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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 IV

第四章

The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old.

在我的一生中，最令我刻骨铭心的一天就是我的老师，安妮·曼斯菲尔德·苏立文的到来。我心里充满了惊奇，我认为在两个将命运联系在一起的人之间一定存在着无限的差异。那天是1887年3月3日，三个月后我就满七岁了。

On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant. I guessed vaguely from my mother's signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch, and fell on my upturned face. My fingers lingered almost unconsciously on the familiar leaves and blossoms which had just come forth to greet the sweet southern spring. I did not know what the future held of marvel or surprise for me. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually for weeks and a deep languor had succeeded this passionate struggle.

那天下午，我站在门廊里，似乎在默默地期待着什么。我从房间里人们忙前忙后的动静，以及母亲的手势里隐约地猜到，家里要有什么事发生。所以，我就走出房门坐在台阶上等着。午后的阳光穿透门廊上茂密的金银花藤，暖暖地洒落在我仰起的脸上。我的手指不由自主地游移在那些熟悉的叶片和花蕾之间，初生的枝蔓似乎也忙不迭地向南方的春日致意。我不知道我的未来会发生什么样的奇迹，一连好几个星期，懊恼和苦闷折磨着我，深深的无助感令我抗争不得。

Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was. "Light! give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.

你是否曾到过浓雾笼罩的海面？一团白色的雾霭将你彻底封闭，而你脚下的那条大船，则焦虑不安地摸索前行，它边走边用铅锤和探深绳寻找着靠岸的航道。那么你呢？就带着怦怦的心跳等待着未知事物的发生？在接受正式教育之前，我就像那艘漂荡在迷雾中的船，只是我没有指南针和探深绳，也无从知晓港口的远近。“光！给我光明！”这是发自我灵魂深处无言的呐喊，每分每秒，我都想把自己沐浴在爱的光明之中。

I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother. Some one took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things to me, and, more than all things else, to love me.

我感觉到了走近的脚步声，我伸出手，就像迎接母亲那样。有个人抓住了我的手，我被她紧紧地抱在怀中，她就是来向我揭示万事万物的人。事实上，比揭示万事万物更为重要的是，她爱我。

The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed it; but I did not know this until afterward. When I had played with it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word "d-o-l-l." I was at once interested in this finger play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation. In the days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk. But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has a name.

我记得在老师到来之后的次日早晨，她领我来到了她的房间，还给了我一个布娃娃。这个娃娃是帕金斯学院的一个小盲童送给苏立文小姐的。劳拉·布里吉曼还给娃娃做了衣服穿，我也是后来才知道娃娃的来历的。当时，我玩了一会儿手上的娃娃，苏立文小姐则慢慢地在我手上拼写“doll”这个词。我立刻对这种手指游戏产生了兴趣，并且努力模仿。最终，我正确地拼写出了单词，我难以抑制我的快乐和自豪。后来，我跑到楼下母亲身旁，我举起手，然后在上面拼写出“娃娃”的单词。当时，我并不知道我拼写的是一个单词，我甚至不知道那些字词是否存在，我只是调皮地用手指加以模仿而已。在随后的几天里，我用这种懵懂的方式学会了拼写很多词，其中有像“pin，bat，cup”这样的名词，还有一些像“sit，stand，walk”之类的动词。事实上，我是在和老师待了好几星期后，才知道每件东西都有一个名字。

One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled "d-o-l-l" and tried to make me understand that "d-o-l-l" applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words "m-u-g" and "w-a-t-e-r." Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that "m-u-g" is mug and that "w-a-t-e-r" is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure.

有一天，我正在和我的新布娃娃玩的时候，苏立文小姐就把我的那个大破娃娃放在了我的膝盖上，她教我拼写“doll”，而且试图使我明白，这两个娃娃都叫“doll”。还有一次，我们在单词“mug”和“water”之间争得不可开交。苏立文小姐极力向我强调“水杯是水杯，水是水”，可是我固执地把两样东西混为一谈。无奈之下，她不再同我争辩，而是从头开始教我。我对她翻来覆去的重复不胜厌烦，于是我一把抓过新娃娃，把它猛地摔在地上。我感觉到了娃娃在我脚下四分五裂，只觉得心里十分痛快。既不悲伤，也不愧疚，我的情绪就那样爆发了，我不再爱那个娃娃。显然，在我生活的寂静、黑暗的世界里，是没有强烈的柔情和关爱的。我感觉到我的老师把娃娃的残肢扫到了壁炉旁边。我的懊恼也随之被移走了，我感到心满意足。后来，老师拿来了我的帽子，我知道我要去外面晒太阳了。这样的念头——如果这种无声的感觉能够被称作一个念头的话，那么它会令我感到欢欣鼓舞。

We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten--a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.*

我们走在通往大房子的路上，金银花的芬芳令人心旷神怡。有人开始压水，我的老师则把我的手放在了水管边上。当一股清冽的水流喷涌到我的一只手上时，她就在我的另一只手上拼写“water”这个词，起初是慢慢地，后来变得飞快。蓦然间，我感觉到一种被遗忘了的朦胧意识——或者说，一种沉睡意识的回归和觉醒；神秘的语言世界展现在我面前。于是我知道了“water”的意思是奇妙而凉爽的东西从我的手上流过。这个具有生命力的词语唤醒了我的灵魂，它带给了我光明、希望、欢乐，将我置于一个无限自由的空间！虽然感官的藩篱依然存在，但是藩篱必将会被及时地清理干净。

I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.

我离开了大房子，极其渴望了解更广阔的世界。对我而言，每一样东西都有一个名字，每一个名字都是一种新思想的诞生。当我们回到家里，我碰到的每一件物体似乎都对我的生命产生了触动。这是因为我以一种陌生而新奇的眼光来看待这些东西。进门的时候，我想起了那个被我摔坏的洋娃娃。我摸索着走到壁炉前，蹲在地上捡起了娃娃的碎片。我徒劳地想把它们拼凑在一起，我的眼里噙满了泪水，因为我意识到了自己的所作所为，有生以来第一次，我感到既懊悔又伤心。

I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them--words that were to make the world blossom for me, "like Aaron's rod, with flowers." It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come.

那天，我学习了大量的新词汇。虽然已经记不全了，但是有几个词我永远都不会忘记——“母亲，父亲，姐妹，老师”——这些词语把我带进了一个缤纷的世界，“就像亚伦的魔杖，一挥之下，遍生花丛”。不妨说，你很难找到一个像我这般快乐的小孩。在具有意义的那一天结束之时，我躺在自己的儿童床里。它把我带进了喜悦的生活之中，我第一次迫不及待地期盼着新的一天的来临。

* See Miss Sullivan's letter, Part III, Chapter III.

**见沙利文小姐的信，第三部分，第三章。