My First Christmas in the U.S.A.

Tomorrow is Christmas and the occasion reminded me my very first Christmas in the U.S.A.

I was in, of all places, Toledo, Ohio, working on my master degree on civil and environmental engineering, and was invited by a Chinese Ph.D. candidate, and several other graduate students from China, to his home for the Christmas dinner, though none of us was a christian.

It was cold and the ground was covered by snow, as it should be in Christmas time. I cannot remember what we had for dinner - a combination affairs of Chinese and American staples, perhaps. I thing I do remember clearly was that the drink the hostess and her son fixed for us - grapefruit juice which had become my favorite ever since.

After the dinner, I left with a friend who had a car to give me a lift. He took a slight detour to show me the lights in a well-maintained neighborhood - in the brilliant darkness those lights were truly wonderful and as if they danced and sang.  At that moment, I understood Christmas, particularly for the people who live in dark and cold northern countries, when in the deepest darkness, these like bring hope and joy to people's hearts and glimmers of hope revealed.

My first Christmas in the U.S.A., actually, my first "observed" Christmas, was rather low key event but that evening was more endearing for its modesty and simplicity.

明天是聖誕節，这让我记起我在美國的第一個聖誕節。

我当时，于所有的地方，在俄亥俄州的托萊多，读我的土木及環境工程碩士學位。一个中國博士學位候選人邀請由我和其他幾個從中國的研究生到他家的吃聖誕餐，雖然沒有我們是基督徒。

那天很冷，地面上覆蓋著白雪，是聖誕節期間所應該的。我不記得我們吃的是什麼--一個中美組吧。我記得很清楚的是，女主人和她的兒子為我們准备的飲料的--柚子汁--這已成為我至今最喜歡的。

晚飯後，我的一位朋友开車送我一程。他稍微绕了一點以带我看良好居住区的燈盏- 在黑暗中,燈光輝煌精彩，好像在跳舞，唱歌。在那一刻，我明白了聖誕節，特別是对生活在黑暗和寒冷的北方國家的人，在最深的黑暗中，這些灯火像给人們的心靈帶來希望和快樂，和希望的曙光。

我的在美國的第一個聖誕節，其實，我的第一個 "庆祝的" 聖誕節，是相當低调，但那天晚上的謙小和簡朴却让它更温馨。


Winter Flowers © Matthew Felix Sun

Hardcover and Paperback - 精装本和平装本

Books published in the US are generally published in hardcover first and come out in paperback a year or so later.

This practice might have made sense in the past, but with the advance of digital books, the two-tiered marketing should change. In the past, if high prices of hardcovers made readers wait patiently for a cheaper version, now they might opt for digital books immediately ... which is likely to make publishers of paper books obsolete -- or will at least put them in the same perilous position as companies that publish music CDs.

The book market in China might serve as a better model. Books are generally published there only in paperback. Sometimes publishers simultaneously release a slightly more expensive versions of books with laminated covers. Or they only publish laminated versions. On very special occasions, publishers present hardcover or cloth-bound editions as collectibles.

This approach can reduce overall publishing costs and also eliminates an unnecessary wait for readers who don't want to pay hardcover prices. As for authors' compensation, I am confident that arrangements can be found to ensure the profitability for the publisher and fair payment to authors.

The very high expense of text books in the United States troubles me too. Text books are very printed cheaply in China and don't cost much to own. It's time for us to learn a thing or two from China.

在美国出版的书籍一般都是先发行精装版，一年多后，平装版才出来。

这种做法也许在过去是合适的，但随着数字图书的发展，这种两级图书市场现象应该改变。在过去，如果高价的精装书使读者耐心等待更便宜的版本，现在他们可能马上转向数字图书，这可能最后使纸书出版商被淘汰，或者至少处于和唱片公司同样的危险境地。

相反，中国图书市场可以作为一个典范。那里，书籍一般以平装本发行，有时，会有稍微贵一些塑料压膜版同时发行。或者只发行压膜版。在非常特殊的情况下，会有精装本的或布面版本作为收藏品出版。

这个方式可以降低总成本，减少不想付精装本高价的读者们许多不必要的等待。至于作者的报偿，我相信可以找到一个新的方式，可确保出版商的盈利和对作者的公平稿酬。

超贵的美国的教科书费用也一直困扰着我。在中国，教科书是用非常便宜纸张印刷的，不会花很多钱来买。现在是我们从中国学一、两样东西的时候。


Young Man, Book and Flowers / 青年，圖書和花卉 © Matthew Felix Sun