There was an esteemed woman in our Chinese church in Cincinnati, whose English was not her native tongue. She called children of mixed marriages, “mixed up children,” when presumably she meant “mixed” children. However, over the process of decades, I’ve come to realize that we are all, indeed, mixed up.
在我们教会里以前有一位我们都很敬重的女士。她的母语不是英语。她称异族通婚生下的孩子们为“mixed up”。这在英文有着头脑混乱的意思。她的意思是“mixed”,混合不同血缘的孩子们。经过数十年的经历，我开始体会到我们其实都是混合的人。也可以说是好意的 “mixed up” 。

If we watch carefully the different people we, we rarely see anybody who is actually “purely” this, or that. We all are a mixture of all kinds of genetic or environmental influences in our lives.
如果我们仔细留意我们见到的人，我们会发现真正完全是一种人的人十分稀少。我们都是混合了各种不同基因及后天环境影响的人。

I grew up with an American born mother (who spoke no Chinese), who insisted on “indoctrinating me” in American culture. I was brought weekly to the American USIS (US Information Service) library, which basically introduced me to the America of the early 20th century, including many classical American heroes, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc., and all the American traditional values and virtues. So growing up, my image of America was a very positive one, uncontaminated by, and very different from, the later 60s culture of the US. And of course my first language was American English.我是我在美国出生的母亲带大的。母亲是一个文静的人。她的生活方式以及文化背景更像一个在亚洲的欧美白人。她十分坚决的向我灌输美国文化。她每周都带我去美国新闻处（US Information Service）图书馆。我在那里认识了二十世纪初的美国文化，众多美国经典的英雄们如华盛顿以及林肯，和所有美国传统的价值观及伦理道德。在我成长的年月里，我对美国有着极正面与六十年代末美国文化完全不同的印象。理所当然的，我美国英语是我的母语。

Since I am linguistically bold (or brash), I have often functioned as translator. One day I was translating for Jamie Taylor, who is the descendant of a long line of Chinese-speaking “white” missionaries, beginning with Hudson Taylor, one of the earliest missionaries to China. Jamie was born in Taiwan , and his Chinese is likely better than his English, so this “white man” would be giving a message in Chinese, while I, as an Asian would be translating it into English. One might be forgiven to sense something odd there!?
因为我在语言上比较胆大（或有点自以为是），我常毛遂自荐为人作中英翻译。有一天我为戴继宗翻译。戴继宗（Jamie Taylor）是戴德生，一个早期到中国的传教士的第五代孙。他们一家有着讲中文的白人传教士的传统。戴继宗是在台湾出生的。他的中文很可能比他的英文好。因此，戴继宗身为一个白人是用中文传讲他的信息。而我，一个亚洲人，却将他的话口译成英文。你如果觉得这很古怪，我不会怪你！

I remember also walking on the streets of Yunnan, China, with Dr. James Taylor (Jamie’s father, and great-great-grandson of Hudson Taylor), who looks typically white, but has a posture and mannerism of a Chinese mandarin; and also a Singaporean, ethnic Chinese man. I asked a fruit vendor on the street, which of the 3 people did he think was actually born in China? The fruit vendor was extremely alert, and he instinctively pointed to Dr. Taylor, the “white guy” (which was correct), which goes to show how mixed up everybody is.
我回想有一次我与戴绍曾博士（戴继宗的父亲；戴德生的第四代孙）和一个新加坡土生土长的华裔人士在中国云南街上走路。戴绍曾当然长得像白人，但是他有着中国人的举止。我问了一个街上的水果摊贩我们三个人谁比较像是在中国出生的。那水果贩十分机灵凭直觉指向戴博士，那个“白人”。他的答案当然是正确的。这显出我们都混合了。

I remember asking the children of a rural village in China that if a person of Chinese ancestry is born in America, is he Chinese or American? The smart answer from these 7th graders was “he is American!” So then I pointed to Dr. Taylor, and said if this white person was born in China (which he was), is he considered Chinese or American? The kids had very puzzled looks on their faces for quite a while, and then they shouted “he should be Chinese!” Which is something that many governments could learn.
我记得我在中国乡村问过一班孩子如果有一个中国血统的人在美国出生，他应该是中国人还是美国人？“他是美国人”这是那些七年级学生给的精明答案。所以我就指向戴博士说如果这个白人是在中国出生的（他是在中国出生的），他是中国人还是美国人？这些孩子们脸上有了一阵迷惑。过了好一会儿，他们才喊说“他应该是中国人！”我想很多国家可以向这些孩子们学习。

Commonly, Dr. Taylor would give a joke that he is like an “egg”, meaning that his outside is white, but his inside is yellow; whereas many Asian Americans are like “bananas,” yellow on the outside, but white on the inside. Are you mixed up yet?
戴博士常常开玩笑说他就像一颗鸡蛋。他的意思是他的外表是白的但是他的心是黄的。而许多亚裔美国人却像是“香蕉”，有着黄色的外皮和白色的内在。你觉得你是混合的吗？

One of the more interesting things I’ve noticed at our “mixed up” church, is that we have a couple that are ostensibly Chinese for many generations, but who gave birth to two boys who have golden hair, and look for all intents and purposes like they are “white” kids. The boys continually perplex many people who see them. “Were they swapped at birth?” someone even asked. Swapped twice? The children are a great reminder that we are all mixed up people. One race, just all mixed up.
我在我们“混合多元”的教会里注意到一件有趣的事。我们有一对十分中国的夫妇，他们的两个孩子却有着金头发并且外表都像白人的子女。那些孩子们让很多看见他们的人困惑。有些人甚至问道“他们是小时候被换过吗？”换过两次？这些孩子们很适当的提醒我们我们都是混合的。一个人种，不过都混合了。

Author’s note: When the Good Lord created us all, He made us all humans, of one race. Over the generations, this human race has morphed into various shapes and sizes and colors, but humans are humans, it’s just that we are all mixed up.
笔者注：当我们美善的主创造了我们，祂把我们都做成人类并有着同一个血脉。多个世代后，人类渐渐变成了有不同样式，身材，和肤色。但是人类还是人类，只是我们都mixed up混合了。