年少时，英语教授杨佳曾梦想能够像书中人物那 般生活。
When she was younger, English professor Yang Jia dreamed of being like characters in the books she read.
她想象自己是意志坚强且独立的简• 爱，顽强抗争，忠于自我；或是俄国小说《钢铁是怎样炼成的》中美丽富有的冬妮娅。
She imagined herself as the strong-willed and independent Jane Eyre, who struggles to be her own individual, or as the rich and beautiful Tonia Tumanova from the Russian novel How the Steel was Tempered.
相反，杨佳说，自己最终却处于和书中那些失明的主人公一 样的境地——像简•爱的爱人罗切斯特先生，以及与残疾斗争最终取得成功的男主人公保尔•柯察金。
Instead, Yang said, she ended up more like the blind characters in those same books - Jane Eyre's love Mr. Rochester, or Pavel Korchagin, the hero who fought against his disability to achieve success.
然而，同书中这些人物相比，杨佳的经历 更具文学色彩。
Yet the comparison with these characters is more than merely literary.
29岁那年，杨佳被确诊为视网膜黄斑部退化，起先她的视觉变得模糊不清，最终完全失明。
At 29, Yang was diagnosed with macular degeneration, which first blurred her vision and then led to her ultimate blindness.
“失 明成为我人生的一个分水岭。29岁之前，我是努力超越别人，29岁之后，我是在超越自我。”
Going blind was the watershed of my life. My focus shifted from outrunning others before turning 29 to transcending my own limits after it.
就像书中那些意志坚强 的主人公们一样，杨佳在困境中顽强斗争，努力走出突然失明的阴影，最终成为了一名备受尊敬的社会活动家。
And like those two strong-willed characters, Yang fought the odds to rise from her sudden blindness to became a well-respected social activist.
现年47岁的杨佳，15岁时被郑州大学录取。那时她同龄人们称为天才，大学里她每年都再班级里名列前茅。
Yang, now 47, won admission to Zhengzhou University when she was 15. She was called a genius by her peers and topped her class every year in university.
毕业后，她在郑州大学执教了三年的时间，之后她来到中国科学院研究生院继续攻读她的硕士学位。
After three years of teaching at her alma mater following graduation, Yang proceeded to her master's degree at the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
在开往北京的火车上，杨佳觉得自己像极了大片《泰坦尼克号》的主角杰克——登上了一艘豪华邮轮，准备拥抱一个美好的新世界，但从没有想过船 会沉掉。
On the train for Beijing, Yang felt like the character Jack from the blockbuster movie Titanic, boarding a luxury liner, ready to embrace a brave new life, yet never expecting it to founder.
一切都很顺利，但就像《泰坦尼克号》中那样，灾难突然降临——她本人遭遇失明的打击，她曾深爱着的丈夫也向她提出离婚并带走了他们唯一的孩子。
Everything was smooth sailing, but just like the Titanic, trouble comes swiftly - not only was she going blind, but her once-loving husband asked for a divorce and took away their only child.
杨佳表示：“黑暗即 将吞噬一切，在漫长而痛苦的等待中，我也逐渐变得冷静起来。我决定直面困难，迎接挑战。”
I gradually restored my composure in the long and painful wait for blindness. I decided to face the music and meet the challenge, Yang said.
她还照常教课，即使不比之前更 好，至少也和从前一样好。她不能再去阅读那些书籍了，但她可以通过特殊软件来听。她甚至还为英语阅读课程编制了一本教材。
She teaches as well as she did before, if not better. She is not able to read books any more, but she can still listen to them using specialized software. She has even compiled a textbook for the graduate English reading course.
2000年，杨佳赢得前往哈佛大学肯尼迪学院学习的机会，一年后她成为哈佛大学历史上第一位取得 公共管理硕士学位的盲人学生。
In 2000, Yang won the opportunity to study at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a year later became the first blind Master in Public Administration graduate in Harvard's history.
哈佛大学公共服务专业教授大卫•哥根为她赠书题字：“佳，你使我们受益良多。”
David Gergen, professor of public service at Harvard, signed his book as a present to her with the words: "Jia, you taught us more."
作为联合国残疾人权利公约委员会副主席，杨佳很高兴有机会能够促进国际间残疾人事业的交流，能够使中国在残疾人事业上的点点滴滴为世界所熟知。
As vice-chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Yang is happy to have the chance to contribute to promoting international exchanges for the cause of disabled people and making the cause of disabled people in China known to the world.
杨佳还是一名全国政协委员。今年政协会议上，她的提案内容之一就是建立一个残疾人、老年人等弱势群体的在线论坛。
Yang is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. One of her proposals, for this year's ongoing session, is to build an online forum for the disadvantaged, including the disabled and the elderly.
杨佳说：“有了这些论坛，弱势群体就可以把他 们所需、所想在这里呈现出来。同时，这些论坛也能够为他们提供一个平台，在这里他们能够交流思想，扩大社交圈，解决实际困难。”
With the forum, the disadvantaged can express what they need and want. It can also be a platform for them to exchange ideas, enlarge their social circle and solve daily problems, Yang said.
她用自己特有的，坚毅的声音表达到： “只要你不放弃，总会有希望。”
There is always hope, as long as you don't give up, she said in her characteristic resolute voice.