友人: Its the survival instinct that makes Singapore tick. No nonsence, no sweet talking, straight to point stuff, lifeless may be, but it is this special quality that moves people in unison so that no precious and productive resources are wasted in unproductive pursuit.
生存本能是讓新加坡前進的動力，沒有廢話、沒有諂媚的言語、直接了當地點出事情的重點。也許缺乏活力，可是也就是這一項特點讓這裡的人們和諧合作；也因此我們不會浪費寶貴有益的資源在毫無建設性的事情上面。
我的回應: This is what I think a major element a successful country needs. Look at our neighboring country Japan. The most admirable attitude they have is that they are dedicated and committed to not only their jobs but their society and their country. They have national pride like what you have for your country. Japanese also deeply respect their own people and their motherland. I deeply envy this.
這也是我認為一個成功的國家所需要的主要元素。看看我們鄰近的國家日本:他們最令人稱道的不止是他們對自己工作的執著投入，也對自己的國家社會承諾付出。他們對自己國家的驕傲就像是你對你自己國家的感覺一樣，而且日本人非常尊重自己國家的人們和土地。這點我非常地羨慕。
Here in Taiwan, yes we have friendly people, but these people are now being harsh to their own people, and this is the consequence of how we’ve been being taught by our media and our educational system. Nation pride? Do we really have one? Yes, I can say we have easy-going nature and we are free to talk about anything and do whatever we want, but the cost of being relax when doing anything has brought malicious values to every bit of our life on this island. In a working area, you can easily find people blame at each other；you can easily find people brown-nose their bosses, and you can easily see that they are only doing sweet talks instead of hard-working. Where I can find a place that really works humanly to improve other people’s life? I agree when you say 'No precious and productive resources are wasted.’ When you sit in meaningless meetings, listening to the speaker delivering worthless speeches, you soon realize it is a waste of time doing all this.
在台灣，是的，我們有友善的人們，可是這些人們已經開始對自己的國人冷酷起來了，這是我們跟媒體學來的還有我們教育制度的結果。國家驕傲?我們有嗎?有啊，可以說我們有隨和的天性、還有言論自由、還有行動自由，但是，凡事自由的結果反而帶給這個島上的人們不良的價值觀，影響遍及生活的任何層面；你可以很容易在工作場所看到互相抱怨的人們、你可以發現一堆馬屁精...。哪裡才能找到一個真正在改善人們的生活的地方?我同意你說的 '不要浪費寶貴有益的資源在毫無建設性的事情上面'。當你坐在毫無意義的會議裡，聽著沒啥價值的演說，很快地你會發現這些事情是在浪費時間。
I still have belief in this country though. There are people working toward their goals and there are kind-hearted people in the basic circle of the society doing what they believe is important. Allow me to shout out to this island that “We do not need fake talks；we do not need valueless news, and we do not need time-wasting information going around us. Stop misleading us toward the dead end.” In this case, outsiders can only see what the news is misleading. For me, the creative country can always find a way out.
我仍然相信著我的國家，我們還是有許多人正在逐夢踏實；在社會的基層，還是有許多善良的人們努力地做著他們覺得重要的事。請讓我對這個島大聲喊出[不要再有假惺惺地談話了、我們不要毫無價值的新聞、我們更不要浪費時間的無效資源在我們身邊流動!停止誤導我們走向死胡同了。]也許外人只能從誤導人的新聞看我們，可是對我來說，我們這個超有創意的國家總是能夠找到出路的。
友人: Taiwan on the other hand, sadly to say, boosts the best brain in the IT world, it has gained so much of recognition in product innovation; when the word "globalization" were so foreign to many advanced countries, Taiwanese were already over Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and of course the United States doing what they do best. In main board manufacturing alone, 8 out of 10 best and most recognizable brands are made in Taiwan, the best genetically-modified researchers in food and argriculture produces are Taiwanese, the other untaped quality of Taiwan is the vast pool of talent in Chinese literacy and the best places to have conserved confusious values are Korea and Taiwan.
台灣引領IT產業，在生產革新上，台灣是世界認同的，當 "全球化"這個名詞對許多先進國家來說還很陌生的時候，台灣已經走向非洲、巴西、阿根廷、加拿大，當然還有美國這些國家。光是製作主機板，10個最為大家熟知的品牌就有8個是台灣製造；而在食品和農產品方面，台灣有最好的基因改造研究員。以具有中文知識與能力的人才來說，台灣有一堆這類有天資的人才(這句好難翻ㄚ~有誰要救命)。而保存儒家思想價值最完好的地方就屬於韓國和台灣了。
後記:We need to have faith in our country and lead it toward a better future. G.
Gillian 中文翻譯
