我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第6期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第6期  

Chapter 3
Meanwhile the desire to express myself grew. The few signs I used became less and less adequate
and my failures to make myself understood were invariably followed by outbursts of passion. I felt as if invisible hands were holding me
and I made frantic efforts to free myself. I struggled--not that struggling helped matters
but the spirit of resistance was strong within me; I generally broke down in tears and physical exhaustion. If my mother happened to be near I crept into her arms
too miserable even to remember the cause of the tempest. After awhile the need of some means of munication became so urgent that these outbursts occurred daily
sometimes hourly.
My parents were deeply grieved and perplexed. We lived a long way from any school for the blind or the deaf
and it seemed unlikely that any one would e to such an out-of-the-way place as Tuscumbia to teach a child who was both deaf and blind. Indeed
my friends and relatives sometimes doubted whether I could be taught. My mother's only ray of hope came from Dickens's "American Notes." She had read his account of Laura Bridgman
and remembered vaguely that she was deaf and blind
yet had been educated. But she also remembered with a hopeless pang that Dr. Howe
who had discovered the way to teach the deaf and blind
had been dead many years. His methods had probably died with him; and if they had not
how was a little girl in a far-off town in Alabama to receive the benefit of them?
我的父母陷入了深深的痛苦和困惑之中。当时，我们家离任何一所盲人或聋哑学校都很远，而且，似乎也不会有任何人能跑到像图斯康比亚这种偏僻的地方，就为了教一个又聋又瞎的小孩子。事实上，我的朋友和亲属们一度怀疑我真的能否接受教育。我母亲唯一的希望来自狄更斯的《美国札记》，她曾读过他写的劳拉·布里吉曼的故事，而且她隐约记得那个女孩子也是又聋又瞎，然而却接受了正规教育。不过她也感到希望渺茫，因为豪博士，也就是探索传授盲聋人知识的先驱，已经去世很多年了。而豪博士的教育方法也许会随着他的去世而消亡，果真如此，那么一个住在亚拉巴马偏远小镇的小姑娘又如何从中受益呢？
When I was about six years old
my father heard of an eminent oculist in Baltimore
who had been successful in many cases that had seemed hopeless. My parents at once determined to take me to Baltimore to see if anything could be done for my eyes.
The journey
which I remember well
was very pleasant. I made friends with many people on the train. One lady gave me a box of shells. My father made holes in these so that I could string them
and for a long time they kept me happy and contented. The conductor
too
was kind. Often when he went his rounds I clung to his coat tails while he collected and punched the tickets. His punch
with which he let me play
was a delightful toy. Curled up in a corner of the seat I amused myself for hours making funny little holes in bits of cardboard.