奇速英语

退休教师叶连平 “乡村烛光”暖人心

Ye Lianping is a 95-year-old retired(退休的) teacher from Buchen village in Anhui province. He has been teaching left-behind children(留守儿童) for free for the past 22 years.

Teaching has always been part of Ye’s life. After he retired in 1991, he went back to school to teach children for free.

He began offering free English-language classes to those children whose parents work far away 22 years ago. He first set up a classroom in his own house. In 2012, he also set up the Ye Lianping Scholarship Fund with almost all his money and the donations(捐赠) from the government and the school. So far, it has provided help for hundreds of left-behind children.

Ye lives a very simple life. He has no children, and he lives with his wife in a house built over 30 years ago. To save money, Ye never wastes any money on himself. For example, he has been using the same cup for over ten years.

Ye’s never tired of teaching though he is getting older. In 2018, Ye got injured while riding a bicycle to buy vegetables. He didn’t rest in bed and returned to class with a stick within a week.

Ye is trying his best to spend as much time as possible on education. He has been called “the candlelight of the village, burning forever”. “I’m just a firefly(萤火虫), a little firefly (making little light), not as much light as a candlelight can give,” said Ye.