互動天地
作者：Karen Zhang
Karen最近來到位於加拿大魁北克省的蒙特利爾市，展開一段為期三天的旅程。蒙特利爾市是加拿大第二大城市，是典型的英法雙語城市。第一次來到蒙特利爾的Karen會經曆怎樣的culture shock呢？這裏與美國的城市有著怎樣的區別呢？
I don’t speak French but when I visited Montreal for the first time this summer I was completely immersed【沉浸】 in a French speaking environment. I couldn’t tell between tourists or local people because the only language I captured on the street was French. Just like its language， so foreign to me， Montreal’s cityscape【城市風光】 is European-like. From the old sandstone【砂岩】 churches， Victorian buildings and storefront【臨街的】 patio【露天的】 restaurants， I was dazzled by the differences in Montreal compared with the American cities I have been to.
To many Americans， Canada is another state bordering the U.S. rather than a foreign country. Canadian students who study in the U.S. don’t consider themselves international students. For me， as a first-time traveler to Canada， I see lots of dissimilarities【不同點】.
Perhaps I was in the French-speaking Quebec province， so the Canadians in this province are unique. They are proud of their French heritage【傳統】. Many places are named after saints. So the road names in Quebec in general are very long. If I didn’t look Asian， the waitresses or the cashiers wouldn’t have spoken to me in accented English.
Montreal is a biker-friendly city. Many Montrealers ride bikes instead of driving cars. In Montreal， you can borrow bikes right on the street from the public bike racks which are all digitally programmed. Once you start the rental， the digital timer also begins. All the bikes have a global positioning【定位】 system. So it’s easy to locate the lost bike. You can return the bike anywhere in the city. I heard this bike rental system is similar to that in France. No matter subway or buses， Montreal provides very good public transportation. I think this is what the American cities lack.