From Scavenger to Translator 从拾荒者到英语翻译

A scavenger living in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao has become an internet celebrity. Throughout over 20 years of efforts, the scavenger – surnamed Yuan – has been working herself up to be an English-Chinese translator. Yuan in 1992 dropped out of school where she studied to be a clothing designer, and since then she has been teaching herself English against all odds. Yuan translated a book from English into Chinese in 2017, but it was never published.

1990年，袁英慧考入了青岛市崂山第一职业高中的服装专业，可她对英语产生了浓厚的兴趣，从那时候起，便开始慢慢地学习英语。1992年，袁英慧不顾家人的反对，离开了学校，仅有三年的初中英语基础的她，开始一面打工，一面自学英语。

她坚持自学英语20年，不仅能熟读许多英文报纸，还自己动手翻译小说。尽管学习的过程中一直遭到家人和邻居的嘲笑和反对，她却始终没有放弃。

她主要靠拾荒生活，许多人觉得她更像一个流浪者，44岁了也没有成家。但这些对她来说，并不那么重要，因为在她的心里有她自己的梦想。

“我喜欢英语，未来也希望用自己20年的学习，成为一名笔译。”