Li Pei—The Mother of Applied Linguistics in China李佩——中國應(yīng)用語言學之母

In December 1917， Li Pei was born into a scholarly family inZhenjiang. At the age of 19， she was admitted to the Departmentof Economics at Peking University. During the War of ResistanceAgainst Japanese Aggression， she studied at South-WestAssociated University and served as the vice president of thestudent union. In 1945， she was selected as a representative ofChinese women to attend the First World Women’s Conferenceheld in Paris， and delivered a speech due to her distinguishedorganizational skills and fluent English. In February 1947， Li Peipursued her studies at Cornell University in the United States.In February of the following year， she married Guo Yonghuai，her 1）upperclassman of South-West Associated University as wellas a professor at Cornell University.

In 1951， Li Pei taught Chinese in the Department of Linguisticsat Cornell University. Despite being abroad， Li Pei was alwaysconcerned about the development of her homeland. In September1956， Li Pei and her husband Guo Yonghuai 2）overcame numerous3）obstacles and set out to return to China with their 5-year-olddaughter.

Upon returning to China， Li Pei took up a role in an office in thewestern suburbs of Chinese Academy of Sciences. She promotedthe establishment of the first kindergarten and primary school inZhongguancun. In 1961， Li Pei was transferred to theForeign Language Teaching and Research Officeat University of Science and Technology of Chinaas an English teacher. In the winter of 1968， LiPei suffered from extremely unfair treatment，and her husband Guo Yonghuai sacrificedhis life for China’s nuclear industry， whichwas a 4）fatal blow to her. However，in the face of adversity， she continued to devote herself wholeheartedlyto China’s education with unimaginable perseverance and spirit.

In April 1978， Li Pei served as the director of the Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Office at the Graduate School of University ofScience and Technology of China. She sought English education talentseverywhere. Li Pei took the lead in compiling teaching materials， andthe first set of graduate series textbooks she wrote won the NationalExcellent Book Award and has been in use until today. Throughdiscussions with many foreign teachers， Li Pei reformed the teachingmethods of English in China based on the GRE exam， combiningscientific knowledge with foreign language teaching. Her innovativeteaching strategies were recognized as the pioneering work on AppliedLinguistics by experts. In response to the shortage of English educationtalents in Chinese universities at that time， Li Pei farsightedly began thefirst Applied Linguistics graduate teacher training program in China.

Though she retired from teaching in 1998， Li Pei did not slow downher pace of dedicating herself to society. At the age of 81， she set upZhongguancun Lecture Hall. She invited top scientists and experts inthe humanities and arts fields at home and abroad to give lectures， andall expenses were subsidized by her personally. This forum persisted formore than 600 sessions and became a hall of knowledge that influencedseveral generations. In 2008， she donated her savings of 600，000 yuanto Institute of Mechanics， Chinese Academy of Sciences and Universityof Science and Technology of China respectively.

In her later years， Li Pei lived in a small room inZhongguancun. She wore old clothes， but they werealways clean and tidy. Her hair was still neatly combedas what it used to. On January 12， 2017，Li Pei passed away peacefully at the ageof 99. Her ashes were interred togetherwith GuoYonghuai’s beneath his statuein Institute of Mechanics of ChineseAcademy of Science.

On July 20， 2018， theInternational Astronomical Unionannounced that two asteroidswere named after Chinese names.The asteroid numbered 212797 waspermanently named “Li Pei”; the asteroidnumbered 212796 was named “Guo Yonghuai”. The two celestialbodies are also known as the only twin asteroids in the world thatare named in honor of a married couple. Li Pei and her husbandreunite again in space as stars， making the whole world look up inawe.

1） upperclassman n. 高年級學生

2） overcome v. 克服；解決

3） obstacle n. 障礙；障礙物

4） fatal adj. 致命的；災難性的

1917年12月，李佩生于鎮(zhèn)江的書香門第。19歲時，她考入北京大學經(jīng)濟學系?？谷諔?zhàn)爭期間，她在西南聯(lián)合大學求學，擔任學生會副主席。1945年，李佩因出色的組織能力和流利的英語，被選為中國婦女代表，出席了在巴黎舉行的第一屆世界婦女大會，并作大會發(fā)言。1947年2月，李佩赴美國康奈爾大學學習。次年2月，李佩與西南聯(lián)合大學學長、康奈爾大學教授郭永懷結(jié)婚。

1951年，李佩在康奈爾大學語言學系教授中文。雖然身在國外，李佩卻時刻心系祖國的發(fā)展。1956 年9月，李佩與丈夫郭永懷帶著5歲的女兒克服重重阻礙啟程回國。

回國之初，李佩在中國科學院西郊辦公室工作，她推動建成了中關(guān)村第一所幼兒園和第一所小學。1961年，李佩調(diào)入中國科學技術(shù)大學外語教研室任英語教師。1968年冬天，李佩飽受極其不公正的對待，而丈夫郭永懷為中國的核事業(yè)獻出生命對她更是致命的打擊。面對多舛的命運，她卻以常人難以想象的毅力、精神，繼續(xù)全身心投入祖國的教育事業(yè)。

1978年4月，她擔任中國科學技術(shù)大學研究生院（今中國科學院大學）外語教研室主任。她四處尋求英語教育人才。李佩率先主持自編教材，她編寫的第一套研究生系列教材榮獲國家優(yōu)秀圖書獎，一直被沿用至今。在與多名外籍教師的探討下，李佩根據(jù)研究生入學考試的情況，將國內(nèi)英語的教學方法進行改革，將科學知識和外語教學相結(jié)合，她的這種教學方法，被專家稱作“開創(chuàng)了應(yīng)用語言學的先河”。針對當時我國高校英語教育人才匱乏的情況，李佩又高瞻遠矚地創(chuàng)辦了國內(nèi)首期應(yīng)用語言學專業(yè)研究生師資班。

1998 年，李佩離開了教學崗位，卻沒有放慢她奉獻的腳步。81歲那年，她創(chuàng)辦“中關(guān)村大講壇”。她邀請國內(nèi)外頂尖科學家、人文藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域的大家開講，所有費用都由她個人出資補貼，這個論壇堅持了600 多期，成為影響幾代人的知識圣殿。 2008年，她將自己60萬元的積蓄分別捐贈給了中國科學院力學研究所和中國科學技術(shù)大學。

晚年的李佩一直住在中關(guān)村一間小小的屋子里，她身上穿的是舊衣服，卻永遠干凈整潔。頭發(fā)依舊梳得整整齊齊，一如往昔。2017年1月12日，李佩靜靜地離開了，享年99 歲。人們將她與郭永懷的骨灰一起合葬在中國科學院大學郭永懷雕像下。

2018年7月20日，國際小行星中心發(fā)布公告，兩顆小行星以中國人的名字命名。編號為212797號的小行星被永久命名為“李佩星”；編號212796的小行星被命名為“郭永懷星”。這對夫妻雙子星的榮譽，在全世界都是獨一無二的。李佩與丈夫以星星的身份再度在太空相遇，讓世人仰望。