On a ring and a prayer: the quest to translate Tolkien's classic

For readers on the Chinese mainland, the name of Teng Jia-wan, a translator from Taiwan, is closely related to British writer JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, whose latest Chinese version was released in 2013 to a good reception from readers and critics.

Teng contributed 80 percent of the translation to the 1 million-character Chinese version, leaving the rest - poems and appendices - to two other fans of the fantasy, Tu Yun-Tzu and Shi Zhongge.

However, few people know that when Teng first took her college entrance examinations in Taiwan, she got only 2 points in the English test and, in total, she spent four years studying to pass the examinations.