A Chinese mother has become a walking dictionary by memorising the English-Chinese Dictionary from cover to cover, reported the People’s Daily.

据《人民日报》报道，一位中国母亲背完了一本《英汉大辞典》，成为了名副其实的活字典。

Li Yanzhi, 51, from Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, is able to explain the meaning of every single word in the 2,458-page book, which consists of 220,000 entries.

今年51岁的李艳芝，来自陕西西安，她能够随意背出包含2458页、22万词条的英汉词典中的任何一个单词。

Ms Li, who divorced more than 20 years ago, undertook the mission in order to receive more translating work.

20多年前李艳芝同丈夫离婚，背英汉词典是为了能够得到更多的翻译工作。

This helps her support her 26-year-old son who suffers from autism and is not able to take care of himself.

这样的工作帮助他养活自己的儿子——她的儿子今年26岁，自幼患有自闭症，生活无法自理。

Ms Li is a lecturer in Financial English at Xian Transport University’s Economic and Banking¹ School.

李艳芝是西安交通大学经济与金融学院一名普通的金融英语讲师。

Since August 2013, she has been reading the dictionary six hours every day from 3am.

从2013年8月开始，她每天凌晨三点起床背诵单词6个小时。

Within 19 days, she finished the memorisation for the first time.

19天以后她背完了第一遍。

According to People’s Daily, to succeed in the College English Test Band 6, which most university students in China are required to pass, the candidates need to understand 6,000 words.

在中国，很多大学生想通过CET-6考试需要掌握大约6000个英语词汇。

In comparison, Ms Li's vocabulary is extraordinary.

相比之下，李老师已经掌握的词汇量简直惊人。

To help her memorising, Ms Li borrowed 465 English language magazines from the university library.

为了帮助记忆，李艳芝从学校图书馆借过英语杂志数量达到465本。

'My biggest dream is to enter The Brain to challenge myself,' said Ms Li.

李艳芝说：“我最大的梦想是参加《最强大脑》来挑战我自己。”

Ms Li said that son is autistic and cannot look after himself. Since her divorce more than 20 years ago, she and her son have been reliant² on each other.

李艳芝的儿子患有自闭症，生活无法自理。自从20多年前离婚之后，她和儿子相依为命。

As a single mother, Ms Li had to lock her son in the house whenever she went out for work. She said when she returned the house was always a complete mess.

作为一名离异母亲，李艳芝上班的时候只能把儿子锁在家里。她说每次回家，家里都是一片狼藉。

But she said she never gave up.

但她表示自己绝对不会放弃。

'If I can fly I will fly, if I can't fly I will run, if I cannot run I will crawl,' she said.'No matter what you must move forward.'

“如果我能飞那我就飞，如果我不能飞那我就跑，如果我不能跑那我就爬。”李艳芝说，“无论如何我都会努力前进。”

In order to improve their lives, Ms Li does translation work as a freelancer³ on top of her regular teaching. Through this, she has earned enough to buy herself a new apartment.

为了提高收入，李艳芝在教学之余还兼职做翻译。靠翻译赚的钱，她买了一套新房子。

Apart from English, Ms Li has learned to speak more than 10 different languages, including French, Russian, German, Japanese and Polish.

除英语之外，李艳芝还会说十多门外语，包括法语、俄语、德语、日语和波兰语等。

She hopes that by memorising the 220,000 words from the dictionary, she can encourage students to learn English and increase their vocabulary.

李艳芝希望通过自己背诵字典上22万个单词的经历来鼓励学生们学英语、提高词汇量。

'Lecturer Li really is a living English-Chinese Dictionary,' says Zhang Xinjie, one of her students.

她的一位学生说：“李老师就是一本活的英汉词典。”