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我的生活海伦·凯勒自传
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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Chapter XV

第十五章

The summer and winter following the "Frost King" incident I spent with my family in Alabama. I recall with delight that home-going. Everything had budded and blossomed. I was happy. "The Frost King" was forgotten.

《冰雪之王》事件之后那一年的夏天和冬天，我是同家人一起在亚拉巴马度过的。我愉快地找到了“归家”的感觉。万事万物都经历了抽枝发芽、竞相怒放的过程。我很高兴《冰雪之王》事件已成为过眼云烟。

When the ground was strewn with the crimson and golden leaves of autumn, and the musk-scented grapes that covered the arbour at the end of the garden were turning golden brown in the sunshine, I began to write a sketch of my life--a year after I had written "The Frost King."

秋天，大地撒满了深红色和金黄色的树叶。散发着麝香味的葡萄藤遮盖了花园尽头的凉亭。在阳光的照耀下，一串串葡萄变成了金灿灿的红褐色。置身其中，我开始用笔勾勒我的生活——此时已经距我写《冰雪之王》一年有余。

I was still excessively scrupulous about everything I wrote. The thought that what I wrote might not be absolutely my own tormented me. No one knew of these fears except my teacher. A strange sensitiveness prevented me from referring to the "Frost King"; and often when an idea flashed out in the course of conversation I would spell softly to her, "I am not sure it is mine." At other times, in the midst of a paragraph I was writing, I said to myself, "Suppose it should be found that all this was written by some one long ago!" An impish fear clutched my hand, so that I could not write any more that day. And even now I sometimes feel the same uneasiness and disquietude. Miss Sullivan consoled and helped me in every way she could think of; but the terrible experience I had passed through left a lasting impression on my mind, the significance of which I am only just beginning to understand. It was with the hope of restoring my self-confidence that she persuaded me to write for the Youth's Companion a brief account of my life. I was then twelve years old. As I look back on my struggle to write that little story, it seems to me that I must have had a prophetic vision of the good that would come of the undertaking, or I should surely have failed.

此时，我仍旧对我写的任何东西抱着谨小慎微的态度。我写的东西也许并不完全属于我自己——这样的想法深深地折磨着我。除了我的老师，没有人知晓我的恐惧心理。这种神经过敏的古怪心理使我对《冰雪之王》事件这类事敬而远之。因此常会有这样的事发生，在同老师交谈的过程中，当我萌生出一个想法时，我就会对她拼写出这样的句子：“我不太肯定这是我自己的。”另外，当我把某段文字写到中间的时候，我就会对自己说：“你写的这些东西可能早已经被人写过了！”一种戏谑般的恐惧感攫住了我的双手，于是，那一天我会无法再写出任何东西。直到现在，我还能时常感受到同样的忧虑和不安。苏立文小姐想方设法帮我摆脱困境，但是可怕的经历给我留下了难以磨灭的印记，而对于其中的重要意义我也只是刚刚开始理解。为了重新树立我的自信心，老师说服我为《青年之友》写一篇短小精悍的生活自传。那一年我十二岁，回顾起来，那篇小故事的写作过程也经历了一番内心挣扎；我当时一定是对这项工作的结果有了一个良好的预期，否则一定会失败。

I wrote timidly, fearfully, but resolutely, urged on by my teacher, who knew that if I persevered, I should find my mental foothold again and get a grip on my faculties. Up to the time of the "Frost King" episode, I had lived the unconscious life of a little child; now my thoughts were turned inward, and I beheld things invisible. Gradually I emerged from the penumbra of that experience with a mind made clearer by trial and with a truer knowledge of life.

虽然下笔时有些提心吊胆，战战兢兢，但是在老师的督促下，我写得很坚决。她知道，如果我能够坚持不懈，就一定会再次找到精神的立足点，也一定会重拾写作才能的。直到《冰雪之王》事件之前，我一直生活在一个小孩子的懵懂无知之中。如今，我变得更加内敛，我看待事物的角度更加深入。渐渐地，我从日蚀的阴影中显现出来，在生命的真谛面前，经过了严格考验的心智也变得更加澄澈清明了。

The chief events of the year 1893 were my trip to Washington during the inauguration of President Cleveland, and visits to Niagara and the World's Fair. Under such circumstances my studies were constantly interrupted and often put aside for many weeks, so that it is impossible for me to give a connected account of them.

1893年的主要大事，就是在克利夫兰总统就职典礼期间的华盛顿之行，参观尼亚加拉（瀑布）和世界博览会。旅行期间，我的学业有时会中断数星期之久，所以我不太可能把这些事联系在一起进行叙述。

We went to Niagara in March, 1893. It is difficult to describe my emotions when I stood on the point which overhangs the American Falls and felt the air vibrate and the earth tremble.

我们是在1893年3月去的尼亚加拉。当我站在美洲瀑布的悬崖边上，感受着空气的震动和大地的颤抖，我激动的心情是难以用语言描述的。

It seems strange to many people that I should be impressed by the wonders and beauties of Niagara. They are always asking: "What does this beauty or that music mean to you? You cannot see the waves rolling up the beach or hear their roar. What do they mean to you?" In the most evident sense they mean everything. I cannot fathom or define their meaning any more than I can fathom or define love or religion or goodness.

在很多人眼中，这似乎有些奇怪，我是如何被尼亚加拉（瀑布）的雄浑美丽所感动的呢？他们总会问我：“它的美妙和音响对你而言意味着什么？你看不见惊涛拍岸，也听不到巨浪咆哮，可这些对你来说意味着什么？”我最明显的感觉是，它们代表了一切。的确，我无法透彻理解它们的含义并对其做出解释，但是我能透彻理解博爱、宗教以及仁慈的含义并对其做出解释。

During the summer of 1893, Miss Sullivan and I visited the World's Fair with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. I recall with unmixed delight those days when a thousand childish fancies became beautiful realities. Every day in imagination I made a trip round the world, and I saw many wonders from the uttermost parts of the earth--marvels of invention, treasuries of industry and skill and all the activities of human life actually passed under my finger tips.

1893年夏天，我和苏立文小姐随同亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔博士参观了世界博览会。我对那段快乐时光记忆犹新，上千个天真的想象全都变成了美丽的现实。每天我都会在想象中周游世界，我见识了许多世界奇迹——伟大的发明，工业技术的结晶，以及多姿多彩的人类生活一一在我的指尖下滑过。

I liked to visit the Midway Plaisance. It seemed like the "Arabian Nights," it was crammed so full of novelty and interest. Here was the India of my books in the curious bazaar with its Shivas and elephant-gods; there was the land of the Pyramids concentrated in a model Cairo with its mosques and its long processions of camels; yonder were the lagoons of Venice, where we sailed every evening when the city and the fountains were illuminated. I also went on board a Viking ship which lay a short distance from the little craft. I had been on a man-of-war before, in Boston, and it interested me to see, on this Viking ship, how the seaman was once all in all--how he sailed and took storm and calm alike with undaunted heart, and gave chase to whosoever reechoed his cry, "We are of the sea!" and fought with brains and sinews, self-reliant, self-sufficient, instead of being thrust into the background by unintelligent machinery, as Jack is to-day. So it always is--"man only is interesting to man."

我最喜欢的地方是普赖桑斯游乐场，这里就像“天方夜谭”，里面充满了各色各样的奇思妙想。我能感受到书中描写的印度风情——奇特的集市满是“湿婆”和“象神”的雕像；这里还有金字塔和开罗城的景观模型，清真寺和长途跋涉的驼队贯穿其中；更远一点的地方是威尼斯水道，每晚，我们都乘船航行在灯光绚烂的城市和喷泉之间。我还登上了一艘放置在微缩城外的维京海盗船，在波士顿的时候我也曾登上过军舰，如今，我兴味盎然地看着维京船的海员们如何扬帆远航，如何气定神闲地面对风暴。人们的耳边回响着他们的呐喊：“我们属于大海！”他们同大海抗衡的武器是灵活的头脑和强健的体力；他们独来独往，自给自足，并没有像今天的水手们那样被湮没在愚蠢的机械文明之下。所以还是老话说得好——“男人只应做属于男人的事。”

At a little distance from this ship there was a model of the Santa Maria, which I also examined. The captain showed me Columbus's cabin and the desk with an hour-glass on it. This small instrument impressed me most because it made me think how weary the heroic navigator must have felt as he saw the sand dropping grain by grain while desperate men were plotting against his life.

海盗船附近还有一艘“圣玛利亚”号仿制帆船。“船长”领我参观了哥伦布住的船舱，其中，放在桌子上的一个沙漏给我留下了深刻印象。这个小巧的仪器让我想到了这位伟大的航海家所承受的巨大考验，在身心疲惫的状况下，他要看着沙粒一点一点滴落；与此同时，他还要同内心的绝望情绪作顽强的抗争。

Mr. Higinbotham, President of the World's Fair, kindly gave me permission to touch the exhibits, and with an eagerness as insatiable as that with which Pizarro seized the treasures of Peru, I took in the glories of the Fair with my fingers. It was a sort of tangible kaleidoscope, this white city of the West. Everything fascinated me, especially the French bronzes. They were so lifelike, I thought they were angel visions which the artist had caught and bound in earthly forms.

希金鲍瑟姆先生是世界博览会的主席，他为人随和并且允许我随意触摸展会上的展品。于是，我就像贪得无厌的皮萨罗掳掠秘鲁的珍宝一样，我用手指“吸纳”了博览会的所有精华。这有点像一个可以触摸的万花筒，每一样东西都让我感到无比新奇，特别是法国的青铜雕像。这些栩栩如生的雕像宛如再现的天使，我想，艺术家们一定是抓住了天使的形象并将其塑造成型的。

At the Cape of Good Hope exhibit, I learned much about the processes of mining diamonds. Whenever it was possible, I touched the machinery while it was in motion, so as to get a clearer idea how the stones were weighed, cut, and polished. I searched in the washings for a diamond and found it myself--the only true diamond, they said, that was ever found in the United States.

在“好望角”展区，我了解了许多有关钻石开采过程的知识。只要有可能，我都会摸一摸正在运转的机器，这样我就能更清晰地感受到矿石有多重，它们又是如何被切割被抛光的。我还亲自摸索到了一块正在清洗之中的钻石——人们告诉我说，这是在美国发现的唯一一颗真正的钻石。

Dr. Bell went everywhere with us and in his own delightful way described to me the objects of greatest interest. In the electrical building we examined the telephones, autophones, phonographs, and other inventions, and he made me understand how it is possible to send a message on wires that mock space and outrun time, and, like Prometheus, to draw fire from the sky. We also visited the anthropological department, and I was much interested in the relics of ancient Mexico, in the rude stone implements that are so often the only record of an age--the simple monuments of nature's unlettered children (so I thought as I fingered them) that seem bound to last while the memorials of kings and sages crumble in dust away--and in the Egyptian mummies, which I shrank from touching. From these relics I learned more about the progress of man than I have heard or read since.

贝尔博士陪我们参观了所有的地方，他以令人愉快的方式向我描述了最有趣的展品。在电子大厦，我们试用了电话机、对讲机、留声机和其他发明。贝尔博士让我明白了信息是如何突破了空间和时间的羁绊而在电线上传播的，这就像普罗米修斯将火种带到了人间一样伟大。我们还参观了人类学展区，我对古代墨西哥文物产生了浓厚兴趣。粗糙的石器是那个时代仅有的记录，也是未开化的人类童年时期的简陋遗物（这是我用手指触摸后的感想）。一代代君王和圣贤的功劳簿在历史的尘埃中分崩离析，在埃及的木乃伊中被死亡尘封，但有些遗迹仍有幸留存到现在。通过对这些遗物的触摸，我更多地了解了人类文明的进化过程，而依靠别人的讲解和阅读是无法领会其中的深意的。

All these experiences added a great many new terms to my vocabulary, and in the three weeks I spent at the Fair I took a long leap from the little child's interest in fairy tales and toys to the appreciation of the real and the earnest in the workaday world.

所有这些经历令我的词汇量达到了一个新的水平。我在博览会耽延了整整三个星期，我从一个沉迷于童话故事和玩具的小孩子，一跃成为懂得欣赏平凡世界真善美的有心人。