"It's bright, I can see."
After 44 years, Hangzhou's "genius translator" Jin Xiaoyu's right eye saw light again.
This is also the first time in half a year that he has entered the public eye again. At the beginning of the year, because of a report, Jin Xiaoyu’s story hit the screen, and the public got to know this ill-fated translator.
Half a year later, Jin Xiaoyu stood in his home and talked about his story with the translator. He told jiupainews that the praise of "genius translator" is just a halo from the outside world. "I still have to do my job conscientiously, otherwise people who know what I do will definitely see it."
He attributed his ability to translate his works well and gain everyone's approval to training. "I've been thinking about translation, walking, eating, and eating."
44年与vision0.3
At nearly 5 p.m., someone knocked on the door, and Jin Xiaoyu opened the door.
The summer in Hangzhou is quite hot. He was wearing a white vest and shorts, revealing his fair skin. Although he is 50 years old, Jin Xiaoyu's face is plump and round, without a trace of wrinkles, and he looks no more than 30 years old. He wears a pair of glasses. If you don't look carefully, you won't find that the pupil of his right eye seems to be missing a piece - when he was six years old, his right eye was injured by a toy gun .
When he saw the visitor, Jin Xiaoyu turned to the side. After inviting the guest into the house, he went straight to the kitchen at the back and said, "Dad." When guests come, Mr. Jin usually receives them, while Jin Xiaoyu translates in the room.
Jin Xiaoyu’s father, Jin Xingyong, is cooking in the kitchen. Because Jin Xiaoyu's eyesight is bad and translating is difficult for his eyesight, they had an early dinner and went to bed early at night.
Jin Xiaoyu’s father.
htmlWhen Jin Xiaoyu was 06 years old, after his eye was injured, he only had lens removal surgery due to the limitations of the medical technology at the time. For so many years, Jin Xingyong and his wife have been worried about their child's eyes. They have taken their children to many cities to seek medical treatment and have been exposed to some treatment options, but there has been no progress because they are worried about the risks of surgery and other issues.Even so, they still tried their best to take good care of the child's eyes. "His eyes were washed very clean." Jin Xingyong said that from the appearance, the child's injured right eye looked normal at first glance, and it did not look like some eyes. Diseases can also cause turbidity or even pus discharge.
But the child's injured eye was like a nail in his heart, and the Jin couple felt heartbroken and helpless. So when the Ophthalmology Department of Zhejiang University contacted the father and son and said that they could make the injured eyes see again, Jin Xingyong was extremely pleasantly surprised.
At the beginning, the hospital gave several plans, but in the end everyone chose to respect Jin Xiaoyu’s wishes and receive conservative treatment. After wearing the customized contact lens , the light broke through the darkness that had been silent for 44 years, and Jin Xiaoyu's right eye saw light again. As the doctor predicted, his right eye vision recovered to 0.3.
Inside the house, the contact lens was lying quietly in the box, and Jin Xiaoyu was not wearing it.
He explained, "After wearing it, the vision is only 0.3, which is of little use." The 0.3 vision is very blurry, and Jin Xiaoyu's other eye is also short-sighted. At present, both eyes have not found a comfortable use condition. He still wears his old glasses.
But the father is very happy. He feels that the child's eyes have made significant progress in treatment. He looks forward to his son's ability to strengthen the training and cooperation of his eyes so that his vision will get better and better. But he also knew that his son's right eye had been resting for decades, and once it was reopened, there was still a long way to go before he could use it flexibly.
10 and 22 books
Jin Xiaoyu and his father live in an old community in Gongshu District, Hangzhou. The house has no elevator, and the cement floor, old wooden doors and peeling paint cabinets all reflect the age of the house.
Go around the living room and go in. The bedroom on the left facing north and south is Jin Xiaoyu's room. There is a bed against the wall on the right side of the room. Next to the bedside is his desk and computer. There are several dictionaries on the desk.
The place where they have the most dictionaries is in the living room. The living room is filled with books and medicines, including nearly 20 dictionaries including "English-Chinese Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Vocabulary" and "English-Chinese Technical Dictionary" - these are the information books of Mr. Jin, who is engaged in pharmaceutical and chemical engineering. Whenever he encounters content that needs to be translated, he will read through these dictionaries and check carefully.This rigorous attitude towards writing also influenced my younger son.
"Occasionally I will ask Xiaoyu to help translate. He translates very well, but it is not a difficult task. It is a relatively simple translation." At that time, Mr. Jin never thought that his son would show his talent in translation. Because in their son’s previous life, he had dropped things, hurt people, lost contact, and even committed suicide since he dropped out of high school. They felt sorry for their son’s misery but were unable to change the situation. "Our house has always had four walls and no TV. Xiaoyu broke three of them before and filled them with water. We have replaced several refrigerators and washing machines, as well as tables, bookshelves, cabinets, doors... Okay, suddenly there was a bang "What do you think we should do?"
After learning that their son suffered from bipolar disorder , the couple's hope for their son became "As long as he lives, they can accept it if he doesn't study, work, or start a family." During the most difficult time at home, they tried their best to meet their son's needs - he wanted to read, that is, books in English, Japanese, ancient Chinese, Go, music, painting, geography, etc. The couple bought him more than two hundred books. Xiaoyu also taught himself foreign languages and watched original movies. “When watching foreign language movies, he first watches the ones with Chinese subtitles. After he understands them, he makes a note to block the subtitles before watching. He watches a movie many times until he understands it completely. ”
I spend more time at home, and my neighbors who don’t understand think that my children are playing on the computer at home. Mr. Jin didn’t explain it either, because it would be useless even if he did.
Jin Xiaoyu said that his arms have been a little sore recently.
Until 2010, Mr. Jin’s wife went to attend a class reunion. A classmate who stayed at the school and became a professor heard that Xiaoyu was good at foreign languages and asked if he could ask Xiaoyu to translate at home. The mother sincerely said that her son was very good at foreign languages and please give him a chance.
The first manuscript Jin Xiaoyu translated was "Ship Fever". His excellent translation opened the door to translation. In the following 10 years, he translated 22 books with more than 6 million words, and each of them received excellent reviews. Very high. Some netizens commented that the books he translated were "simple and beautiful in writing".
"When translating, I flip through every ten pages." Because his eyesight is bad, he is used to printing out the books to be translated. A thick stack of A4 paper is stacked on the table, and every detail and every word is included. He must carefully check to ensure that the translated content is accurate. Compared with text, he feels that the pictures, maps, etc. in the article are more difficult to translate. He will also check whether the original author has other translated books and study his writing style.
Geniuses are known
As Mr. Jin said, although Jin Xiaoyu’s books are well translated, not many people know him in the circle, let alone the outside world. The couple thought about telling Xiaoyu's story to let more people know that their son would still be able to receive some care even after a hundred years.
But time is always wasted. While buying medicine for Xiaoyu and taking care of his wife, the years flew by. It was not until the moment his wife passed away that Mr. Jin suddenly realized how time passed so fast.
Because the eldest son is abroad and the younger son is ill again and is in the hospital. When his wife left, only Mr. Jin was with her. At the funeral home, he looked at his wife's urn and said, "I'm going to make a phone call. Do you agree? One day I'm gone, and no one will know about our son."
He dialed the media's phone number , asked if he could write about our genius son. Afterwards, Jin Xiaoyu’s story hit the social media platform, and countless people became aware of this translator.
Jin Xiaoyu’s home.
For a time, the visitor almost crossed the threshold of the Jin family. Mr. Jin didn't expect it would cause such a big response, and Jin Xiaoyu didn't expect it either. In addition to the constant flow of customers during the day, there are even guests visiting in the middle of the night. Mr. Jin's cultural upbringing allowed him to receive visitors in a friendly manner.
Mr. Jin’s old classmates also contacted him one after another, expressing concern about his family’s situation and praising Jin Xiaoyu’s talent. Jin Xiaoyu’s first editor on the translation journey also sent an email from across the ocean to comfort and encourage Jin Xiaoyu.
was like a hot stone hitting the middle of the lake. Their originally peaceful life became lively, even a little noisy.
For Mr. Jin, what he is most gratified about is that many translation associations and publishing houses have extended an olive branch to Jin Xiaoyu, including the Zhejiang Translation Association, which Mr. Jin likes very much.
Not only that, his son has to participate in more activities, and he even takes the initiative to contact the outside world. Normally, the two of them only go out to eat occasionally, but now the son will agree to participate in some activities. His father will recruit potential partners for him, and he is willing to contact them.
Jin Xiaoyu told Jiupai News that he attended an event of the Translation Association some time ago and spoke at the meeting. Now when he talks to people, he answers fluently and is neither humble nor overbearing.
"Genius" is the result of training
For Jin Xiaoyu, the biggest change in his life after becoming famous was the lack of time.
He doesn't like answering the same questions over and over again, and he is used to ensuring a certain amount of time for translation every day. Too many guests disturb his normal working hours. So he chose to retreat to the bedroom and continue to translate. Others and Mr. Jin were talking outside. He sometimes came out to pour water, but never took a step toward the living room.
As time goes by, hot-spot events come one after another, and Jin Xiaoyu's popularity gradually decreases. There are fewer visitors than before, and he slowly returns to his normal life.
When talking about translation, Jin Xiaoyu will show more interest. He will tell you about the problems encountered during translation. If you don't understand some, such as how to read a document on a mobile phone, he will also take the initiative to ask for help.
Because the floor is low and the indoor light is slightly poor, he who needs bright light to read often chooses to read in the community park, where he spends the whole day reading. He was very able to concentrate. In the past few decades, people came and went in the old community and the sound of renovations came and went, but he turned a deaf ear.
For him, fame and external praise are not important. He still has to be himself and do a good job in translation.
was asked what he thought about outsiders praising him as a "genius translator". He replied without hesitation: "This is just a halo from the outside world. You still have to do your job conscientiously, otherwise people who know what you do will definitely see it." And the so-called talent, in his opinion, is just "trained".
He said that when he first started working as a translator, he was very focused. “I was always thinking about translation, even when I was walking and eating.”
is now proficient and not as focused as before, but this does not mean that he has relaxed. He knows how to translate every book.
Jin Xiaoyu and the manuscript he is translating.
Jin Xiaoyu’s dreamlike experience has led many people to regard it as the Hangzhou version of “Beautiful Mind.” But the reality is not so romantic. In Jin Xiaoyu’s view, he engaged in translation because “he can’t do anything else at home, including interpreting, and he can’t deal with people.” He clearly understands his situation and the problems he faces. , and also know how to grasp and give full play to their own advantages.
did a great job translating, so has he tried writing it himself? Jin Xiaoyu said he didn't have time, "When my mother passed away, I originally wanted to record it. But after the report came out, many people came to ask me. What they wrote was similar to what I wanted to write, but I haven't written it yet."
Since my mother passed away, many people came to ask me. After that, there were only two men left in the house, father and son. There were always areas where daily care was not so comprehensive and meticulous. Jin Xiaoyu also mentioned hiring a nanny or hiring an hourly worker to clean up the house, but his father wanted to spend the money on something more worthwhile. places, such as renovating the home, so that Jin Xiaoyu will be worthy of the woman when she gets married in the future.
Mr. Jin is now in his eighties and has a strong body, but his ankles are a little swollen. Now, he cooks simple meals every day, and Jin Xiaoyu is responsible for frying meat and vegetables. He likes to buy shrimps because they are easy to make and because his mother liked to eat them before she was alive.
Whenever there are problems at home, Mr. Jin will ask for help from the community. Over the years, the community has taken good care of them, and Mr. Jin is very grateful.But he has been worried about what to do if Jin Xiaoyu is the only one left in the future. "What if he gets sick? It's not difficult to send him to a mental hospital. But who will take him out? Where will he go after he gets out?"
Jin Xiaoyu also sees his father's worries. Perhaps he is much stronger and more independent than his father imagined. He is also secretly thinking about his father. For example, he once thought about sending his father to a nursing home to enjoy his life, but because his father could not bear to be separated from him, He didn't mention it again.
There are many times when Jin Xiaoyu likes to go to the library to read alone, and sometimes he forgets the time while reading. The father waiting at home will gradually become anxious and even restless as the time passes, but in the end, his son will return home safely.
Written by reporter Wen Yanli Photography by reporter Shao Xiaoxin
Source: Changjiang Daily
