一支粉笔，两袖微尘，三尺讲台，四季耕耘。
张桂梅扎根滇西贫困地区40多年，立志用教育扶贫斩断贫困代际传递，帮助2000多名贫困山区女学生圆梦大学，在教育助力脱贫攻坚中作出重要贡献。
在华坪女高2021年新学期的开学典礼上，她们收到了一份特殊的礼物：天安门管委会将2008年9⽉1⽇当天，在天安门⼴场上升起的五星红旗赠与了华坪女子高中。
At the opening ceremony for the new semester, China's first free high school for girls received a special gift, the national flag raised at Tian'anmen Square on Sept 1, 2008, when the school was founded. The Tiananmen Management Committee sent the flag to the Huaping Girls High School as an appreciation for its founder and principal, Zhang Guimei and her dedication to girl's education in the nation's less-developed areas.
这面国旗在天安门广场上升起的那一天，也是华坪女高的第一次开学，13年过去了，华坪女高在张桂梅的带领下为中国扶贫教育事业发展书写了浓墨重彩的一笔。如今这面国旗，也将成为华坪女高红色教育的⼀部分。
两名学生接过旗盒与证书，三名战士和张桂梅⼀起展开国旗。“我们会用生命来保卫我们的国旗，我们会用生命来保卫我们的祖国。”张桂梅在国旗下的铮铮誓言是对建设伟大祖国的承诺。
Led by Zhang, students made a solemn vow to the national flag: "We will defend the national flag with our lives, and we will defend our country with our lives."
回想起自己作为老师的第一课，张桂梅坦言简直是场“灾难”。进门第一句话，就因为紧张把“同学们好”说错成了“同志们好”，糟糕的板书、尴尬的课堂，让张桂梅想要放弃当老师。
“我们要老师，我们要老师上课。”山区里的学校因为过于偏远，常年缺少老师，所以孩子们非常地珍惜这位略显青涩的新老师。面对这些求知若渴的孩子们，张桂梅决心为这些孩子留下，谁曾想在讲台上一站就是40多年。
During the ceremony, Zhang, 64, recalled the first time she taught the classroom more than 40 years ago. Due to nervousness, she called her students "comrades" and they also made fun of her poor handwriting on the blackboard. However, after the class ended, many students came to her to praise her and they wanted her to continue teaching there as they did not have a teacher for several months. "We need teachers. We need teachers to teach us," the students said.
华坪女高建校13年以来，近2000余名大山女孩圆梦大学。“我生来就是高山而非溪流，我欲于群峰之巅俯视平庸的沟壑”——华坪女高的誓词在红旗飘扬的操场上声声响起，质朴又直击心灵。
Since the school was founded, around 2,000 girls from impoverished families have graduated from the school and they have all been enrolled by universities.
越走进大山，张桂梅就越坚定想用教育改变学生命运的理想。为所有想读书的女孩子，办一所女子高中的梦想在张桂梅心里萌发，女孩子受教育可以改变三代人，用教育阻断贫困的代际传递，是张桂梅的终身理想。
"A girl can influence the next three generations," she once said. "An educated and responsible mother will never let her children drop out of school."
今年的8月24日，华坪女高又迎来159名高一新生，小时候就失去父母的新生杨丽梅在8月23号报到当天就与张桂梅校长进行了一次谈话。
张老师在了解了她的情况后对她说：“到女高来了，啥都不怕！”
The school enrolled 159 high school freshmen this year. A recent video posted by Xinhua News Agency showing Zhang comforting one of the freshmen who have lost her parents went viral on social media platforms. Zhang told the student Yang Limei that she could come to her for help whenever she encounter difficulties and that she did not need to be afraid of anything now that she has come to study at the school.
在张桂梅看来，贫困山区的落后，主要是教育落后，其中女孩的受教育程度更低，由此形成了“低素质女孩一一低素质母亲——低素质下一代”的恶性循环。
由此，她萌发了创办一所免费女子高中的梦想。2002年起，她就开始为这个看来“根本无法实现”的梦想而四处奔走。
“要办一所免费女子高中？你是不是有毛病？”张桂梅的“宏伟蓝图”招来的是许多人的质疑和辱骂。
在国家的支持和社会各界的捐助下，她的办学梦想最终实现了。
2008年8月，全国第一所全免费的女子高级中学建成。当年便招收了来自丽江市华坪、永胜、宁蒗等贫困地区的100名山区女孩。
She decided to found a free public high school for girls in 2002, an idea met with lots of skepticism. Despite her commitment and tenacity, she was only able to raise 10,000 yuan in five years. After learning about her quest, local Party branch and government set up a special task group to help her realize the dream of opening the school.
学校建起来了，但因为建校初期学校基础条件差、老师经验不足等原因，第一年招收的100名学生中有6名选择了退学。
如何留住山区的女孩子成了张桂梅眼前的一大难题。为留住这些学生，家访成了张桂梅最重要的工作。有些学生的家，路太难走，连车都租不到，只能徒步前行。
In order to prevent any student from dropping out of school, Zhang has kept a habit of visiting every student's home, which means she has to travel several hours to students' families deep in the mountains.
一个假期甚至两个假期，即便马不停蹄，张桂梅也只能走完一届学生的家。尽管如此，她依然坚持，“无论如何，我一定要亲自到每个学生的家里去看看。”
这样的家访已持续12年，覆盖学生1500名，行程近11万公里，哪怕摔断过肋骨、迷过路、发过高烧、旧病复发晕倒在路上…… 正是这一次次的家访，更加坚定张桂梅将女子高中继续发展下去的信念。
She insists on home visits all year round, clocking up a cumulative distance of more than 110,000 kilometers, for more than 1,500 students.
她不希望山里的孩子因为没能接受教育，早早就结婚生子，然后将缺失文化带来的无知和贫困又一代代传下去。
十几年来，她一直用脚步丈量着贫困山区的土地，用爱心改变因为愚昧而贫穷的现状，把知识改变命运的理念传递到贫困山区。
建校初期，由于山区条件艰苦，加之她要求严格，很多年轻教师完全适应不了，不到半年，17名教师就有9名辞职离去，教学工作近乎瘫痪。
现实虽然让她始料不及，但她也意外发现，留下来的8名教师中，有6名是共产党员。这也启示她，有党员，就要有党组织，有党组织，就没有克服不了的困难。从此，张桂梅心中有了底气，脚下有了力量。
她迅速把6名党员教师集中起来，重温入党誓词，大家眼里泛着泪花，紧握右拳向党旗保证：一定要把女子高中办好！一定要把大山里的女孩送入大学！学校党支部很快成立起来，从此女子高中就有了“主心骨”，学校建设翻开了崭新一页。
Nine of the school's 17 teachers resigned due to the harsh living and working conditions. Six of the remaining eight teachers were Party members and they set up the school's Party branch. The teachers drew the Party flag and the Party oath on the wall. Before they could finish repeating their oath on joining the Party, the teachers all cried. "With tears in our eyes and fists clenched, we vowed to spare no efforts to send the girls outside the mountains and help them go to universities," Zhang said.
1997年4月，她被查出患有子宫肌瘤，已经像5个月胎儿那么大，需要立即住院治疗。
但为了不耽误初三毕业班的教学进度，她偷偷地把检验结果揣进怀里，继续坚持站在讲台上，直到7月份把4个班的学生送进中考考场后，她才住进医院接受手术。为她手术的医生从她体内取出重达2公斤多的肿瘤。
In April 1997, she was diagnosed with uterine fibroids. To make sure her condition did not affect students preparing for the high school entrance exam, Zhang kept teaching for three months until the students took the exam in July. The doctors removed a 2-kilogram tumor from her. Although they asked her to rest for at least six months, Zhang returned to her post 24 days after the surgery.
在华坪女高佳绩频出之时，张桂梅的身体状况每况愈下。她患有严重的肺纤维化、肺气肿、小脑萎缩、骨瘤、血管瘤、类风湿等17种病症，数次病危入院抢救。
She suffers more than a dozen illnesses including emphysema and benign tumors in her skull.
屡次与死神擦肩而过的张桂梅说道：“每次身体疼得厉害的时候就想着不干了，但又想着再坚持一下吧，坚持坚持就把这届坚持出去了，坚持坚持又把那届坚持出去了，再坚持坚持就把她们坚持长大了。”
正是张桂梅的“再坚持一下”，照亮了一届又一届大山女孩们的追梦之路。
记者：邹硕
编辑：左卓
实习编辑：李金昳
来源：中国日报 开学第一课 新华社
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