新华社驻华记者塔玛拉，在今年2月，应邀作为“全国小记者大赛”的评委和颁奖嘉宾，期间与小记者们的互动，给她留下了深刻的印象，这是她在北京周报上发表的一篇英文文章，以下是翻译的大致内容：

        今年冬天，我有幸被邀请参加“全国十佳、百优小记者大赛”活动，我是四位评委里面唯一的一位外国人。活动分上午和下午两场进行，共有来自全国各地的同学们150多人。

        来自宁波、无锡、上海、北京、天津等城市的同学们分别上台展示，他们的展示中包含了许多各种传统的中国戏剧和国际元素，还有蒙古和拉丁美洲舞蹈。

        一个男孩伴着PPT，进行了简单的介绍，关于他的科学喜好和将来的理想。每个孩子都有两分钟的时间来表演，其中绝大多数孩子都记得自己的台词，很少有错误出现。

          同学们对我很好奇，想和我一起拍照。他们叫我“阿姨”，用他们的背心、笔记本拿来让我签名，我感觉我像电影明星！

        来自宁波的同学们，送给我一条红围巾，一位小男孩（韩骐宇）给我一张自己创作的美术作品，他画了他最喜欢的活动：比如绘画、弹钢琴、读书和打篮球。我非常感动，因为这是孩子们第一次给我礼物。

         总的来说，孩子们给我的印象是：醇厚、甜美、行为端正。来自宁波的老师说，他们在这样的活动中，要离开父母好多天，还“特别规定”不让酒店服务员进房间打扫，要求他们自己整理房间、自己洗衣服等等，这些也给我留下了深刻的印象。

         再次见到同学们，是两天后，应邀参与颁奖典礼。当和同学们说再见的时候，我心碎了。我特别重视这次活动，和孩子们分手我很舍不得，这样的经历，让我永生难忘。(作者：塔玛拉 新华社驻华记者)

附：文章全文

         This winter I had the pleasure of being invited to be a judge at a youth winter camp activities talent show as part of a four-member panel and the only foreigner. We were allowed to score up to 50 points for each performer; there were some 150 children of middle-school age. The judging spanned two sessions in the course of a morning and afternoon.

          The youngsters—hailing from cities such as Ningbo, Wuxi, Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin—had a great stage presence and performances consisted of various acts with traditional Chinese as well as international elements. For example, the poem, I'm Proud to be Chinese, which includes references to historian Sima Qian and Confucius, was especially popular, perhaps indicative of China's renewed national pride.

          There were also Mongolian and Latin American dances as well as the smallest boy of the bunch, rapping in an oversized sweater and sneakers. Some children sang a cappella, or used KTV style background music while performing hits such as Avril Lavigne's Innocence. If the tune was familiar, the other children would croon along.

          One boy gave a short PowerPoint presentation about his science projects and engineering aspirations. Others demonstrated their calligraphy or art work. Every child got two minutes to perform, with the vast majority of them remembering their lines and making few, if any, obvious mistakes.

          The children were completely unfazed by me as a foreigner since they had already had some interactions with others, including English teachers in their hometowns, I was told. But they were naturally curious about me and wanted to have their photos taken with me. They called me "auntie" and used their vests, notebooks or scraps of paper to get mine and all of the other judge's autographs. We felt like movie stars!

          A little girl named Stella, who knew her name meant "star" in Latin (which she really was during the show), was very talkative and had salesmanship potential as she invited me to come to her hometown and browse her mother's shop.

          The students from the Ningbo and Wuxi teams each gave me a red scarf and a little boy whose English name was Hanson gave me a poster he drew with his favorite activities such as painting, playing piano, reading and playing basketball. I was profoundly touched as this was the first time children had ever given me any gifts.

          Some of the youngsters were preparing essays and interviewed me about my profession as a reporter. When they asked me what the most important quality was—I replied true to Chinese fashion—the need to "study well."

          While the first day consisted of judging, on the second day the judges were called back to hand out certificates during the awards ceremony. Every child received an honorary certificate in a red folder resembling a book.

          Overall, the children struck me as mellow, sweet and well-behaved. So it was no surprise when I was told they were at the top of their classes back home. I was also quite impressed when the teacher from Ningbo said that for many of them, this was the first time they were away from their parents for several days in row and with no hotel room service, they had washed their own clothes and tidied their own rooms.

          I was heartbroken as I said goodbye on the second day. Still, I especially valued this interaction as I have no children of my own. Parting ways with the children was difficult since they had "grown on me," as we say in the United States, but this experience will always hold a special place in my heart.  (The author is an American living in Beijing)