“A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near” ——The real friendship between two eighties gentleman
拉脱维亚大学孔子学院80岁的外方院长贝德高教授最近收到了一封遥远的信件，寄信者是一位远在中国四川省绵阳市84岁的郑洪勋先生，郑先生在信中真诚的写到“请教我拉脱维亚语！”两位相隔万里且素未谋面的老先生，却因为一封诚意真切的手写信将距离拉近，将情谊延长。
这封背面贴满了邮票沉甸甸的手写信，为我们讲述了一段动人的往事。1957年4月，22岁的郑先生买到了一本中译本的苏联小说《走向新岸》，书中描写的是一家拉脱维亚人的生活，他读后深受感动，自此他便萌生了学习拉脱维亚语的念头，便开始长期自学包括拉语在内的波罗的海三国语言，但是却一直苦于没有合适的教科书。时隔62年后，84岁的郑先生买到了贝德高教授创作的《汉语拉脱维亚语大词典》，他高兴地把它作为学习拉脱维亚语文的第一本正式“教科书”。在阅读了后记之后，他得知了贝教授是著名的汉学家，同时也是拉脱维亚大学孔子学院的拉方院长，他十分激动，于是用拉语认真抄写了词典的后记，并写下了这一封情深意切的信件。在信中，他首先表达了对贝教授真挚的感谢，感谢他多年潜心研究汉语并辛苦撰写词典。他真心希望贝教授能够收下他这个“老学生”，帮助他学习拉语。他在信中写到“孔子学院在许多国家开设了，这是一件大好事。第一，有利于外国朋友学习汉语；第二，也有利于中国人学习各国的语文；第三，有利于相互了解，促进友谊，友好发展，更有利于世界和平！”他还说：“您在努力学习汉语，我也要努力学习拉脱维亚语文，我也要把拉脱维亚语文学的很好。”遒劲流畅的笔触娓娓道来，真挚动人的情感流淌于字里行间，表达了一位真心求学的老先生对知识的追求、对文化的尊重以及对文明的憧憬、对和平的向往。贝德高教授在阅读信件后十分感动，不仅感动于郑先生对自己的文化成果的肯定，也感动于有这样一位知己，同样对遥远国度的文化和语言有如此深厚的兴趣和学习的韧劲。当得知了这个感人的故事，人们纷纷留言：“这真是‘活到老，学到老’的典范！这种学习精神令人感动！”“这是一个讲述文明交流互鉴的中国好故事！”“这可真是中拉文化交流的佳话啊！”无不表达了对二位老先生的敬佩与祝福。
虽已是仗朝之年，却不改老骥伏枥之心；纵不复青春年华，仍不移壮心不已之志。在浮躁的现代社会，如此潜心向学、学无止境的学习精神和惺惺相惜的神交情谊如同一股清流，滋润人心。正如诗句所言：“海内存知己，天涯若比邻”，两位老先生终身学习的故事带给我们的不仅是无尽的感动，也给予了我们精神上的启迪。
Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia who is 80-year-old now, recently received a distant letter from Mr. Zheng Hongxun of age 84, who is far away from Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, China. Mr. Zheng wrote sincerely in the letter: “Please be my Latvian teacher!” The two aged gentlemen who had never met before, because of this sincere handwritten letter, brought the distance closer and extended the friendship.
This handwritten letter which full of stamps on the back, telling us a moving story. In April 1957, 22-year-old Mr. Zheng bought a former Soviet Union book in Chinese translation called”Towards New Shore”, which described the life of a Latvian family. He was deeply touched after reading this book. Then he began to self-study the three languages of the Baltic language, including Latvian, but one problem is the lack of suitable textbooks. After 62 years, 84-year-old Mr. Zheng bought the “Chinese-Latvian Dictionary” which is written by Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs, he was very pleased to use it as the first official “textbook” to learn Latvian language. After reading the postscript, he learned that Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs was a famous sinologist and also the directer of the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia. He was very excited, so he carefully copied the postscript of the dictionary and wrote a letter to Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs. In the letter, he first expressed his gratitude to Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs, and thanked him for his painstaking research in Chinese and his hard work in writing “Chinese-Latvian Dictionary”. He sincerely hopes that Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs could accept him as a student and help him to learn Latvian. In his letter, he wrote that “The Confucius Institute has been established in many countries. This is really a good thing:First, it is good for foreign friends to learn Chinese. Second, it is also beneficial for Chinese people to learn the language of other countries. Third, it is beneficial to Mutual understanding, friendship between different countries as well as the peace of the world!” He also said: “You are trying to learn Chinese, I have to work hard to learn Latvian language, and I want to learn Latvian language very well.” The true emotions flow between the lines, expressing the pursuit of knowledge, respect for culture, the aspirations for civilization and the yearning for peace. Prof. Pēteris Pildegovičs was very moved after reading the letter. He was not only moved by Mr. Zheng’s affirmation of his cultural achievements, but also moved to have such a confidant just like himself, with such deep interest in the culture and language of distant countries. When heard this touching story, people wrote something for this two aged gentleman: “This is really a model of ‘ It is never too old to learn’! This kind of learning spirit is so moving!” “This is a good story about China’s civilization exchanges and mutual learning.” “This is really a good story of China-Latvia cultural exchanges!” All expressed their admiration and blessing to this two gentleman.
In the impetuous modern society, this endless learning spirit and the real friendship between this two gentleman are something we should learn,just like a stream, to nourish the hearts of the people. As the verse says: ” A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near “, the story of lifelong learning of the two aged gentleman brings us not only endless touching, but also our spiritual enlightenment.
