正文翻譯

Being blind and young in China

中國的年輕盲人

Only five blind students took China’s university entrance exam this year. What a waste of potential

今年僅有五名盲人學生參加中國的高考 潛能之浪費

This is almost certainly the best moment to be blind in Chinese history. The past was often exceedingly grim. Chinese literature is filled with stories of blind people who survive by begging or telling fortunes. As modern China grew more prosperous and opened to the world, it built special schools for the handicapped and, by ratifying such agreements as the un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, gave domestic reformers new, albeit limited leverage to press for change. In 2014 China announced that blind students would be allowed to take the national university entrance examination, the fearsome gaokao. This breakthrough followed years of official foot-dragging. In 2015 almost 9.5m candidates took the exam. Just eight students took a special version in Braille or large print. No official count of blind school-pupils exists in China. But if the proportion of American youngsters with legally registered visual handicaps is taken as a guide, as many as 80,000 of those taking the gaokao each year should be blind.

這幾乎是中國歷史上盲人的高光時刻了。在過去，盲人的境遇往往異常嚴峻。中國文學里寫滿了通過乞討或算命來維生的盲人的故事。隨著國家越發(fā)繁榮和開放，中國建立了針對殘障人士的特殊學校，并簽署了聯(lián)合國《殘疾人權利公約》，從而對國內的改革人士施加了推動變革的新動力（盡管有限）。在2014年，中國宣布，允許盲人學生參加高考。這是一場相當可怕的考試。國家對這一決定拖延了多年，終于實現(xiàn)了突破。在2015年，接近950萬名考生參加了高考。只有8名考生以盲文或放大版試卷的方式來參加高考。中國沒有盲人學生的官方數(shù)據(jù)。但是，如果參考美國年輕人中經(jīng)合法注冊的視覺障礙人數(shù)的比例，中國每年應該有多達8萬名盲人學生參加高考。

Alas, this also remains a frustrating moment to be blind and Chinese. Of 10.7m students who sat the gaokao this summer, just five took the Braille papers for the blind. Since 2015 candidate numbers have never exceeded ten in a single year, leading some Chinese to grumble about “wasting national resources” on the Braille gaokao, says Mr Cai. That ignores other hurdles still to be dismantled, he argues, noting that only about 30 Chinese universities admit blind students, and that even some of those fail to offer accessible tests and textbooks on a systematic basis. Other universities exclude the blind with medical tests and other gambits. Education officials do see a need to look after the disabled, he says. The problem is low expectations, and an attitude towards the blind and others that “what we give you is what’s best for you”. Doctors play a role in making families timid, too, says Mr Cai, who lost his sight at ten. Once they decide a progressive disability cannot be cured, they too often abandon hope and counsel risk-avoidance.

好吧，這也是令中國的盲人感到沮喪的時刻。在今年夏天參加高考的1070萬名考生中，只有5名學生使用了為盲人準備的盲文試卷來考試。從2015年起，每年參加高考的盲人學生人數(shù)都不超過10名。蔡先生說，于是就有一些人抱怨說，盲文高考是在“浪費國家資源”。蔡先生認為，一些需要解決的問題仍未被認識到。他提到，只有30所大學接收盲人學生，而這些學校中的一部分無法提供系統(tǒng)性支持，如讓盲人學生能夠參加考試和閱讀教科書。其他大學會通過體檢和別的手段來篩掉盲人學生。蔡先生說，教育官員的確認識到了關照殘障學生的必要。問題在于對殘障學生的低期待，以及對待殘障學生的這樣一種態(tài)度：我們給你什么，什么就是最好的。蔡先生在十歲時眼睛失明，他說，醫(yī)生也讓殘障孩子們的家人變得膽怯。一旦醫(yī)生確定了孩子的發(fā)展性殘疾不可治愈，他們也往往喪失了希望，并建議要規(guī)避風險。

Nonetheless a handful of blind students manage to stay in the mainstream school system and achieve gaokao scores that entitle them to apply for elite colleges, a feat that reflects luck, talent but also years of grinding toil. One such student, Ang Ziyu, a serious youth from the inland city of Hefei, is attending the Shanghai training course. He must wait until late August to learn if his score of 635 is enough to enter Beijing Normal University, a teachertraining school. He expects no special allowance to be made for years of having schoolwork read to him by his parents, or the trickiness of taking the gaokao in Braille, a tactile form of printing that is ill-suited to transliterating Chinese characters. Mr Ang currently leans towards teaching at a blind school after graduation. But he has heard that attending college often leaves students eager to explore new possibilities. “I feel like that, too,” he says shyly.

盡管如此，一小部分盲人學生成功地留在了主流學校體系，他們的高考分數(shù)足以申請頂級學府。這樣的成績來自于幸運和才能，以及多年的艱辛付出。昂子余就是如此。這是一個來自內陸城市合肥的不茍言笑的年輕人，他也參加了在上海開展的這項培訓課程。他必須等到八月末才能知道他取得的635分夠不夠得上北京師范大學的分數(shù)線。這是一所培育教師的大學。多年來，都是父母為他讀出學校作業(yè)的內容，高考是用盲文考的，盲文是一種通過觸覺來進行閱讀的印刷文字，而漢字并不適合轉譯成盲文。但他并不期待因為這些得到什么特殊補貼。小昂現(xiàn)在比較想在畢業(yè)后成為一名盲人學校的教師。但他聽說進入大學之后學生常常會渴望探索新的可能。他害羞地說：“我也這樣覺得?！?/p>

The soft bigotry of low expectations

低期待也算是一種偏見

Each year a few hundred blind students take simplified admissions tests set by special disabled colleges or sections of ordinary universities. That is the path taken by Zhang Shuxin and Huang Kan, two teenage girls from the southern province of Guangdong. Speaking at the Shanghai training camp, they volunteer that the education they received at high schools for the blind was “vastly different” from that of a normal senior school. Ms Zhang plans to be a music teacher. Already her father has offered to buy her a flat so she need not worry about earning a living—an offer not open to her two younger brothers. Indeed, her mother was reluctant even to let her attend the course in Shanghai, thinking it risky.

每年會有幾千名盲人學生參加特殊學?；蚱胀ù髮W的特殊學院組織的簡化入學考試。張書欣和黃瞰是兩名來自廣東省的年輕女孩，她們倆選擇參加這種考試。在上海的培訓營里，她們發(fā)言說，她們在高中接受的針對盲人的教育和普通高中里的教育“非常不同”。小張想要成為一名音樂老師。她的父親已經(jīng)決定要給她買一套公寓，所以她不用為謀生而擔憂。她的兩個弟弟就沒有這個待遇了。實際上，她的母親連在上海舉辦的這項課程都不愿意讓她參加，覺得太危險了。

Ms Huang’s parents would not let her attend an ordinary high school. “They worried I would get in danger or impair my vision further,” she says, conceding: “A lot of us have lived a very closedoff life since we were young.” She credits the internet and screenreading software with connecting her to the world. She hopes to become a psychotherapist, and to help other Chinese know that the blind are as capable as others. “I have a lot of dreams,” she says. Unexpectedly, the thought brings on tears, but she wants no sympathy, instead apologising for her loss of control. These stubborn, impressive students know what they need: equal chances to show what they can do. Pity is of no use to them.

小黃的父母不愿意讓她進入普通的中學。她說：“他們擔心我會遇到危險或者視力受到進一步損傷。”她不情愿地承認道：“我們中的很多人從很小的時候就過著非常封閉的生活?！彼J為網(wǎng)絡和讀屏軟件把她和世界聯(lián)結了起來。小黃想要成為一名心理治療師，幫助其他中國人認識到，盲人也和其他人一樣有能力?！拔矣泻芏鄩粝??！彼f道。出乎意料的是，這一想法讓她哭了起來，但她不想受到同情，而是為自己的情緒失控道了歉。這些倔強的、令人敬佩的學生知道他們需要什么：展示他們才能的平等機會。同情對他們來說沒有意義。