◎《景山学校对我人生的影响》系牛顿公立高中学生李本(BenLibman)的回忆文章。李本是第一批到景山学校
的六名师生之一。他的文章刊载如下。
　　　　　景山学校对我人生的影响
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 李本美国哥伦比亚大学法学院
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　中国法律研究中心主任、副教授
　　回忆起在景山学校读书的四个月，我可以写满许多张纸。不过，要说清楚那次交流活动是何等重要，最好的方式还是简述一下它对我过去1 7年生活的影响。自景山学校回到美国的那一天，我就意识到，我的一生都要同中国相连，同促进世界各地的人们了解中国相连。
　　在牛顿市读完中学，我在波士顿的一家中餐馆打了一暑假工，然后进入耶鲁大学攻读汉语。我的毕业论文是关于北京作家王朔的。当年在胡同里我从同学那里学来的北京话此时派上了大用场。我在中国度过两个夏天。一次是在成都工作，搞农村保健；另一次是做当代汉语写作研究。每次我回到北京，都去拜访景山学校的老朋友。读完大学本科，我又在牛津大学取得硕士学位。尽管我的研究方向同中国并没有直接关系，我还是回到中国过了一个夏天。其后我在中国生活了两年，一年在台北的台湾大学，那里的教师们都说我的北京口音太重；另一年在北京，为一家美国律师事务所工作。后来回到美国，就读于哈佛大学法学院，取得了法律博士学位。我的研究课题是中国的法制建设。从那时起，作为律师，我已经从业四年。两年在美国联邦法院工作，另外两年为一家律师事务所工作，或在伦敦，或在北京。
　　我来中国到底有多少次，连我自己也数不清了。过去的1 7年中，我差不多有1／4的时间是在中国度过的，走过了中国的许许多多的地方。而这一切，如果不是我曾就读于景山学校，都是不可能发生的。
　　我现在担任哥伦比亚大学法学院中国法律研究中心的主任、副教授。在中国以外，这个中心是主要的中国法律研究中心之一。对我来说，我现在教美国学生学中国法律和教中国学生和学者学美国法律，这是继续发展景山学校和美国牛顿高中双方友好交流的再好不过的方式。
　　我曾几次被问及是如何对中国产生浓厚兴趣并在哪里学中文，当我解释说我是]986年当年我1 7岁到北京景山学校交流学习的情况时，他们总是怀着一种吃惊和理解的心情。吃惊，是因为无论是在美国还是在中国，人们都没有想到，居然那么多年前，美国和中国的中学生之间就有过那样深入的交流、理解，是因为在中国许多人都知道景山学校和它的盛名。
　　回想当年．连我自己都吃惊，我会在1 986年那个时候在景山学校读书。当时(1 983年)景山学校和牛顿市中学的领导和教师们有着令人难以
置信的远见，他们制定了那样一项交流计划。双方的诚信和友谊，使这项交流计划至今已经持续了20年之久。我现在从事让美国学生了解中国和让中国学生了解美国的教学工作，为增进两国人民之间的友好了解而努力；我希望今后有更多的北京景山学校的学生和美国牛顿高中的学生进行更好地交流学习。

（注：此稿是2003年3月16日李本来华讲学时“回家”<1986年来景山学校学习时住在贺鸿琛家里，故他称之为回家。他每次来华总要回家探望>修改定稿的。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Impact of my time at Jingshan
i could write pages and pages recalling my memories of those four months at Jingshan，but the best way todemonstrate how important the exchange was is to briefly describe its impact on my life over the past sixteenyears．From the day I returned to the U．S．from Jingshan，1 knew that 1 wanted to spend my life involved with China，and with boosting unders十andinq of China elsewhere in the world．
　　Following my graduation from high school in Newton fand after spending a summer working in a Chinese restaurant in Boston)，I attended Yale University，where I majored in Chinese．1 wrote my undergradua thesis on the Beijing author Wang Shuo(the Beijing hua I had learned in the hutongs of Beijing from my classmates was extremely useful)．I spent two summers in China—one working in Chengdu on rural health care，and another conducting research on contemporary Chinese writing．Each time I returned to Beijing，1 would visit my Jingshanfr。iends and my host family．Following university，I obtained a masters degree from Oxford；although my studies were not directly related to China，I did spend one summer back in China．I then spent two years in China．onestudying at Taiwan University in Taibei(where my teachers told me that my Beijing accent was too strong)，and another working for an American law价m in Beijing．I then returned to the U．S．and obtained a J．D．法律博士from Harvard Law School，Where most of my focus was on China’s developing legal system．Since then．I have practiced as a lawyer for four years，two working in the U．S．federal courts，and two working for a law mm in London and Beijing．
　　I have now been to China so many times that I can no longer count．I have spent close to 1／4 of the past sixteen years in China．And I have traveled across a huge amount of the country．None of this would ever have been possible had I not been to Jingshan in]986．
Recently I have become associate professor of Iaw and director of十he Center for Chinese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School，one of the leading centers for the study of Chinese law outside of China．I can think of no better way to continue the tradition established by the Jingshan—Newton exchange than to spend my life teaching American law students about China and Chinese students and scholars abou the American legal system．
　　Many，many times since 1 986 l have been asked how I became interested in China，or where I learned to speak Chinese．When I explain thaf attended Jingshan Schoo J in]986，when I was seventeen，I am often greeted with amazement，bu十also understandinq．Amazement because mos十people，in China and in the U．S．，find ithard to believe that there was such a wonderful exchange between American and Chinese high schools so early，and understanding because many people in China have heard of Jingshan and know of its outstanding reputation．

　　Looking back, I too find it amazing that we were able to attend Jingshan School.in 1986.It took incredible foresight by teachers at Jingshan and in Newton ,to establish the program. And itt has taken deep commitiment, and frendship,to continue the exchange for the past two decades As I work to continue to help America, I hope that many more students, from Jingshna and from Newton,will have similar experiencesin the years to come.