Qingmei Dorlma was smiling — something she says she physically couldn’t do until age 14. And she previously felt little reason to, she says. 青梅卓瑪（Qingmei Dorlma）笑了，這是一件直到她14歲時她的身體都不能做到的事。她之前也沒有意識到為什么會這樣。 I couldn’t help but smile back. 我情不自禁地向她回以微笑。 Nobody calls her “monster” anymore. 現(xiàn)在沒有人會再叫她“怪胎”了。 The teenager has friends — something she’d never imagined before her cleft-palate surgery three years ago. 這個女孩兒現(xiàn)在還有了朋友，這是她三年前接受腭裂手術時想都不敢想的事。 Her father left the day she was born. 她的父親自她出生后便離開了這個家。 Doctors say her condition was particularly difficult to treat, since the operation should have been done during infancy. 醫(yī)生們曾表示青梅卓瑪?shù)那闆r治療難度很大，因為這樣的手術本應該在嬰兒期進行。 But her mother, who earns about 1,500 yuan ($225) a year herding others’ yaks on the isolated Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, couldn’t afford it. 但她的母親，在偏僻的青藏高原上以替他人放牧牦牛為生，每年只能掙得1500元（合計225美元）實在難以承擔這筆手術費用。 Qingmei no longer hides behind the literal and metaphorical masks she had worn most of her life. (She used to eat in private so others couldn’t see her mouth.) 青梅卓瑪再也不用將自己隱藏在戴了大半生的“面具”之下。這個“面具”既是字面意義，又有比喻含義。（她曾經(jīng)常常自己一個人吃飯，避免其他人看到她的嘴巴。） Now, she faces the world with confidence — enough to perform as a singer and dancer. 現(xiàn)在，她滿懷信心地面對這個世界，足以自信到成為一名歌手與舞者。 There’s a Tibetan saying: “If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.” 藏族有句諺語：“會說話的藏人就會唱歌。能走路的藏人就能跳舞。” Qingmei felt too stigmatized to do either. 青梅卓瑪之前做任何一件時都會遭到非難。 Not anymore. 現(xiàn)在這種情況再也不會發(fā)生了。 And her school performance has drastically improved, her teachers say. 她的老師表示，青梅卓瑪在校表現(xiàn)有了巨大提升。 I was visiting her home in the migrant district of Qumalai county — a community of nomadic Tibetan yak herders in Qinghai province’s Yushu prefecture — three years after a volunteer initiative I founded in 2011 provided the surgery that transformed her life. 我在2011年創(chuàng)立的志愿者行動為她提供了改變?nèi)松氖中g，3年后，我拜訪了青海省玉樹藏族自治州曲麻萊縣的流動區(qū)內(nèi)的卓瑪家，這兒住著的是藏族游牧牧民們。 We’d saved for nearly a year to pay the operation in Beijing. It was estimated to cost 30,000 yuan. 我們用幾乎耗時一年省下的錢支付青梅卓瑪在北京的手術。手術預計花費三萬元。 The doctor immediately offered to do it for free when he met her. 但醫(yī)生在見到青梅卓瑪后立即表示可以免費提供手術。 It was but one of many such compassionate acts Qingmei experienced in the capital. 這只是青梅卓瑪在北京經(jīng)歷的眾多愛心事件之一。 We’d arranged for her to stay in a rented apartment. The owner refused to take her mother’s money. Instead, he gave her the equivalent of her annual income and served them meals. 我們本來安排卓瑪住在一所出租屋內(nèi)。但房東不僅拒絕收她媽媽的錢，相反他還捐了相當于她一年收入的錢給她并為她們提供飯菜。 So, too, did my gandie (the Chinese equivalent of a godfather), when he treated them to food unlike anything they’d seen — let alone tasted — on the grassland. 我的干爹（在中國相當于教父）也做了類似的事情。他在草地上用美食款待青梅卓瑪母女，那些食物她們之前未曾見過，更不用說品嘗了。 I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone smile as much as her mom during that time. 我不知道我是否曾見過有人像她媽媽那段時間一樣笑過那么多次。 Beijing stunned Qingmei, who’d never left her isolated home on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. 青梅卓瑪之前從未離開過青藏高原的偏僻家鄉(xiāng)，北京的一切都給她留下了深刻印象。 She’d only seen high-rises, crowds and elevators on TV. 她之前只在電視上見過高樓大廈、人山人海和電梯。 The girl relished the experience but says she missed vast green expanses. 這個女孩非常喜愛這段經(jīng)歷，但她也表示十分想念廣闊綠色無垠的大地。 Her Beijing experience also inspired a new life goal — to become a doctor. 她的北京經(jīng)歷同時激發(fā)了她的新人生目標，希望將來能成為一個醫(yī)生。 She wants to help others in the way others have helped her, she explains. 她解釋道，她希望能以別人幫助過她的方式來幫助他人。 Indeed, doctors, teachers, volunteers, renters and friends showed empathy for Qingmei that I’d categorize more as solidarity than charity. It’s a universal unanimity that extends beyond ethnic, national and professional borders. 事實上，醫(yī)生、老師、志愿者、房東、朋友們對于青梅卓瑪展示出來的同情，我更愿意將其歸之為團結而不是慈善。這是一種跨越種族、國家以及專業(yè)界限的共同一致。 As I left her home, Qingmei leaned toward me and touched her forehead to mine — a Tibetan custom typically reserved for major life events like weddings and funerals. 當我離開她家時，青梅卓瑪倚靠著我，用她的前額碰了碰我的額頭，這是一種通常保留于人生重大時刻，例如婚禮、葬禮的藏族習俗。 An indescribable force — warm, electric, kinetic — coursed between us. 就在這時一股不可名狀的力量傳遞于我們之間。它溫暖而又活躍，像電流一般。 It was like my heart jumpstarted at the point where our scalp lines made contact. 這就像在我們的額頭接觸時我的心臟重啟了一次。 My friends and I waved goodbye to Qingmei and her family. 我與朋友們向青梅卓瑪和她的家人揮手告別。 We all smiled. Together. 我們都笑了。與彼此同在。