胡婧，1984年11月出生于新疆乌鲁木齐，3个月时得了一场大病，6个月时被诊断为重度脑瘫，医生断言其“长大后生活不能自理，不认识父母，也不会笑”。然而，胡婧5岁依靠录音机学会拼音，10岁学会站立，12岁独立行走，16岁自学英语，19岁学习翻译，在双手失控的情况下，先后用下巴颏和脚趾头打字，翻译、审校了上百万字的资料，出版了6部译著，被誉为“新疆最好的翻译之一”。
2005年，21岁的胡婧正式走上职业翻译道路，开始获得收入；2008年，她注册了一家名为“译渊文化服务部”的个体工作室，自主创业启新生；2011年，她荣获了有着“中国翻译界奥斯卡”之称的第23届韩素音青年翻译奖竞赛汉译英组优秀奖；2014年，她被评为新疆维吾尔自治区“自强不息，自主创业之星”；2016年，她考取了英国皇家特许语言家学会Diploma in Translation高级翻译文凭，并获中国区最佳考生奖；2019年，她创办微信公众号“PEA中英双语历史文化趣谈”，主要讲述中国传统历史文化，志在成为一名跨文化交流的使者。
2019年9月，中国外文局翻译专业资格考评中心主任王继雨一行慰问了优秀翻译工作者胡婧。她在看到考评中心的报道（点击观看《乘物以游心，逍遥译海间》）后回复了一封双语信。
以下文章为胡婧撰写：
因为这只笼中鸟在唱响自由
For the Caged Bird Sings of Freedom
——记接受中国外文局翻译专业资格考评中心采访有感
Personal thoughts on an interview with the CATTI Center, CIPG
一只自由的小鸟跳上风的脊梁
乘势滑翔
直至气流消散
才在金灿灿的阳光下
缩起双翼
无所畏惧地备战天际。
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
但有一只鸟在狭小的笼中
缩头缩脑
几乎无法用目光穿越愤怒的牢笼
翅膀被剪
双脚受缚
如此这般，它开始引吭高歌
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
笼中鸟发出惊惧的颤音
歌唱心中未知但依旧向往的一切
旋律响彻远处的山丘
因为这只笼中鸟在唱响自由
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
大约十五年后的今天，应徐菡的提问，重温Maya Angelou的这首《笼中鸟》，一种莫名的情愫在心底荡漾开来，难以言表。回想第一次的偶遇，诗的标题深深地把我吸引了，其内容更是让我心潮澎湃。在此之前的2003年，作为消磨时光的办法，我用中英双语写过一个小故事，讲的就是一只笼中鸟悲惨的命运。故事结尾如下：
Today, to answer Xu Han’s question, Irevisited the above poem by Maya Angelou after 15 years, which infused in me anodd sentiment that no words could describe.Its title, CagedBird, fascinated me when I saw it by chance for the first time, and what was written below sent me to a surge of emotions. Back in 2003, when I hadn’t read this poem，for a bit of pastime activity, I wrote in both Chinese and English a short story of the tragic life of a caged bird. The ending of the story goes like this:
“两天后，老人的律师去别墅处理遗产方面的事情。那个金色鸟笼一下就把他吸引住了。他走过去，眼前的景象使他大为震惊：一只绿毛鹦鹉躺在笼子底部的栏杆上，张着淡黄色的鹰钩嘴，眼睛直勾勾地瞅着天空，似乎要说些什么。”
“The next day, someone comes to deal with the funeral. He was surprised to see a beautiful bird lying in a luxurious cage. To his amazement, the little bird stared directly at the sky with its beak widely opened, as if it had something to say.”
故事中，老人暴病离世，生前精心饲养的鹦鹉因无人为它打开笼子，也被活活饿死。有多少个日日夜夜，这种噩梦般的想象潜伏在我内心深处。毕竟，一个连饭勺都拿不起的女孩，自由是最大的奢望。
In my story, the old owner died of a heart attack, leaving his beloved birdie friend to die of starvation in the locked cage. I’ve lost count of the days and nights when this imagined tragedy crept into the deepest tunnel of my subconsciousness. For a girl who was not physically able to hold a spoon to her mouth,nothing, afterall, could be more deliriously inviting than freedom.
那时16岁的我，惊恐且迷茫，母亲的话语萦绕在耳旁：“天天就知道叽里呱啦学这些洋玩意儿，有什么用？！还不抓紧时间锻炼！将来我们不在了，有你受的罪！”但双手依然不听使唤。损坏的脑细胞犹如最坚固的牢笼，将我的肢体囚禁，唯独26个字母奇妙的组合能把我的目光载向广阔无垠的天地。那时的我，爱上了英文，爱上了自由。
Scared and lost was my 16-year-old self, Mother’s words ringing in the ears: “What’s the point in yapping away all this alien abracadabra? Total nonsense if you ask me! Time to beef up your arms, girl, or you’ll be damned when we’re gone!” But my hands would still refuse to cooperate. The damaged brain cells had long become the strongest bars that trapped my body in; only an amazing feast of the alphabet soup could satiate my hungry soul in a boundless world. At the time, I fell in love with English and the freedom it promised.
又一次网络偶遇——加拿大Mary和Ben夫妇，引导我从英语爱好者变身成为一名译者。初入译海，我分不清东西南北。嗯，没错，有一次我甚至把“南朝鲜”错译成“北朝鲜”，使半岛成功实现了互通有无。然而，我却乐此不疲，百战不殆，从当地一家小翻译公司渐渐做到了全国多家机构。商务、法律、农业、IT，不拒来者，统统揽下，哪怕熬到半夜，也要一点点啃完吃透。母亲逼我用不听话的手操作电脑，我却不听她的话，关上书房门偷偷练习用下巴和脚趾打字，为了满足翻译实效性的要求，获得稳定的产出。我觉得自己发现了一片神奇的疆域。在那里，我不再是处处需要别人照顾的“可怜虫”，而变成了无所不能的“超人”。那时的我，欣喜于受人之托，驰骋在文字之间。曾几何时，我产生了错觉，认为自己已经冲破了牢笼，终将翱翔天际。
Another chance encounter online, this time with the Canadian couple Mary and Ben, transformed me from an avid English learner to a freelance translator. Initially in the trade I had no idea which way to go – literally! Once I mistranslated South Korea as North Korea, implying a long-anticipated exchange across the peninsula. Despite all that, I would not retract and retreat. Instead I slowly expanded my business from acouple of local translating firms to quite a few agencies across the country. And I dared to take it all in – business, law, agriculture, IT, you just name it. I would grind my teeth and plough through, even if it meant I had to work into the wee hours of the night. Never once had my hands obeyed me, in the same way as I defied Mother’s order that I use them. To meet deadlines and produce steady output, behind the locked door I learned to practice typing with my chinand later my toes. I believed I had found a wonderland, where I got to embrace a new identity of the almighty and shed the old one of a pitiful invalid. At the time, I took so great a delight in making use of myself and exploring the sea of words, that I even deluded myself into believing I had finally broken free to claim my own world.
随着信心一点点增强，我不再满足于自己“黑翻译”的身份。大约在2006年，我从网上买来CATTI二级笔译教材，准备参加这一国内最权威的翻译专业资格考试。可问题接踵而至。我无法用笔写字，怎么考呢？读过Helen Keller的自传，得知校方专门为她安排适合聋哑盲人的考卷和考场，那可是100多年前啊，我能否效仿呢？我满怀希望地让父亲咨询当地和北京的相关部门。然而，也许是因为当时我国正处于起步阶段，CATTI也刚建立不久，软硬件都不完善，故经多次协商，依然无果而终。隐藏了一段时间的“牢笼”又浮现在我的眼前。
As my confidence rose, so did my dissatisfaction with the fact that I was uncertified. To solve this problem, I bought some textbooks on the China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters(CATTI), the most rigorous qualification system for translators in China. But more problems ensued, since I couldn’t hold a pen with which to write, how was I supposed to take the test? I had learned from Helen Keller that her university accommodated her disabilities and provided special test papers for the blind and a dedicated exam room. That was more than one hundred years ago. Maybe now I could do that in my country, too. With hope I asked Father tocontact the competent authorities in my hometown and Beijing. To our chagrin, no support was granted in response to Father’s repeated inquiries. This wasprobably because of the lack of both soft and hard power for the newly-established test system in a country that had just begun to open up and develop. Those iron bars, which seemed to have disappeared for a while, loomed before my eyes once more.
身体上的禁锢终究阻挡不了一颗追求自由的心。2016年，在从事自由翻译十二年之际，我用英文向英国皇家特许语言家学会（CIoL）发了一封邮件，根据其《DipTrans考试大纲》明确的说明，申请了延时、机考和设置家庭考场三项特殊照顾.。几个小时之后，我就收到了英方肯定的答复。
Yet physical constraints cannot stop themental quest for freedom. In 2016, twelve years into my freelance translationcareer, I emailed the UK’s Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIoL) explainingmy wish to take the DipTrans exam and my need to apply for “extra timeallowance (max 25%) or rest periods”, “use of specialist equipment e.g. acomputer”, and “use of the home as an Examination Centre”, as explicitly statedin the IoL Educational Trust Candidate Regulations. Several hours later, Ireceived their positive response.
DipTrans翻译考试由三部分组成：通稿翻译和两项半专业化翻译。通稿原文为600字左右，半专业化各项约400字，规定分别在3小时和2小时内完成，三个单元可分开报考，通过单项考试，颁发单项证书，累计考取三项证书后即可兑换完整的翻译文凭。考评标准异常严格，整体通过率偏低，但多样化的选择更易满足考生和用人单位的需求，对规范翻译市场起到了较好的作用。
The DipTrans exam has three units: ageneric text of around 600 words and two semi-technical texts of the candidate’s choosing in two of the six given fields, each about 400 words. The translation of the first should be completed within three hours and each of the latter, two hours. The candidate can opt to take all three units in one sitting or individually, one or two at a time. Passing each unit would be awarded acertificate and all three certificates would entitle the candidate to the complete diploma. The general passing rate remains quite low due to rigorous assessment, but the modular design ensures a greater extent to which the professional needs of both translators and employers can be met, thus having asignificant impact on regulating the market.
由于全科考总字数太多，时间过长，大多数考生选择一次考一两个单元。英方担心我体力吃不消，建议我选择单项，可我考虑到经济因素（包括第二次考试监考老师的差旅费），最后还是报了全科考。
Considering the unusually long duration and the large word count, most candidates take the exam in two or more sittings. I was also advised to take one or two units given my physical conditions. In the end, with deep concerns about potential costs, including travel expenses of the invigilator for the second sitting, I decided to take the three units in one sitting.
次年，在CIoL上海分会的协调下，历经近八个小时，我顺利考取了被誉为“翻译金文凭”、相当于英国研究生水平的DipTrans翻译文凭。虽然这份“资质”来得有些迟，但它从真正意义上打破了阻隔我和现实世界的桎梏。多年来，这是我第一次“飞”入现实，感受到平等和尊重。
In the following year, with coordination by the CIoL Shanghai Association as expected I took – and passed – this international postgraduate-level examination, and it was nearly eight hours long. Although such accreditation by a gold standard of qualifications came rather late for me, it never the less trampled down the barricade between me and the real world, where for the first time in my life, I got a true feel of equality and respect.
2017年10月，我携父母登上中央电视台的舞台，向全国观众讲述我们全家的经历。在绚烂的聚光灯下，面对众多志骄意满、负才傲物的媒体人，我感觉自己仿佛进入了另一个世界，一切如镜花水月般虚幻。做完节目，离开大秀场后，我回到那个再熟悉不过的10平米“工作室”，按独自设想的路线继续走下去。
In October 2017, I took my parents onto the stage of a China Central Television studio to recount our story to the national audience. Faced with a bunch of media people who looked as if they were about to save the day with their pride and prejudice, I felt as if I had entered into a dreamland of mirrored flowers and moon shadows. Thankfully,after the show, I escaped back to my all-too-familiar 10m2 home office resuming the lone trajectory I had conceived for what I thought was best for myself.
直至2019年8月28日下午4时许。天降四位大神，亲临寒舍。他们分别是新疆大学外国语学院教授谢旭升、全国翻译专业资格考试办公室副主任兼中国外文局翻译专业资格考评中心代主任王继雨、考试办秘书长江平、考评中心考务二处主任徐菡。缘起是有一位观众偶然看到了央视的那期节目，她便是考评中心副主任杨建平的母亲。她老人家十分关心翻译考评事业，把我的故事告知了儿子，希望号召广大考生向我学习。在工作中，杨建平主任同样注重翻译资格考试在新时代的发展，同时为了满足老母亲的愿望，一边通过谢教授寻找我这位“新疆优秀翻译工作者”，一边精心组织安排这次活动。碰巧，谢教授带的MTI班上正好有一位我通过本地翻译公司结识多年的朋友。在她的引荐下，谢教授与我取得了联系。后来，杨主任也在微信上向我表达了他的关怀和支持。这次恰逢考评中心的领导班子响应“习近平总书记提出的‘以人民为中心’的思想”，借来新疆调研的机会亲自到家看望我，并送来考试用书，表达他们“力争做到在翻译考试道路上‘一个都不能少’”的初心和决心。
So it remained until around 4 pm on August 28th, 2019, a team of CATTI officials came knocking at our humble door, led by Mr. Wang Jiyu ( Acting Director of the CATTI Center and Deputy Director of the National Translation Examination Office), Mr. Jiang Ping(Secretary-General of the said office), Ms. Xu Han (Director of the CATTICenter Second Department of Exam Affairs Management), and Mr. Xie Xusheng(Professor of Translation with the Foreign Languages School of XinjiangUniversity). Their visit, as it turned out, was initiated when a lady watched our national TV show by chance, and she was none other than the mother of YangJianping, the Deputy Director of the CATTI Center. Mindful of national endeavor in translation accreditation, she told her son about the show hoping that my example would be made better known among CATTI candidates. In his work Mr. Yang also attached great importance to the advancement of national translation accreditation in the new era. With this and his mother’s wish in mind, he started to look for the “outstanding translator in Xinjiang” through Prof. Xie, who had in his MTI class a student I had known for years from a local translation agency. This was how I came into contact with the professor and later with Mr. Yang, who has sent me a few heart warming messages online. Months later the CATTI leadership paid me a visit during their business trip to my home province and brought me a big pile of CATTI-related books and magazines as agift. That was also intended to demonstrate their founding mission and unshakable will in response to “President Xi Jinping’s ‘people-oriented’thought”, that “no one should be left behind on the road to translation accreditation.”
王继雨主任曾担任新华社的驻外记者，经历过血雨腥风的海湾战争，英文甚佳。虽身居高位，但他一点都没有官架子。态度诚恳，实事求是，为人和善。若不是提早耳闻，我会把他当成邻家大叔。在近两个小时的会谈里，他关切地询问我的身体和工作情况。我也向他反映了翻译市场存在的问题，他连连点头表示赞同。临走前，我说了自己参加国内考试的困难，他答应考评中心会尽一切力量做好安排，并关切地嘱咐我注意身体。
Mr. Wang had an excellent command of English given his high educational and work backgrounds. At some point in his life he witnessed the bloody Gulf War as a Xinhua News Agency reporter. Although high on the bureaucratic ladder, he did not appear to be a panjandrumat all. Rather, with his down-to-earth and amicable demeanor, he could have been one of my old neighbors had I not known better! In nearly two hours, he kindly asked about my health and work and I also talked about problems in and with China’s translation market, to which he nodded several times in agreement. Before leaving, to ease my concerns he promised that they would try their best to provide suitable adjustments that I would need should I take the test.
谢教授是其中最为熟悉的面孔。之前，朋友带我去新大听了他的一堂课。他把原本枯燥乏味的翻译史讲得绘声绘色，笑声不断，给我留下了深刻的印象。28号那天，他身穿天蓝色的短袖T恤，显得精神抖擞。在谈到具体的翻译案例以及自己多年磨砺出的翻译理念时，他更是眉飞色舞，洪亮的声音极富弹性，响彻四周。如此近距离地聆听译界大咖的经验之谈，感受他对翻译事业炽热的情感，对我来说不失为一种莫大的鼓舞。
Of all the unexpected visitors, Prof. Xie was the least unfamiliar to me. Weeks earlier, I audited one of his classes in Xinjiang University with that friend of mine. He impressed me by the way he weaved dry translation history into a lively show of personal stories and insights that triggered bouts of laughter. Now in a light-blue T-shirt he seemed full of energy. When getting to his translation examples and philosophy, he looked even more animated, his hearty voice bouncing off the walls of our living room. Such an inspiration it was for me to hear out a true expert this close!
江平秘书长看似比较内敛，安静地坐在一角，注视着我们聊天。他中等身材，圆圆的脸，肤色黝黑，宽宽的鼻梁上架着一副眼镜。他看到“豆豆”（我家当宠物养的肉兔）时，便伸手摸了摸它的脑袋。
The secretary-general Jiang Ping, on the contrary, looked quite calm and composed. He sat in one corner of our sofa looking at us while we talked. He was of an average build, dark skinned, and chubby faced, with a pair of glasses straddling across a flat nose. When he saw Mr. Beans (my pet rabbit with wild bunny genes) snuffling at the guests, her eached over to stroke his head tenderly.
第二天“同吃、同聊、同行”的采访任务交由考务二处徐菡（“读han，四声，意为莲花”）主任和她的助手孟小帆进行。徐主任和我年龄相仿，性情耿直豪爽，因此面对她时，我较第一天少了很多拘谨。她籍贯湖北，十分符合林语堂笔下“盖湖北人精明强悍，颇有胡椒之辣，犹不够刺激，尚须爆之以油，然后煞瘾之概”的描述，所以她将我父母专为她烹制的一道“虎皮辣椒”吃了个精光，还似意犹未尽。据她自己介绍，她硕士毕业于首都师范大学文学院文艺学专业，主攻古代文艺理论批评方向，师从陶礼天教授。谈话时，只觉得她字字珠玑，诗书满腹，文采斐然，却没有一般文艺女青年的矫情劲儿，而是以现实批判性的眼光工作和生活。加以深深体恤他人情感的“特异功能”，很快同我进入了“恰如灯下，故人万里，归来对影”模式。
The second day began with Ms. Xu Han and her assistant Meng Xiaofan conducting the interview, which involved “having meals, shooting the breeze, and going out together with the subject.” She is an open-hearted woman around my age, so I felt much more relaxed with her around. Born and raised in Hubei, she is typical of what Lin Yutang, an eminent Chineselinguist and educator of the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of NewChina, wrote about the natives of Hubei in his book as being “adroit andvaliant with a strong inclination towards hot chili, so strong, in fact, that the chili must be fried in boiling oil to achieve the level of spice that beats their addiction for the moment.” Understandably, at our dinner table she seemed not quite satisfied when she emptied a dish of fried chili my parents had especially made for her. According to her, she earned her MA in Theory of Literature and Art (Critique of Ancient Literature and Art Theories) from Capital Normal University, taught by Tao litian, one of the greatest scholarsin the field. Well-versed in Chinese poetry and writing, Ms. Xu does not have the common hypocritical flair of young female literati. Instead, she sees her life and work from a critical perspective similar to that of a realist. In addition, sensing her supernatural detectability of other people’s emotions, soon I began to feel as if she were my long-lost friend.
与传统媒体人不同，她注重从翻译专业的角度探究我和翻译工作的关系以及我个人的翻译理念，环环紧扣，发人深省，很多都是我在多年的翻译实践中忽视或未深入思考的问题。在接下来的现场和网络沟通中，我深刻地意识到自己在专业上存在的“硬伤”：中国历史与传统文化学识严重不足，对文化意象了解不深，缺乏系统性的基础语文学习。
Unlike other media people I had met earlier, Ms. Xu focused her interview on my relationship with the profession and my translation philosophy. Her questions followed one another very closely and were thought-provoking; quite a few had been those that I had either neglected or barely touched in the long years of my solitary practice. Further interaction with her on-site and online revealed some pronounced deficiencies I had had in my profession: The lack of learning in Chinese history and traditional culture, a superficial understanding of cultural implications and connotations, and the absence of a well-grounded, systematic Chinese language education.
蓦然，一种新的意识占据了我。以往我总认为束缚自己的唯有身体上的不便，但事实果真如此吗？在30余载的自学生涯中，我究竟错过了多少本应尽早收获的东西？在懵懵懂懂地将一天十几小时贡献给纯粹以盈利为唯一目的的翻译中介的生活里，我到底忽视了什么？
Suddenly, a new consciousness took me over.I had always thought that I was only bound by my physical conditions, but was it really so? In the past three decades of learning completely on my own, whathave I missed that would have been rightfully mine to achieve? In splashing outdays and months and years to gratify profit-driven translation agencies, what have I overlooked?
其实，我们每一个人都是笼中之鸟，思想与眼界是囚禁我们的囹圄。不忘初心，脚踏实地，努力奋斗，获得提升自我的契机，是我们毕生的功课。十五年前，是大洋彼岸的外国友人打开了我的思想大门，助我取得了如今这些所谓的“成绩”。如今，在共和国成立70年之际，以王继雨、杨建平为首的CATTI新一代领导深入基层，调查实情，同时给我带来了提高专业素养的新契机，让我认清自身的不足，鼓舞我继续奋斗下去。
In fact, every one of us is a caged bird, imprisoned by our own thoughts and visions. Therefore, it becomes relevant across a life’s span to keep in mind who we want to be, to strive for excellence in a down-to-earth manner, and to gain access to possibilities forself-enhancement. Fifteen years ago it was my foreign friends who had opened up my mind and helped me achieve these so-called “successes”. Now, in the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the new leadership of the CATTI has provided me a new opportunity for professionalism, a crucial moment of self-reflection, and an inspiration to keep me going.
70年，一个人的生命长度不过如此，但对于国家而言，却是弹指一挥间。我和共和国都经历了从无到有的蜕变；然而，从有到强，却是一段更加漫长而艰难的道路。这不正是自由的真正价值所在吗？个人与国家的关系，恰似一幅八卦图。个人成长离不开日趋向好的大环境，反之也成就了集体的未来。我感恩父母，感恩关心帮助过我的朋友，更感恩这个赋能的伟大时代。愿每一位公民在人生紧要关头都能被赋予机会，和祖国共成长，“因为这只笼中鸟在唱响自由”。
Seventy years. It’s about as long as humanlife, but only a fraction of time for a long-standing nation. Both China and I have made notable progress from the ground; a longer and more difficult journey lies ahead to building more strength with what we have now. But that is what freedomtruly entails, is it not? The relationship between compatriots and their country can be illustrated by the Chinese yin and yang symbol: the future forboth cannot be achieved with either. I feel indebted to my parents and friends who have shown me their support and love, but I hold even more gratitude for living in this wonderful era of empowerment. I hope that every Chinese citizen in time of need can be empowered to thrive with our homeland, “for the caged bird sings of freedom.”
