我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第45期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第45期  

Perhaps an explanation of the method that was in use when I took my examinations will not be amiss here. The student was required to pass in sixteen hours--elve hours being called elementary and four advanced. He had to pass five hours at a time to have them counted. The examination papers were given out at nine o'clock at Harvard and brought to Radcliffe by a special messenger. Each candidate was known
not by his name
but by a number. I was No. 233
but
as I had to use a typewriter
my identity could not be concealed.
It was thought advisable for me to have my examinations in a room by myself
because the noise of the typewriter might disturb the other girls. Mr. Gilman read all the papers to me by means of the manual alphabet. A man was placed on guard at the door to prevent interruption.
The first day I had German. Mr. Gilman sat beside me and read the paper through first
then sentence by sentence
while I repeated the words aloud
to make sure that I understood him perfectly. The papers were difficult
and I felt very anxious as I wrote out my answers on the typewriter. Mr. Gilman spelled to me what I had written
and I made such changes as I thought necessary
and he inserted them. I wish to say here that I have not had this advantage since in any of my examinations. At Radcliffe no one reads the papers to me after they are written
and I have no opportunity to correct errors unless I finish before the time is up. In that case I correct only such mistakes as I can recall in the few minutes allowed
and make notes of these corrections at the end of my paper. If I passed with higher credit in the preliminaries than in the finals
there are o reasons. In the finals
no one read my work over to me
and in the preliminaries I offered subjects with some of which I was in a measure familiarbefore my work in the Cambridge school; for at the beginning of the year I had passed examinations in English
History
French and German
which Mr. Gilman gave me from previous Harvard papers.
第一天进行的是德语考试。坐在我旁边的吉尔曼先生首先通读一遍考题，然后再一句一句分开读；与此同时，我也跟着大声重复，以表明我听清了他说的话。考题有些难度，在用打字机打出答案的同时，我的心里也感到惴惴不安。吉尔曼先生把我的答题拼给我听，如果我觉得有必要的话就做一些修改，然后他再把修改后的内容插入到答题中。我想说的是，在我以前所参加的任何一次考试当中，从来没有享受过如此待遇。在拉德克利夫，没有人会为我读试题，而且我也没有机会修改错误，除非我能提前做完答卷。也就是说，我可以利用有限的几分钟时间，根据自己的回忆修改疏漏之处，然后，再把改正后的答案写在卷子的底部。假如说我初试的成绩比复试要好的话，原因有两个，首先，复试时不会有人为我读试卷；其次，初试时的科目有相当一部分都是我在剑桥学院学过的课程，而复试就不一定了。还好，在那一年年初，我已经通过了英语、历史、法语和德语的考试，吉尔曼先生用的是哈佛以前的正规试卷。
Mr. Gilman sent my written work to the examiners with a certificate that I
candidate No. 233
had written the papers.
All the other preliminary examinations were conducted in the same manner. None of them was so difficult as the first. I remember that the day the Latin paper was brought to us
Professor Schilling came in and informed me I had passed satisfactorily in German. This encouraged me greatly
and I sped on to the end of the ordeal with a light heart and a steady hand.