Third-CultureKids

Didyougrowupinoneculture，yourparentscamefromanother，andyouarenowlivinginatotallydifferentcountry？Ifso，thenyouareathird-culturekid!

Theterm"third-culturekid"（orTCK） wascoinedinthe1960sbyDr．Ruth．ShefirstcameacrossthisphenomenonwhensheresearchedNorthAmericanchildrenlivinginIndia．Caughtbetweentwocultures，theyformtheirveryown．（71）___ About90percentofthemhaveauniversitydegree，while40percentpursueapostgraduateordoctordegree．Theyusuallybenefitfromtheirinterculturalexperience，whichhelpsthemtogrowintosuccessfulacademicsandprofessionals．

（72）___Infactmanyhardshipsmayarisefromthisphenomenon．Athird-culturekidmaynotbeabletoadaptthemselvescompletelytotheirnewsurroundingsasexpected．Instead，theymayalwaysremainanoutsiderindifferenthostcultures．Max，forexample，experiencedthisfundamentalfeelingofstrangenessthroughouthislifeasathird-culturekid．（73）___Whilethiscanbeawaytocreateanetworkoffriendsallaroundtheworld，itcanbedifficultforathird-culturekidlikeMaxtomaintainclosefriendshipsandrelationships．

Forathird-culturekid，itisofteneasiertomovetoanewforeigncountrythantoreturntotheir"home"country．AfterlivinginAustraliaandSouthKoreaformanyyears，LouisfinallyreturnedtoTurkeyasateenager．Butshefeltoutofplacewhenshereturnedtothecountrywhereshewasborn．（74）___Shedidnotsharethesamevaluesasherfriends'evenyearsaftergoingbackhome．

Whileathird-culturekidmustletgooftheiridentityasforeignerwhenhe/shereturns，thehomecountrycanprovetobemoreforeignthananythinghe/shecameacrossbefore．Thepeergrouptheyfacedoesnotmatchtheidealizedimagechildrenhaveof"home"．（75）___

Asapartofthegrowing"culture"，TCKsmayfinditagreatchallengeforthemtofeelathomeinmanyplaces．

A．Yetbeingathird-culturekidisnotalwayseasy．

B．Ingeneral，theyoftenreachexcellentacademicresults．

C．Thisoftenmakesithardforthemtoformtheirownidentity．

D．However，theirparentscanhelpthemseetheopportunitiesofamobilelifestyle．