Sang Lan as a Model with Strong Determination

The life story of Sang Lan(桑兰) is unique and cannot be copied by others.

Last year, at midnight on June 11^th, dozens of students from Peking University gathered in the campus to celebrate Sang’s 26^th birthday. Dressed in red jacket and seated in an armchair, she was surrounded by the members of the Wheeling Association of Peking University(北大滑轮社) with 17 burning candles, which mean that she was crippled at the age of 17 and has begun a new life since then.

July 1998 was the most unfortunate time for Sang Lan who took part in the Fourth International Goodwill Games(第四界世界友好运动会) in USA. She was disturbed unintentionally by a foreign coach when doing warm-up exercises for horse vaulting(跳马) which she was good at, resulting in her fall on the head in a trance(恍惚) . Since then, she has never been able to stand up on her own.

Her accident was widely reported in the media, which made her a favorite throughout the world. Leonardo Dicaprio(莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥) who starred in Titanic(《泰坦尼克》) and Celine Dion (席琳·狄翁) who sang its theme song went to see her in hospital. In the longer time afterwards, she became the most frequent hero in stories about people with strong determination.

Even if she might win gold medals in Sidney and Athens Olympics later, she couldn’t have drawn more attention of the media than in 1998. Anyway, she had nothing to do with gymnastics now. What would be her future life? She reached her lowest point in her sports career, but she appeared more often than ever in the media. For her, there was only one way out, that is, to put oneself in the limelight of the media(曝光) continuously. She did this for two purposes: One is to make a living, and the other is to set a good example for other people.

She has begun to appear in various kinds of activities with the help of an armchair, which has become her symbol. There has been almost no activity concerning Olympics without the participation or mention of Sang Lan. She has become a student of the Mass Media Department of Peking University; she has signed a contract with Star TV in Hong Kong to become the host of an interview program named after her, called “Sang Lan 2008”.

In view of her achievements in the entertainment field, it is easy for us to imagine how hard it is for a person in an armchair to do so, although we do not know exactly what efforts she has made. She has said, “In many cases, the goal seems to be far away. But if you have made efforts, you will find that you have taken a great step forward when looking back. Such may be the way to produce a miracle.” She is the real hero in the stories about unusual success even after the change from the sports field to the entertainment circle.

【附：中文大意】

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