Lai studied at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Bristol. She taught English Literature and Translation at the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Baptist University until her retirement in 2004. She has translated works of a number of local authors, including Leung Ping-Kwan (Ye Si) and Xiao Si into English. In 2009, she was awarded “Outstanding Translator Award” at the Eighteenth Hong Kong Stage Drama Awards by the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies.