We continue the dramatic story of Adam （Wu Zixiang 武子祥）from Yunnan, and how he transcended his childhood paralysis.

我们继续讲来自云南的武子祥和他的戏剧性故事：他如何超越了儿童时期患的瘫痪。

 Lonely, difficult days. When Adam was growing up, there were many lonely days. He couldn’t travel easily, so he depended mostly on friends coming to visit. He wished for a close friend he could freely talk with. Everyone needs a close friend, preferably one with common interests.

孤独艰难的日子。武子祥在成长过程中，经历了很多孤独的日子。由于出行很不方便，所以他基本上依赖朋友们来看他。他希望能够有一个可以陪他自由自在交流的好朋友。大家都需要一个好朋友，最好是有共同兴趣的那种。

In Adam’s single-minded mission to be a better teacher, a key goal was to improve his own English; this became a lifelong struggle and burden. Ideally, he hoped for friends who could also communicate in English. But that was really difficult to find in a small town and he was often quite discouraged. He was on a very special mission at a special place.

武子祥一心一意追求成为更好的教师，其中关键目标是提高自己的英语能力——这成为了他毕生奋斗的心愿。他期望可以交到跟他一起用英语交流的朋友，但在一个小镇里很难找到这样的机会，这常常令他灰心。他身在一个特殊的地方，抱有一个特殊的使命。

Spiced pork encouragement. Adam told me he was grateful he had an understanding father, who was often willing to sit down and talk with him when he needed encouragement. Even though he was a busy farmer and pedicab taxi driver. Adam’s dad empathized with him particularly in difficult times when others couldn’t understand him. However, his dad passed away when Adam was in his early 30s, creating a big gap in Adam’s life.

水煮肉片的鼓励。武子祥告诉我，他很感恩有一位理解他的父亲，在他需要鼓励的时候，他父亲常常愿意坐下来跟他交流，尽管做农活和开三轮车拉人让他父亲的生活很繁忙。尤其在别人无法理解武子祥的困难时，他的爸爸非常理解他。可是，在武子祥30岁出头时，他的爸爸去世了，在武子祥的生命中留下了一个大缺口。

Adam’s mom was an additional source of inspiration, especially as she understood his taste in food well. He fondly remembers her cooking his favorite dish,  水煮肉片,spiced pork slices with pepper, particularly when he was depressed. When he described the dish to me, I could sense his salivating joy! Love is definitely well expressed through delicious food.

武子祥的妈妈是另一股激励他的力量，尤其因为她对武子祥的口味很了解。妈妈在他最沮丧的时候特地给他做他最爱吃的水煮肉片，令他深切怀念。当他给我描绘这道菜的时候，我都能感觉到他垂涎欲滴的喜乐！美食绝对可以用来充分地表达爱。

Hand surgery is extremely complex and challenging. I have been fascinated with hand surgery because of its challenging complexity, and through long friendship with renowned hand surgeon Paul Brand (1). For the hand to work well, there are truly innumerable complex nerve, muscle and tendon inter-relationships and functions that all have to work smoothly together.

手部手术是极其复杂和困难的。因为手部手术的复杂性和挑战性，我一直对它感兴趣，还有因为我与著名手外科医生保罗·布兰德（Paul Brand）的长期友谊（1）。为了使一只手顺利工作，其中的神经、肌肉和肌腱的无数复杂的相互关系和功能都必须协同运转。

So when Adam was considering surgery on his partially paralyzed right hand, I knew it wasn’t straightforward.  Indeed, an expert surgeon came specially from Kunming, the capital, to operate on Adam in his hometown.

所以，当武子祥考虑在局部瘫痪的手臂上做手术的时候，我知道那不是一件简单的事情。的确，有一位外科专科医生从省府昆明特地来到武子祥的家乡给他做了这个手术。

In his long recovery and rehabilitation in the hospital, he was very touched when his teacher brought his entire school class to visit and encourage him. But, even though there were some hopeful signs, it turned out, truly disappointingly, that the surgery failed.

在漫长的住院康复期间，他的老师带领全班同学一起探访和鼓励他，这深深地感动了他。然而，虽然他的手有了一些好转的迹象，但最后结果非常遗憾，手术失败了。

So even today Adam has to use his left hand to help his right hand in difficult tasks, limiting his flexibility in typing and other important manual functions.

因此，一直到今天，武子祥仍需要用他的左手来帮助他的右手做复杂一点的事情，这在打字和其它重要的手动工作方面给他造成了明显的局限。

A big turning point. An unexpected turn in Adam’s life came when he attended a special NGO (non-government organization) school in Kunming. Adam had had few opportunities for post-secondary schooling, so he jumped at the chance.

大转折点。去昆明一所特殊的非政府组织的学校是武子祥人生中的一次意外转折。本来中学毕业之后，武子祥只有很少继续上学的选择，于是他抓住了这个机会。

There he learnt about computers, and he met caring people who were very encouraging to him. One of them introduced him to truth and a life of inner joy. For a young man without much hope, it was a big turning point, and Adam looks back at this moment with deep gratitude!

在那里他学习使用电脑，也遇到了一些关心和鼓励他的人。其中有一位给他讲关于生命的真理，帮助他找到了内在的喜悦。对一个没有太多希望的年轻男人，这是一个大转折点，而武子祥回顾起来的时候满心感激！

“Just stop by…no need to call.” When visiting friends in rural small towns, it was understood there was “No need to call ahead, just come on over.” One was supposed to just wander over to the neighbors and knock on their doors, with no forewarning. I learned to do this well, and so several team members and I would just stop by “on our way somewhere”, and knock on Adam’s door.

“来串门吧……不用打招呼”。当我们到乡下小镇去看朋友的时候，人们都认为“不必提前打招呼，直接过来”。应该直接到邻居家敲门，不用提前通知人。我也学会了这样做，于是我和几个队友会“路过的时候”顺便去敲武子祥家的门。

“Just stay for dinner!” We had touching responses from Adam’s mother to our unannounced visits; she was always so spontaneously enthusiastic, warm and hospitable. She would instantly sit us down and insist on wanting to feed us dinner! As if she had fully expected us! We modern city dwellers could really learn from her!

“留下来吃晚饭吧！”。武子祥的母亲对我们突然来访的回应让我们很感动：她总是以如此自然的热情接待我们，她会立刻叫我们坐下来，坚决要求给我们做晚饭吃！就像她完全预期到我们会过去似的！我们住城市里的现代人确实应该向她学习！

We had to practically fight off the invitation and insist on just staying to chat. But even that meant nuts and sunflower seeds and oranges and bananas to nibble on, which was fun, but made us thoroughly embarrassed. Westerners can’t handle spontaneity well!

我们好不容易才拒绝她的邀请，坚持只要聊一小会天。尽管如此，这依然意味着她会摆上坚果、葵花子、橙子和香蕉让我们品尝，这固然很有趣，但也令我们十分尴尬。西方人真的不太会面对率性的接待！

A special weekend trip. One Sunday, Adam decided he wanted to go to the town’s official Church, so we swung by to pick him up. One of our mission team members, an ophthalmologist, lifted him up gently and put him in the pedicab, and off we went.

特别的周末之旅。有一个星期天，武子祥决定去镇上的官方教堂，于是我们去接他。我们援助团队的一位眼科医生，轻轻地把他抱到三轮车上，之后我们就出发了。

Adam was so light, actually, that this strong doctor basically carried him into the pews. We had a great rare opportunity to visit the church. Its members surrounded us to wish us well, and insisted on taking a memorable picture all together. (See Part 1 of the story).

实际上，武子祥的体重非常轻，以至于这位医生直接把他抱到了教堂的座位上。我们就有了难得的好机会探访那座教堂。那里的人们围着我们问好，还要求和我们一起拍一张难忘的合影（见故事的第一部）。

“Deep as the oceans, high as the clouds” vision. Opening day soon came for Adam’s dream of an official school. He named it Haiyun, or Ocean Cloud, which represented to Adam, “knowledge as deep as the oceans, and as high as the clouds”. Knowledge he eagerly wanted to impart to his willing students.

“深如海，高如云”的愿景。武子祥梦寐以求的正规学校开学的那一天很快就到了。他给学校起名“海云”，对他而言，这代表着“深如海和高如云的知识”。他渴望给他那些对学习有热忱的学生们传授这些知识。

It had taken a long time and a lot of hard work to reach this moment. But with multiple glowing government reviews and letters of commendation, his school became quite famous in the region. He received many awards that specially and fittingly emphasized his triumph over disability.

为了这一时刻，他努力工作了很长时间。随着从政府机构获得的诸多好评和推荐，他的学校在当地出了名。同时，他也实至名归地获得了不少突出他战胜残疾的奖励。

Impressive new generation of entrepreneurs in China. In a modern way, Adam also represented the new generation of entrepreneurs in China, now given freedom to create,  improvise, and be enterprising. His school is a very pretty three-story building that includes a youth hostel for some live-in students and good, functional classrooms. It has produced nearly 4000 graduates over 21 years, a great contribution to the community and society.

精彩的新一代中国创业者。武子祥也以一种现代的方式代表了中国的新一代创业者，他们现在得到了创新、自由发挥和创业的自由。他的学校是一座很漂亮的三层楼，里面还有高档实用的课堂和部分住校生住的青年旅舍。在21年内，有几乎4000名学生从这个学校毕业，对社区和社会做出了伟大的贡献。

Location, location, location. Every good realtor emphasizes the key issue of location, location, location for any property. Adam’s school had exactly that, right next to the public County Minorities School. His family also lived on the premises of his school, a great win-win situation. Just one eight-foot wall separated his home/school from the public school.

“地段、地段、地段”。每个好的房地产经纪人都会强调，决定一处房地产最关键的因素是它所处的地段、地段、地段。武子祥的学校正好符合这一标准——它就挨着县级的少数民族公立学校。他的家人也住在他自己的校舍里，这是个非常好的双赢安排。只有一堵八尺高的墙隔开了这所公立学校和他的学校，同时也是他的家。

We especially loved the location, since we had taught many times at that public school, and had interacted often with the children and youth. A modern five-story school with probably 1,000 students and well-kept modern classrooms.

我们特别喜欢那个位置，因为我们以前很多次在那所公立学校教过课，也经常跟那里的孩子和青少年互动。它有一座现代化的五层学校楼，大约1000个学生和先进的课堂设施。

We particularly loved our numerous “English Corners” at the corners of their basketball courts, where we could talk freely about many interesting topics! Having fun teaching and learning, through chatting in English.

我们尤其喜欢参加在篮球场边角举行的“英语角”，在那里我们可以随意谈论很多有趣的话题！一边用英语聊天，一边享受教导和学习的体验。

Disabled person role model. Very appropriately, Adam was billed by the authorities as a fine role model for many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Programs to help disadvantaged people were then in their very early stages of development, especially in the countryside, so every success helped to inspire others to understand the issues a bit more.

残疾人模范。官方非常恰当地把武子祥树立为艰难困苦的背景中奋斗的年轻人的榜样。当时针对农村的脱贫项目还处于初期发展阶段，所以任何成功案例都有助于鼓励人去更好地了解相关的问题。

When I read all the accolades and newspaper articles about Adam, it was clear that many who met him were touched. He has received many visitors to his school who particularly wanted to meet him, these visitors coming from his own province, many other provinces, and even other countries!

当我读到所有关于武子祥的奖项和报纸文章的时候，很容易发现，他感动了好多接触过他的人。他在自己的学校接待过很多特地来看他的人，其中有来自他自己省份的、还有很多其它省份的、甚至国外的！

Imagination, turning point and perseverance. It is really difficult to imagine Adam’s life story and his own personal perseverance in spite of the huge societal difficulties and challenges hurled at him!

想象力，转折点和坚持。确实很难想象，武子祥在面临社会的巨大困难和挑战之下，能有如此的人生故事，和由此体现出来的他个人的坚韧不拔！

But he’s truly grateful for the unsung help and inspiration from many warm and diverse sources! Especially at the key turning point of his life.

而他真心感激来自于各种渠道的默默无闻的热心帮助和激励！尤其是当他面临人生关键的转折点时。

Reference

参考

1. The Best Pain Doctor in reggietales.org
2. Reggietales.org的“世上最好的疼痛治疗医生”