My name is Mark White.  I am an Assistant Principal from Lamar High School in Houston, Texas, USA.

Lamar is the sister-school of Dalian No. 24 High School.  I came to Dalian for the first time last summer to teach for about two months.  Then I came back in October and I plan to stay at least until early March.  I may even come back again for next summer!  The first time I came to China was eight years ago.  China has changed a lot in just eight years.  I think that the next few years will being even more change to China.

In America, before I became and Assistant Principal, I was a foreign language teachers.  I used to teach Latin, Spanish and Italian.  I have taught in Middle Schools, High Schools and University.  I have taught in America, Argentina, Japan, Italy and now in China.  I really enjoy traveling around the world and learning about the different people and places.  I hope that I can share some of my experiences with all of my students so that they will want to travel and see this wonderful world.

Some Chinese are surprised when I tell them that I have four brothers and sisters – but I have met some Chinese with SIX brothers and sisters.  I also have a twin brother.   All of my family lives in Houston except for my parents who retired to a city a few hours to the south of Houston.  When my father was a young man he came to China to help fight the Japanese at Tianjin.  I told him that Tianjin has changed a lot since those days, but I promised him I would go there some time to remember what he did.

Many students know that in Dalian my best friend is actually my puppy (baby dog) Xiao Pei.  She is a Dalmation (all white with black dots – like the dogs from the Disney movie “101 Dalmations”).  I have been very busy training Xiao Pei. She has learned many things.

On November 22, Americans will celebrate a holiday called “Thanksgiving”.  This is a day when we remember all the things for which we are thankful.  We say “thank you” to the people who have helped us during the year and we ask ourselves if we have been good to people too.  We meet with our family for the biggest holiday meal of the year.  Traditionally we eat meat from the turkey (huo-ji).  This holiday also marks the beginning of the season to prepare for the next big holiday which comes in one month – Christmas!

I hope that I can have a chance to become friends with many people in Dalian and I hope that my students will learn many things about me and my country – since I will learn many things about them and China!

译文：

你好：

我叫白·马克，美国得克萨斯州休斯顿市拉玛高中的副校长。拉玛高中是大连第二十四中学的姐妹学校。今年夏季，我曾在此任教两个月。十月份我又回到该校，计划明年三月初离开。我可能明年夏季还要回来。我第一次来中国是在八年前。在短短的八年中，中国发生了很大变化。我认为在未来的几年中，中国会发生更大的变化。

在美国，我在担任副校长职务前是外语教师，教拉丁语、西班牙语和意大利语，曾在初中，高中和大学任教。我曾在美国、阿根廷、日本、意大利教学。现在我又到中国来教学。我非常喜欢到世界各地旅游，了解各个国家和人民。希望能和我的学生共同分享我的经历，他们也会产生去看一看这精采世界的愿望。

我遇到过一些中国朋友，当我告诉他们我的兄弟姐妹四个时，他们感到非常吃惊。但我遇到的中国朋友当中，有的有六个兄弟姐妹。我有一个孪生弟弟。我父母已退休，住在休斯顿南部的一个城市，开车要几个小时，其他人都在休斯顿。我父亲年青时曾在天津帮助抗日。我告诉他天津现在的变化很大，但我答应他我会去天津，亲临他所战斗过的城市。

许多学生都知道，在大连，我最好的朋友实际上是我的小狗——小蓓。她是一只达尔马提亚狗（白色带黑斑点），象迪斯尼影片101Dalmation中的狗一样。我一直忙着训练小蓓，她已学会了许多东西。

11月22日，是美国的感恩节。这一天，我们会回忆所有值得感激的事情。我们向一年中帮助过我们的人表示感谢，同时我们也要反问自已是否对人友善。这时，家家团聚，一起进餐，按照传统，我们吃火鸡肉。这个节日也预示着人们要开始为庆祝下一个大的节日——圣诞节做准备！

我希望能够交更多的大连朋友，希望我的学生更多地了解我和我们的国家，因为我将会更多地了解他们和中国。

白马克   Mark Chite