They wore expressions of great happiness as they talked abouttheir children. The first A and the second A are at college in Italy， majoringin politics as their parents did. “We have four family membersstudying politics as their major. Ours is a political family，” the oldest Asmiled. This is another feature of the 4-A family. “The eldest son likes84 music. He has formed a band and put out two CDs. Italy is knownglobally for vocal music. But he likes rock music and he said that he’sdoing it in order to be famous，” the father said， shaking his head. “Someprofessionals told me he has a great potential. Well， let him do whateverhe likes.” Praise is tempered by censure， and this shows the deepfeeling between father and son. Mrs. Laspina told us that the secondson wanted to be a diplomat. He is fond of electronic gadgets and it isalways his duty to take care of the computers when they are down. “Itis a free service for us now. But don’t know if he’ll start charging us inthe future.” Another burst of laughter.
Only the youngest A is at home. The boy is remarkably cute anda little bit shy， with finely chiseled features， looking like a baby gentleman.
He smiles shyly when his parents praise him for his grades atschool. “He gets up at six every morning and never cuts class regardlessof the weather. He won’t let us ask sick leave for him when he’
s running a temperature. Sometimes I take him as my model，” thefather proudly said. “The child is father of the man，” as the proverbgoes. The 10-year-old kid will certainly be somebody when he grows up. When asked what hewill do in the future， “Achemist”， he answered，speaking with a typicalBeijing dialect. He saidhe likes football andAC Milan is his favoriteteam. When they got theEuropean Cup， he wentout into the street togetherwith father， wearing AC Milan’s football jersey. Many Beijingresidents thought the team had come to the city. The mother hopes hewill be able to get Chinese citizenship as well， since the boy has suchan intense attachment to China. Let’s look forward to the day when thecitizenship system relaxes.
His wife is fascinated by Chinese culture. She is interested inalmost everything： Taiji shadow boxing， guqin and so on. She eventried a few notes on the musical instrument in her study. Although stillin the preliminary stages， her technique is orthodox， with a certain artisticachievement. As for shadow boxing， Mr. Laspina said he was toobusy to learn all of it， so he has to have his wife coach him.
Like the Chinese， Sicilians have the strong sense of “roots” intheir homeland. From time to time Mr. Laspina goes and stays in Sicilyfor a while with the family. Getting out of the bustling urban lifeand back to the quiet countryside of beautiful Sicily， they relax andpurify their minds. “My farmstead faces Etna， the biggest active volcanoin Europe. When it is quiet， the peaks are covered with snow.
86 But when it erupts， the airport has to be closed. On our farm we growolives， oranges and other delicious fruits. It’s a great feeling when youtaste these fruits after coming home tired.” But before long， he leaveshome again and returns to human society， traveling between Sicily andRome， or between Rome and China. Many things are waiting for himto deal with.
Now we call to mind the Marco Polo statue he presented toChaoyang Park. The name he gave to the statue is “A man who livesin two worlds.” In fact， he himself is such a man， because he carriesMarco Polo’s cultural genes in him.
Translated by Yang Yaohua