澳大利亚外交的重点之一，是处理与中国和美国的关系。很多时候，处在这两个大国之间的澳大利亚，像是踩跷跷板，一边是最大的贸易伙伴中国，一边是长期的战略盟友美国，在两者之间保持平衡，就很重要，不然，就可能发生外交风波。

举例来说，2009年，陆克文领导的工党政府，发表了长达140页的《国防白皮书》，其中，有相当的篇幅渲染中国威胁论，称中国的军事现代化引发周边国家不安。同时暗示，澳大利亚和中国在今后20年间可能会“打一仗”，因此，要大幅增加军费开支，特别是要进行大规模的军事采购。虽然陆克文总理和他的国防部长一再辩解，否认白皮书是针对中国，可是，谁都清楚其中的含义，很有影响的《澳大利亚人报》就明确地指出，这份《国防白皮书》“紧盯中国”。

One of the main focal points of Australian foreign policy has been the management of the country’s relationships with China and the United States. On many occasions it has seemed as if Australia is standing on a seesaw in the middle of these two great powers. On one side is China, its largest trading partner, and on the other, its long-term strategic ally, the US. It has been important for Australia to balance its relationships with these two countries in order to avoid any diplomatic disputes.

For example, in 2009, Kevin Rudd’s Labor government released its 140-page Defence White Paper. A significant proportion of the paper portrayed China as a threat and it claimed that China’s military modernisation had caused some concern amongst her neighbouring countries. At the same time, the paper hinted that Australia and China could possibly be ‘in conflict’ at some point in the next twenty years and therefore recommended that Australia greatly increase its military spending and, in particular, engage in a large-scale military procurement. Although Kevin Rudd and his defence minister repeatedly denied that the white paper was directed at China, everyone could clearly see the implication and the influential newspaper, The Australian, stated explicitly that the Defence White Paper had ‘China in its sights’.

上一副假牙没有使用多久就折断了，让我难过了好一阵子。配假牙要先挂号看病，做模子，取牙时还要修配和经过好几次校正，占用不少时间。还有那不能作为医疗报销的费用，对我这样的教书匠，也远不是可以忽略不计的。但病势至此，咀嚼困难，不得不再次求医。我已完成了配牙的大部分程序，今早便是预约的取牙时间。

离家前忽然想到明天上午我指导的几位研究生的毕业答辩次序有些不妥。女生小吴虽然年龄较大，且已结婚，但生性胆怯腼腆，在昨天的试讲中显得十分紧张。我想把她从原定的首先答辩改在第二个出场，对她适应答辩气氛、缓解紧张情绪会有好处。近些年来，由于研究生数量增多，加之请校外教授、专家参加答辩的费用也有可观增涨，一般都希望在一个单元时间里多安排答辩的学生。准备明早答辩的硕士生就有三人。想及此事，我急忙赶到系里，找到负责研究生工作的系秘书，请她把小吴的答辩时间改在上午十时，按此在学校布告栏张贴答辩通告，再面告学生更改答辩次序之事。

I hadn’t used my uppermost set of dentures for long before they broke in two, once again causing me a great deal of trouble. You see, it can take quite a while to have a set of false teeth made. First, one must make an appointment to see the dentist and have a mould taken and even then, when the dentures are ready, it is necessary to attend a fitting and have them adjusted several times. There are also the fees which can’t be claimed as a health care expense and, for a teacher like myself, were nothing to be sneezed at. However, such was my condition that it had become difficult to chew and I had no choice but to call on the dentist once more. I had already completed most of the preliminary procedures when early one morning the day had finally arrived to go and have the dentures fitted.

Before I left home I suddenly realised that something was amiss with the scheduling of the thesis presentations which several of my postgraduate students were to give the following morning. One of the female students, Xiao Wu, who had a shy personality even though she was an older married woman, had seemed extremely nervous at the practice presentation the day before. I thought that I would perhaps move her from first to second place so that she could accustom herself to the atmosphere of the proceedings and calm her nerves. In the last few years, due to a rise in the number of postgraduate students and a considerable increase in the fees required to get visiting teachers and specialists to attend the presentations, it was usually hoped that as many students as possible could be squeezed into the one session. As a result, there were three Masters students ready to give their presentations the following morning. Having decided upon making a change in the schedule, I rushed into the faculty office, found the administration assistant in charge of postgraduate students and asked her to change Xiao Wu’s time to ten o’clock, post a note on the school noticeboard and personally let the students know.