Economic development and high-speed trains may be how the world ponders China’s progress, but little can say better how far the country has really come over the past 25 years than a young woman leaping into a crystal-blue sky miles above a postcard-perfect beach.
经济发展和高铁或许是世界思考中国进步的方式，但没有什么比一位年轻女子跃入明信片般完美的海滩上几英里的水晶蓝天空中更能说明这个国家在过去 25 年里所取得的进步的了。
Sydney comes across as a pretty nonchalant (and physically rather frail) young lady. She thinks nothing of stepping out of a plane 5,000 metres in the air to hang off its fuselage munching a pineapple (or a banana) while doing a quick live broadcast, before somersaulting herself away from the aircraft.
悉尼给人的印象是一位相当冷漠（而且身体相当虚弱）的年轻女士。她从5000米高空的飞机上走下来，挂在机身上，一边嚼着菠萝（或香蕉），一边快速进行现场直播，然后翻筋斗离开飞机，这没什么大不了的。
Hailing from Wuyi Shan in Fujian Province, Sydney has obtained the highest possible skydiving qualification; a “D” licence, meaning she has landed within 2 metres of the centre of a target on 100 jumps and spent a total of over 3 hours in free fall over a minimum of 500 jumps. Sydney has achieved over five times that many.
来自福建省武夷山的悉尼，获得了最高的跳伞资格； “D”执照，意味着她在 100 次跳跃中落地距离目标中心 2 米以内，并且在至少 500 次跳跃中总共花费了 3 个多小时的自由落体时间。悉尼的成就是这个数字的五倍多。
Now aged 30, she has more than 330,000 followers on social media and nearly 17 million likes.
现年30岁的她在社交媒体上拥有超过33万粉丝和近1700万个赞。
But it actually all began in October, 2016, when Sydney was in Australia and saw some people skydiving during an outdoor trip. She mustered up the courage to jump with her friends, and she fell in love.
但这其实一切都始于2016年10月，当时悉尼在澳大利亚，在一次户外旅行中看到一些人跳伞。她鼓起勇气和朋友们一起跳，并坠入爱河。
Most people are terrified to death when asked to jump out of an aircraft, but Sydney, speaking recently with Purple Cow News, simply said, “That first skydive; it was from 4,200 metres, and it was my birthday. Seriously, I wasn’t scared; I just felt cold”.
当被要求从飞机上跳下来时，大多数人都会吓得要死，但悉尼最近在接受紫牛新闻采访时简单地说，“第一次跳伞；是在 4,200 米的高度，而且那天是我的生日。说实话，我并不害怕；我只是感到寒冷”。
So she signed up for an AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) skydiving course in Australia, but was finally persuaded to quit because her English wasn’t good enough. That was not going to put Sydney off, though. “Maybe for some people, they may just give up, but I have a tenacity, and the more people say I can’t do it, the more I have to get it right, so I kept looking for a skydiving base to practice”.
于是她报名参加了澳大利亚的AFF（加速自由落体）跳伞课程，但最终因为英语不够好而被劝退。不过，这并没有让悉尼望而却步。 “也许对于有些人来说，可能就放弃了，但我有韧劲，越是别人说我做不到，我就越要做好，所以我就一直在寻找跳伞基地练习”。
She was to find it in New Zealand. Lucky to join a school there which takes only 32 students worldwide annually, she hurriedly signed up and successfully passed the assessment in order to be admitted. With her English much improved, just 1 month later, Sydney completed more than 50 jumps on her own to obtain a “B” licence for skydiving.
她要在新西兰找到它。幸运的是，她所在的学校每年只招收32名全球学生，她赶紧报名，并顺利通过考核，被录取。随着英语水平的大幅提高，仅仅1个月后，悉尼就独自完成了50多次跳伞，获得了跳伞“B”级执照。
Fast forward to today, Sydney recalls how her hallmarks that are eating watermelon, having a drink or applying makeup during a skydive over the Shenzhou Peninsula in Wanning of Hainan Province, all came about. “The first time I ate in the air, it was an accident; that is, I didn’t eat breakfast that day, but I had brought a banana along. It somehow became more aromatic in the sky!”. While today, many others imitate her, Sydney looks also to convey a point of view; don’t imitate at will, and don’t litter.
时间快进到今天，悉尼回忆起她在海南省万宁神州半岛跳伞时吃西瓜、喝饮料或化妆的标志都是如何发生的。 “我第一次在空中吃东西是个意外，就是那天我没有吃早餐，但我带了根香蕉，不知怎的，在空中吃起来更香了！”。如今，许多人都在模仿她，但西德尼看起来也传达了一种观点；不随意模仿，不乱扔垃圾。
Naturally, the reason for most people’s terror of skydiving is the real possibility of it all turning out to be a really bad day. As Sidney said, “Extreme sports actually require the most concentration”.
当然，大多数人害怕跳伞的原因是，这一切很可能会变成非常糟糕的一天。正如西德尼所说，“极限运动实际上需要最集中的注意力”。
It was 2021, and Sydney went skydiving in Hainan as usual. “I was in a bad mood at the time and was a little half hearted, which affected my performance”, she said. Misjudging her braking efforts and with the winds particularly light, Sydney’s left forearm took the impact.
那是2021年，悉尼像往常一样去海南跳伞。 “当时我心情不好，有点三心二意，这影响了我的发挥”，她说。由于错误地判断了刹车力度，而且风特别小，西德尼的左前臂受到了影响。
Doctors said she would need 6 months to 1 year to recuperate. That being a language Sydney does not understand, she removed her cast after 2 weeks and was back in the skies a month and a half later. She jokes that she will take out the steel plate in her arm the next time she is injured.
医生说她需要6个月到1年的时间才能康复。由于悉尼不懂这种语言，两周后她取下了石膏，一个半月后又回到了天空。她开玩笑说，下次受伤的时候，她会把手臂上的钢板取出来。
Today, Sydney basically maintains the habit of jumping every day unless the weather does not allow, while her job as a skydiving photographer brings in more than its fair share of interesting clients.
如今，悉尼基本上保持着每天跳伞的习惯，除非天气不允许，而她作为一名跳伞摄影师的工作也带来了更多有趣的客户。
Once it was a 92-year-old grandfather, pushed by his son in a wheelchair and carried onto the plane, who was among them.
有一次，一位92岁的老爷爷被坐在轮椅上的儿子推着上了飞机，其中就有一位。
But that sticking with Sydney the most was the terminal-cancer patient who was only in his 40s. “He knew that he was nearing the end, so he wanted to experience the feeling of soaring in the sky to understand the meaning of life”. Sydney was moved to tears.
但最让悉尼心念不忘的是那位年仅40多岁的晚期癌症患者。 “他知道自己已经接近终点了，所以他想体验一下翱翔天空的感觉，了解生命的意义”。雪梨感动落泪。
