(英語）從貼紙到 Boyzone：那些教會我自由的事｜回憶錄第10集｜EP. 1839

“Childhood passions aren’t distractions—they’re the early whispers of the soul.”「童年的熱愛，不是浪費時間，而是靈魂的啟蒙。」

When I was little, I loved spending time playing with my neighbors or school friends. One of my greatest passions back then was collecting stickers. At school, exchanging sticker books became almost like a “social ritual.” During our short ten-minute breaks, we would quickly swap our sticker books and pick out our favorite stickers to trade. If someone liked one of my stickers but didn’t have anything I wanted, I would even “name a price” and sell it to her. That tiny act of buying and selling unexpectedly taught me the joy of making a deal. Looking back, maybe that was the first time I felt like a little entrepreneur—discovering how fun trading could be.

小時候，我最喜歡跟鄰居或學校的朋友一起玩。我當時最熱衷的一個興趣，就是收集貼紙。在學校，交換貼紙簿幾乎是一種「社交儀式」。短短的10分鐘下課時間，我們會迅速交換貼紙簿，挑出想要的貼紙來交換。如果有同學喜歡我的貼紙，但她的貼紙簿裡沒有我喜歡的，我還會「開價」賣給她。這個小小的買賣過程，竟然讓我體會到交易的樂趣。現在回想，那大概是我第一次感受到當「小小創業家」的成就感——原來買賣可以這麼好玩！

Because my dad was always busy working, he tended to give me a bit more pocket money, perhaps out of a sense of compensation. To me, that money felt like an adventure passport. Every summer vacation brought me pure excitement because it meant two whole months of freedom. I spent nearly every day at Tom’s World arcade and the small theme park next to it. I was always playing Whac-A-Mole, riding the pirate ship, or dropping from the free-fall ride just to feel that rush of adrenaline. The atmosphere was filled with electronic game sounds, children’s laughter, and the tiny sense of achievement after winning a game.

因為爸爸工作很忙，也許是補償心理，他常常給我比較多零用錢。對當時的我來說，零用錢就像是冒險的通行證。每到暑假我都超興奮，因為那代表兩個月的完全自由。我幾乎天天報到湯姆熊遊樂場，以及旁邊的小型主題樂園。我不是瘋狂打地鼠，就是坐上海盜船和自由落體，感受心跳加速的刺激。耳邊充滿了遊戲機的電子音、小孩的歡笑聲，還有每次贏得遊戲後那種微小而滿足的成就感。

I also enjoyed going alone to rent videotapes and then curling up at home watching Japanese cartoons and dramas. I had a little habit: once I started a show, I had to finish it in one go, or my heart felt unsettled. Because of that, I often stayed up all night—but knowing that I didn’t need to go to school the next day made everything feel deliciously liberating.

除了遊樂場，我也很愛一個人去租錄影帶，回家窩著看日本卡通或日劇。我有個小習慣：只要開始追劇，就一定要一口氣看完，不然心裡不踏實。因此我經常熬夜到天亮，但想到隔天不用上學，心裡就覺得特別自由，彷彿擁有全世界。

Looking back, my childhood free time was filled with boundless curiosity and passion. Whenever something interested me, I could devote myself to it for hours—sometimes repeating it dozens of times without ever getting bored. For a period of time, I was deeply obsessed with Western and Japanese music. I loved buying my favorite CDs and concert videotapes. My favorite boy band was Boyzone, and I watched their concert video more than forty times before I finally pressed the stop button.

回頭看，我的童年空閒時光充滿了無拘無束的探索與熱情。只要遇到感興趣的事情，我可以全心投入好幾個小時，甚至重複做幾十遍也不會膩。有段時間我深深迷上西洋和日本音樂，特別愛買CD和演唱會錄影帶。我最喜歡的男子團體是 Boyzone，他們的演唱會錄影帶我大概看了超過 40 次才捨得按暫停。

That love unexpectedly sparked my self-taught English journey. I would study the lyrics carefully, look up unfamiliar words with an electronic dictionary, and write them onto vocabulary cards I carried everywhere. I memorized them repeatedly on the bus to school. Without realizing it, I had collected quite a strong set of English vocabulary. When I found out that Boyzone was coming to Taipei for a concert, I almost jumped with excitement and begged my dad to let me go to Taipei for it. That concert not only let me meet my idols but also gave me my first-ever solo airplane experience—I was only seventeen.

也正是這份熱愛，意外開啟了我自學英文的旅程。我會研究歌詞，用電子詞典查生字，再抄到單字卡上，帶著上學路上反覆背誦。在不知不覺中，我累積了一大堆英文單字。有一次知道 Boyzone 要來台北開演唱會，我興奮到差點跳起來，立刻央求爸爸讓我去台北。那次演唱會不只讓我見到偶像，也讓我第一次獨自搭飛機——當時我才 17 歲。

Now, when I look back, those seemingly ordinary childhood moments were actually full of infinite possibilities. Every small passion and every little discovery became a shining fragment on the path of my growth.

現在回想，那些看似平凡的童年時光，其實充滿了無限可能。每一個小小的興趣、每一次探索，都是我成長路上閃閃發亮的珍貴片段。

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