我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第23期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第23期  

Chapter XI
In the autumn I returned to my Southern home with a heart full of joyous memories. As I recall that visit North I am filled with wonder at the richness and variety of the experiences that cluster about it. It seems to have been the beginning of everything. The treasures of a new
beautiful world were laid at my feet
and I took in pleasure and information at every turn. I lived myself into all things. I was never still a moment; my life was as full of motion as those little insects that crowd a whole existence into one brief day. I met many people who talked with me by spelling into my hand
and thought in joyous sympathy leaped up to meet thought
and behold
a miracle had been wrought! The barren places beeen my mind and the minds of others blossomed like the rose.
I spent the autumn months with my family at our summer cottage
on a mountain about fourteen miles from Tuscumbia. It was called Fern Quarry
because near it there was a limestone quarry
long since abandoned. Three frolicsome little streams ran through it from springs in the rocks above
leaping here and tumbling there in laughing cascades wherever the rocks tried to bar their way. The opening was filled with ferns which pletely covered the beds of limestone and in places hid the streams. The rest of the mountain was thickly wooded. Here were great oaks and splendid evergreens with trunks like mossy pillars
from the branches of which hung garlands of ivy and mistletoe
and persimmon trees
the odour of which pervaded every nook and corner of the wood--an illusive
fragrant something that made the heart glad. In places the wild muscadine and scuppernong vines stretched from tree to tree
making arbours which were always full of butterflies and buzzing insects. It was delightful to lose ourselves in the green hollows of that tangled wood in the late afternoon
and to smell the cool
delicious odours that came up from the earth at the close of day.
在距离图斯康比亚大约十四英里的山间小屋里，我和我的家人度过了整个秋天。人们把那里叫做弗恩采石场，因为在那附近有一个石灰石矿场，不过很久以前就废弃了。三条快活的小溪流从此地流过，这些来自山泉的溪流欢笑着左闪右跳一往直前，无论岩石怎样阻挡都无济于事。这座山的大部分地区都被茂密的森林所覆蓋，山上有巨大的橡树，也有四季常青的树木。这些树的树干就像包裹着青苔的圆柱，树枝上挂满了常春藤和槲寄生的花环。附近还有柿子树，果实的甜美气息弥漫在密林中的每一个角落——这种虚幻朦胧的香味令人心情愉悦。野生的圆叶葡萄和斯卡巴农葡萄连成了一大片，葡萄藤上总会落满了各种各样的蝴蝶和嗡嗡飞舞的昆虫。在一天临近结束的黄昏时分，谷地散发着清爽宜人的气息，置身其间，的确令人心旷神怡。
Our cottage was a sort of rough camp
beautifully situated on the top of the mountain among oaks and pines. The small rooms were arranged on each side of a long open hall. Round the house was a wide piazza
where the mountain winds blew
sweet with all wood-scents. We lived on the piazza most of the time--there we worked
ate and played. At the back door there was a great butternut tree
round which the steps had been built
and in front the trees stood so close that I could touch them and feel the wind shake their branches
or the leaves irl downward in the autumn blast.
Many visitors came to Fern Quarry. In the evening
by the campfire
the men played cards and whiled away the hours in talk and sport. They told stories of their wonderful feats with fowl
fish and quadruped--how many wild ducks and turkeys they had shot
what "savage trout" they had caught
and how they had bagged the craftiest foxes
ouitted the most clever 'possums and overtaken the fleetest deer
until I thought that surely the lion
the tiger
the bear and the rest of the wild tribe would not be able to stand before these wily hunters. "To-morrow to the chase!" was their good-night shout as the circle of merry friends broke up for the night. The men slept in the hall outside our door
and I could feel the deep breathing of the dogs and the hunters as they lay on their improvised beds.
At dawn I was awakened by the smell of coffee
the rattling of guns
and the heavy footsteps of the men as they strode about
promising themselves the greatest luck of the season. I could also feel the stamping of the horses
which they had ridden out from town and hitched under the trees
where they stood all night
neighing loudly
impatient to be off. At last the men mounted
and
as they say in the old songs
away went the steeds with bridles ringing and whips cracking and hounds racing ahead
and away went the champion hunters "with hark and whoop and wild halloo!"