“点字无疆界”盲校为西藏盲童带来新希望

Braille without Borders Gives New Hope to Blind Children in Tibet

“点字无疆界”盲校为西藏盲童带来新希望

 

In a busy classroom filled with nearly 20 children, Sabriye Tenberken lectures her pupils to always help others who need it. The children nod, leave their chairs and rush into the kitchen, ready for supper.

 

The school, founded by Ms. Tenberken and her Dutch partner, Paul Kronenborg, is tucked away in a small alley¹, not far from a busy street in Lhasa. They founded Braille Without Borders, hoping that one day their work would not only help Tibetans, but also visually impaired³ people from other developing countries.

 

Ms. Tenberken, a 34-year-old German woman who has been blind since the age of 12, pursued a master's degree in Tibetan studies in her hometown, Bonn.

 

When she realized that the Braille writing system for the blind did not exist in Tibetan, she developed one - in just two weeks. Braille uses raised dots on a page to create words - users feel the dots to read the page.

 

Ms. Tenberken then went to Tibet to introduce this new system, knowing that there were no schools to help sightless people in the Himalayan region, which is under Chinese control.

 

Accompanied by three Tibetans, Ms. Tenberken rode a horse to rural villages. Although the journey was physically⁴ tough, she says the hardest part was seeing how blind children were treated. In Tibet, sightless children are often kept isolated⁵ and they rarely are educated - some are so ignored that by age four or five they still cannot walk.

 

Ms. Tenberken: It is because people are embarrassed to have blind people in their family. They are really ashamed; they think if you are blind you are punished for something you have done in your past life.

 

The incidence of blindness in Tibet is double the global average. High altitude, heavy sun exposure, and inadequate⁶ medical care in remote areas cause a large numbers of vision problems in this mountainous region.

 

According to official figures, there are 35,000 blind people in Tibet - out of a population of 2.6 million.

 

The Red Cross and several private organizations have set up camps in Tibet to perform eye surgeries and train local doctors to protect vision.

 

Ms. Tenberken and Mr. Kronenborg's school, however, aims to change life for sightless Tibetans by teaching them skills for living and giving them hope for a better life.

 

Ms. Tenberken: After they [the children] came here, they learned that there are other blind people who could do things that their parents never trusted them to do, they started to gain confidence, and they started to realize that it doesn't matter if you're blind or sighted, it just a matter of using the abilities you have, and not only concentrating on your disability.

 

Seventeen-year-old Yudon never stepped into a school before she came to the center seven years ago. And now she is a graduate and goes to a regular school in Lhasa. She wants to follow Ms. Tenberken's footsteps one day and teach.

 

Yudon: I will learn more English and Chinese, and when I graduate I will try to help handicapped and blind people.

 

At the center, children are taught English, Chinese and Tibetan, and they can learn to work on computers, do massages⁷, or handle farm work.

 

Eleven-year-old Gurme loves to sing. He shows off his talent to a visitor and sings a Tibetan song about a boy who hates school and loves to spend money.

 

Gurme says one day he also wants to be a teacher, just like Sabriye Tenberken.

 

But opening her school was not easy and she faced doubters. Ms. Tenberken remembers the skepticism she faced when she first met with officials in Tibet - who were concerned not only about her physical ability to do the job, but also her motivations.

 

Ms. Tenberken: In the beginning they were a little bit suspicious. They thought maybe she comes for political reason or maybe she comes for special religious reason. Finally, after one, two, maybe three years, they understood, they accepted the outcome of the project.

 

Ms. Tenberken says that Braille Without Borders gets most of its limited funds from donors⁸ in Germany and the Netherlands - none comes from the either the local Tibetan government or the central Chinese government.

 

With 76 students and 40 graduates, the center is slowly gaining trust in Tibet, and its reputation is growing.

 

But because of limited space it cannot accept everyone - 50 children are on a waiting list to enroll⁹.

 

The Braille Without Borders founders¹⁰ hope to open a second center in southern India. There, they want to train many more people to start schools for the blind in other countries, and carry Ms. Tenberken's vision farther out into the world.

 

Siska Silitonga, for VOA news, Lhasa, Tibet.

 

注释：

visually [5vizjuEli] adv. 在视觉上地

impair² [im5pZE] v. 削弱

sightless [5saitlis] adj. 失明的

embarrass [im5bArEs] vt. 使困窘

ashamed [E5Feimd] adj. 惭愧的

inadequate [in5Adikwit] adj. 不充分的

mountainous region 山区

handicapped [5hAndikApt] adj. 残废的

skepticism [5skeptisizEm] n. 怀疑

enroll [in5rEul] v. 登记

1 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

2 impair   

v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少

参考例句：

• Loud noise can impair your hearing.巨大的噪音有损听觉。
• It can not impair the intellectual vigor of the young.这不能磨灭青年人思想活力。

3 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

7 massages   

按摩，推拿( massage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At present the doctor is giving him daily massages to help restore the function of his limbs. 目前医生每天在给他按摩，帮助他恢复腿臂的功能。
• His father massages his nose and chin. 他爸爸揉了揉鼻子和下巴。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

10 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句