尼亞梅科 · 伊斯梅爾 · 波特曼

教育是確保子孫后代成才的重要途徑。在寧波和整個中國，最明智的選擇之一便是對教育的重視。我很慶幸、也很榮幸能看到我的學(xué)生每天都竭盡全力求學(xué)，收獲更美好的未來。然而，未來的希望和夢想的重?fù)?dān)并不僅僅落在學(xué)生的肩上，教師是這個價值鏈中不可或缺的一部分。

寧波諾丁漢大學(xué)是中國第一所中外合資大學(xué)。自 2004 年成立以來，一直在創(chuàng)新方面處于領(lǐng)先地位。校園里空氣涼爽，在校園里散步似乎可以吸收知識。這所大學(xué)擁有來自不同國家的學(xué)生和教職工。我和3位學(xué)術(shù)專家 Justin Berg、Martin Lockett教授和Jim Greer教授交好。他們都是各自領(lǐng)域的創(chuàng)新領(lǐng)航者。

Justin Berg語言溫和，但對音樂充滿熱情。他堅信現(xiàn)場音樂比錄音更能震撼心靈，因此致力于音樂學(xué)習(xí)和表演。他認(rèn)為音樂是城市發(fā)展的重要載體，甚至為寧波帶來第一架管風(fēng)琴，并進(jìn)行重新組裝。他還專門為管風(fēng)琴制作了一段音樂，名為Peaceful Waves by Ad Wammes。Justin Berg把對現(xiàn)場音樂的熱愛和對新音樂創(chuàng)作的熱情展現(xiàn)得淋漓盡致，他所參與在寧波的音樂項目也都成功完成。

他獲得了多個音樂碩士學(xué)位，目前正在攻讀博士學(xué)位。回到寧波后，又攻讀了應(yīng)用語言學(xué)學(xué)位。他秉承終身學(xué)習(xí)的精神，看著學(xué)生畢業(yè)是他最快樂的時刻。身在寧波、熱愛寧波，他認(rèn)為人們應(yīng)該在居住地創(chuàng)造更大的發(fā)展空間。

Jim Greer教授是德克薩斯人，在德克薩斯州奧斯汀大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)。搬到愛爾蘭并遇到真愛之前，在美國工作了幾年。在接下來的幾年里，住在德國和愛爾蘭。一位朋友給他介紹了諾丁漢大學(xué)一個適合他的崗位，引起他的興趣，最終決定來寧波。在愛爾蘭生活了一段時間后搬到中國，似乎是一次安全但充滿挑戰(zhàn)的冒險。

一個人所居住的城市應(yīng)該有最喜歡的事物。Jim Greer教授也不例外，他喜歡天一閣的精致裝修和濃厚歷史底蘊(yùn)。寧波市中心位于三江口交匯處，他推薦乘船來此游玩。Jim Greer教授在寧波最最喜歡的事情還有結(jié)識新朋友。夏天，他最享受去寧波的鄉(xiāng)下了解真正的寧波文化。

來到中國對 Martin Lockett教授來說是必然選擇。他一直對中國有著濃厚的興趣，甚至研究過中國事務(wù)。寧波諾丁漢大學(xué)是完美的選擇，因為它讓Martin Lockett教授在研究和教學(xué)之間取得平衡。他開玩笑說，寧波諾丁漢大學(xué)是他生命中一切事物的完美結(jié)合。

寧波在他心中是一座理想城市，他見過寧波所有美麗的地標(biāo)。只需 30 到 40 分鐘的車程即可到達(dá)鄉(xiāng)村，這是寧波的另一大吸引力。寧波是一座風(fēng)景優(yōu)美、歷史悠久的城市，到處有外國人才和商機(jī)。我們談話中提到了解所在市場的重要性，廚房電器公司FOTILE便是一個貼切的例子，該公司對市場了如指掌。他們創(chuàng)新廚房設(shè)計，為帶有小廚房的公寓發(fā)明洗碗機(jī)和水槽。這是他在寧波最喜歡也最期待的創(chuàng)新。

教與學(xué)是終生的事業(yè)。智者有言：不斷提高能力、獲得新知識并運(yùn)用到工作和生活中的人將成為社會的推動者。這3位寧波諾丁漢大學(xué)的教授一直秉承該理念，成為寧波建設(shè)者中的一份子。

（作者系《寧波聚焦》雜志編輯）

When in Ningbo， Love Ningbo as They Do

By Nyameko Ishmael Bottomann

Civilizations are built by the intellectuals. One of the most important ways to ensure success for future generations is education. I think one of the best things about living in Ningbo and China as a whole is the emphasis on education. I have the pleasure and honor to see my students doing their best each day and striving to learn more so they can do better in the future. However， the weight of future hopes and dreams not only falls? on their shoulders; teachers and lecturers are an integral part of this value chain as well.

The University of Nottingham in Ningbo （UNNC） is the first Sino-foreign joint venture university in China. Since its inception in 2004， it has been leading the pack in terms of innovation. Even the air on campus feels cooler and scholarly almost as if just by walking on the campus you absorb knowledge osmotically. The university sports a diverse group of students and staff from various countries. I had a sit-down with three members of their academic staff： Justin Berg， Professor Martin Lockett and Professor Jim Greer. All of them are innovators in their respective fields.

Justin Berg is a soft-spoken man but that does not stop his passion for music from shining through. A firm believer in the superiority of live music over recordings， he not only has studied music but also performs regularly. He views music as an important vehicle for a citys development， even going so far as to bring and reassemble Ningbos first pipe organ， a project that took nearly ten years to complete. They then commissioned a piece of music， Peaceful Waves by Ad Wammes， specifically for the organ. This was a happy meeting of his love for live music， his passion for the creation of new music and the successful completion of the project.

Having attained multiple masters degrees focused on music he is currently a Ph.D. candidate. When he came back to Ningbo， he did another degree in Applied Linguistics. As a lifelong student himself， his happiest moments are usually his students graduation. The saddest part about living in Ningbo is watching artistic people move to bigger cities， looking for greener pastures. He believes if you want greener pastures then you should create them where you live.

A born and bred Texan， Professor Jim Greer studied at the University of Austin， Texas. He worked for a few years in the United States before moving to Ireland and finding love. He spent the next few years living in Europe， both in Germany and in Ireland. He ended up in Ningbo when a friend told him a Nottingham University job post “l(fā)ooked like him”. This piqued the professors interest. Having lived in Ireland for a while， moving to China felt like a safe but challenging adventure.

You cannot live in a city and not have your favorite spots. He is no exception， he highlighted Tianyi Library for its beauty and history. Next was the center of the city where the three rivers meet， he recommended a boat ride to the meeting point. One of his favorite things to do in Ningbo is meeting new people. In the summer， he likes to go out to Ningbos countryside as he feels it gives a genuinely nice glimpse of Ningbos culture.

Coming to China was a no-brainer for Professor Martin Lockett. He has always had a deep-rooted interest in China and had even studied Chinese affairs. UNNC was the perfect choice because it allowed him to strike a balance between doing research and teaching. He jokes that UNNC was the perfect marriage of everything he had done in his life up until that point.

Ningbo is the ideal city for Professor Lockett： he is especially fond of the citys beautiful landmarks， and has visited all of them. The fact one can get to the countryside with a short 30-to-40-minute drive is another major draw for the city. To him， Ningbo is a city that is both beautiful and set in history， but it is also full of opportunities and benefits for foreign talents and businesses. In our conversation， we talked about the importance of understanding the market you are in. One of his favorite examples of a company understanding its market is FOTILE， which manufactures home appliances. The company innovated kitchen design by creating a dishwasher， sink combination for those apartments with small kitchens. This is the kind of innovation he would like to see more in Ningbo.

Teaching and learning are lifelong endeavors. As someone once said： Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future. These three UNNC staff members embrace this philosophy and form part of the beautiful mosaic that is Ningbos people.