奧巴馬印尼童年照曝光

A photograph taken more than 40 years ago showing a young Barack Obama as a schoolboy in Indonesia has been found, days before he begins his presidential visit to the country.

The picture was given to Associated Press by Hadi Surya Dharma, a childhood friend of Mr Obama's, who sits beside the future president in the black and white photo.

Mr Obama, who was born to a Kenyan father and an American mother, moved to Indonesia when he was seven – after his mother married an Indonesian man she met while studying at the University of Hawaii.

Mr Obama and his mother first set up home in the Menteng Dalam area of Jakarta.

Now a jumble of houses and narrow streets in the shadow of tower blocks, at the time it was on the edge of the city and fruit trees were landmarks.

Many families still live there, and they shared memories of the boy they knew as Barry.

"He went to everyone's house, played kites with local kids, got stuck in swamps," said Coenraad Satja Koesoemah, who allowed Mr Obama's mother to use his front room to give free English lessons to locals.

"He was a Menteng Dalam kid, what more can I say?"

For the first five months, Mr Obama reportedly struggled with the Indonesian language but soon became proficient.

By all accounts, he quickly became a favourite of the teachers and the pupils there, but endured some teasing on account of his looks.

Those early experiences have been cited as key moments that shaped his view on life.

"One of the reasons that he is so cool and non-combative is that he learned to deal with this teasing culture," said Kay Ikranagara, who worked with Obama's mother in Jakarta and knew the family well.

"It is a game here, and the trick is not to show you are bothered."

Mr Obama lived in Indonesia for four years before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.

(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

就在美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬訪問印尼的幾天前，他40多年前在印尼拍的一張照片被發(fā)現(xiàn)，照片上的奧巴馬當時還是個小學生。

這張照片是奧巴馬兒時的朋友哈迪•蘇爾亞•達馬提供給美聯(lián)社的。他就是這張黑白照片上坐在未來總統(tǒng)旁邊的男孩。

奧巴馬的父親是肯尼亞人，母親是美國人。在奧巴馬七歲那年，母親與在夏威夷大學讀書時結(jié)識的一個印尼人結(jié)婚，之后他們搬往印尼。

剛到印尼時，奧巴馬與母親住在雅加達的銘登區(qū)。

當時這一地區(qū)位于城郊附近，周邊種植了很多果樹。如今該地區(qū)的周圍建起了高樓，擠滿了民居和狹窄的街道。

那時的很多人家現(xiàn)在還住在那里，他們都還記得那個名叫“巴里”的男孩。

柯恩拉德•薩提亞•柯伊索馬說：“他喜歡串門，和當?shù)氐暮⒆右黄鸱棚L箏，還掉進了沼澤地里。” 當時，柯伊索馬把自家的前廳讓了出來，供奧巴馬的母親在這里給當?shù)鼐用衩赓M教授英文課。

“他就是我們銘登的孩子，我還有什么可說的呢？”

據(jù)說，奧巴馬在剛到印尼的五個月里，十分費勁地學習印尼語，不過他很快就能熟練地交流了。

據(jù)大家所說，奧巴馬很快就得到了老師和同學的喜愛，但也因為長相受到了一些嘲弄。

這些早期經(jīng)歷被認為是塑造奧巴馬人生觀的關(guān)鍵階段。

曾在雅加達和奧巴馬母親一起工作的凱伊•伊格拉那葛拉很熟悉奧巴馬一家的情況。凱伊說：“現(xiàn)在他如此冷靜、平和的一個原因就是他在那時學會了如何應對嘲弄。”

“這在印尼是個游戲，游戲的訣竅就在于你要表現(xiàn)得波瀾不驚。”

奧巴馬在印尼生活了四年，之后他回到夏威夷和外祖父母一起生活。