悦辩悦明｜李忆祖：我不是老外 我是中共党员
"My name is Li Yizu. I graduated from the Beijing Institute of Geology in 1961. After college, I applied to go to Xinjiang. I worked on geology for some 20 years. I've been living and working in Xinjiang for more than 60 years. People thought I was a foreigner when they looked at me. But I was brought up by a Chinese woman in a Chinese family."
“我叫李忆祖，1961年毕业于北京地质学院，要求到新疆来工作。从事野外地质工作20多年，现在在新疆工作60多年了。大家看到我的相貌，认为我是老外。但是我是在中国家庭，我的中国母亲把我抚养长大。”
Li Yizu was born in Tianjin in 1938 when China was fighting Japan in a full-scale war on its land.
1938年，李亿祖出生于天津，当时中国本土正值全面抗日战争。
After giving birth to him, his biological mother, whom Li never met, left the baby behind.
李亿祖出生后，便被亲生母亲留在了中国，此后他再也没有见过生母。
His foster mom, a northern Chinese brought him to Beijing and gave him a happy childhood in a turbulent time.
他的养母是一个北方人，把他带到了北京，在兵荒马乱的年代里给了他一个快乐的童年。
After college, Li Yizu decided to be a geologist, and there was no better place to put his talent to work than Xinjiang, far away from Beijing but full of geological treasures.
大学毕业后，李亿祖立志成为一名地质学家，而距北京千里之外遍地矿藏的新疆正是最适合发挥他的才能的地方。
"We had some 300 graduates then. More than 70 people applied to the Communist Party Branch in our department for working in Xinjiang."
“当时我们系有300多人，向党支部打报告（申请来新疆的）70多个。”
"We finally got some 50 people who came here. We got deployed at different places after our gathering in Urumqi. Some of my classmates went to Altay, some went to Korla, some went to Kashgar and some remained in Urumqi. But most of us were sent to different geological teams."
“来了50个多个人。在新疆乌鲁木齐聚会后，就都分出去了。有的分到阿尔泰，有的分到库尔勒，有的分到喀什。乌鲁木齐也留了一些，但大部分分到各个地质队去了。”
Li spent most of his time searching for minerals. The job was tough and sometimes deadly.
李亿祖大部分时间都在探矿。这项工作很辛苦，有时还有生命危险。
"The job was hard, to be honest. Every day, we crossed the mountains. And we had to walk when cars were not able to go through. Sometimes we had to walk 20 or 30 kilometers. Sometimes it was so exhausting that we would swear on the top of a mountain that never would we climb mountains again. But we found there were mineral veins under our feet. Then we were determined to carry on."
“我们真辛苦，说句老实话，每天翻山越岭。汽车到不了的地方就得走。有时候（得走）二三十公里。有时候爬山爬到山顶累得够呛，发狠再也不爬山了。但是发现（脚）底下可能有矿脉，（坚持）下去继续地爬。”
Li Yizu applied to join the Communist Party of China in 1966, but the dream didn't come true until 1981. He had always cherished the first edition of "Dedicating Everything to the Party," the autobiography of Wu Yunduo, a Chinese ordnance expert in the 1940s, published in 1953. He said Wu's words from the book, "A true person should be free from self-interests and be a loyal servant of the people," greatly impacted his life. But that is not where he first learned about the importance of serving others.
李忆祖从60年代开始申请入党，但这一愿望直到80年代才实现。多年来，他很喜欢一本名为《把一切献给党》的书，是40年代军工专家吴运铎的自传。吴运铎在书写道：“一个真正的人，应该是毫无自私自利之心，做人民忠实的勤务员。”李忆祖说这句话影响了他的一生。但早在阅读这本书之前，李忆祖就已经接触到为人民服务这一理念。
"I lived in the Dongcheng District of Beijing, but I studied in Xicheng District. And I loved listening to Pingshu after school. There's one time that Pingshu was canceled, and I ran into Longxugou - or Dragon Beard Ditch - a slum area surrounded by smelly ditches then. I was so scared. After 1949, the People's Government of Beijing Municipality added Longxugou to its first urban renewal project. Then writer Lao She wrote a play named "Dragon Beard Ditch." I remember there were two lines in that play: 'My water is sweet and good. It costs you only five cents for one cup.' Frankly, I felt that the government had served the people. I truly believe in Marxism."
“我上学在东城，家住西城，（放学）坐电车到天桥听评书。有一次评书没说，跑到了龙须沟、臭水沟，但是贫民窟那样子的，吓坏了。解放以后，北京市人民政府第一个改造的工程就是龙须沟。后来老舍写了龙须沟，（里面）两句诗‘我的水甜又美，喝到肚里不闹鬼。我的水美又甜，一条只要你五分钱。’当时我感觉到，人民政府是为人民做事的。说实话，（我）根深蒂固相信马克思主义。”
After retirement, Li volunteered to teach children about science and life, subjects he has loved and lived. More than 300,000 young people have been to his lectures.
退休后，李亿祖志愿为孩子们讲授科学和生活知识，这些都是他热爱并亲生经历的主题。有超过30万名年轻人听过他讲课。
"Only the Communist Party of China can build the country into a stronger one and lead the Chinese people to living better lives. Our generation has fulfilled our mission. We want to help the younger generation succeed in making China a greater nation."
“我们国家只有在中国共产党领导之下，把我们国家建立得更加富强,（让）人民生活得更加美好。我们这代人任务完成了，把年轻这一代扶起来，希望他们继承老一辈的这些精神，努力地为国家富强贡献自己的力量。”
Sometimes he brought the children to nature in his beloved Xinjiang, the place he knows the best.
有时他把孩子们带到他挚爱的新疆，去体验大自然，那是他最熟悉的地方。
At the end of the interview, Li explained why. To be exact, he gave us a lecture on geology at the hillside of the Tianshan Mountains.
在采访结束时，李亿祖解释了原因。确切地说，他在天山的山坡上给我们上了一堂地质学课。
"Around 10,000 years ago, Xinjiang was all covered by ice. And Tianshan was a valley formed by glaciers. One earthquake caused a collapse on both sides of mountains and the rocks blocked the river. And gradually, the Heavenly Lake was formed."
“一万年以前，整个新疆全都是冰雪世界。这个地方最早是冰川形成的峡谷。后来某一次地震，两边的山塌方，把这个河流堵住了。堵住后逐渐形成今天的天池。”
"At that time, the roads were full of stones. It was quite dangerous to drive here. Now the roads have become broad and smooth."
“那时候都是石子路，上车下车都很危险，现在都修好了。”
Biologically Li Yizu is a Caucasian, but culturally he is Chinese and politically he is a Communist Party member. He had faith and was motivated by the party when he was braving the cold to find coal in Xinjiang or teaching children about survival skills in the wild. Like many of his generation, he found something bigger than himself that is highly respected in Chinese society, to serve the people. That choice not only made him a successful man but also a proud member of the party.
就人种而言，李亿祖是个白种人，但在文化上他是中国人，在政治上他是一名共产党员。当他冒着严寒在新疆探寻煤矿或在野外教孩子们生存技能时，他展现出了坚定的信仰，在党的精神号召下拼搏奋斗。和他那一代人中的许多人一样，他意识到有些东西要高于自身，在中国社会中备受推崇，那便是为人民服务。他的选择不仅使他功成名就，还让他成为了一名自豪的党员。