个美国式的问题所困扰。但是她告诉我：“妈，她不是美国人。”她说她和一个漂亮的中国女生恋爱了。没错，我是想听到这样的话，但是应该是从我儿子的嘴里说出来的，不是我女儿。刚开始的时候我有点无所适从，但是在过了一段时间之后我理解到她本性如此。
So even though sometime it's still hard, I would share with you. It helps me to realize society is more tolerant are usually because of place like this, because of ideas like this, and people like you with an open mind. So I think maybe TED, you impact people's lives in the ways maybe even you don't realized. So for my daughter's sake, I thank you for your ideas well spreading, thank you, xiexie.
所以尽管有时还是很难适应，但是我还是想和你们分享这个故事。它让我认识到这个社会之所以能变得越来越宽容，正是因为有美国这样的地方，有这样的想法，有像你们这样思想开放的人们。所以我觉得，TED演讲大会从很多不为人所察觉的方面影响着人们的生活。所以，为了我的女儿，我感谢你们普遍都有着包容的思想，谢谢。