我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第39期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第39期  

Miss Sullivan and I were at that time in Hulton
Pennsylvania
visiting the family of Mr. William Wade. Mr. Irons
a neighbour of theirs
was a good Latin scholar; it was arranged that I should study under him. I remember him as a man of rare
sweet nature and of wide experience. He taught me Latin grammar principally; but he ofTen helped me in arithmetic
which I found as troublesome as it was uninteresting. Mr. Irons also read with me Tennyson's "In Memoriam." I had read many books before
but never from a critical point of view. I learned for the first time to know an author
to recognize his style as I recognize the clasp of a friend's hand.
At first I was rather unwilling to study Latin grammar. It seemed absurd to waste time analyzing
every word I came across—noun
genitive
singular
feminine—when its meaning was quite plain. I thought I might just as well describe my pet in order to know it—order
vertebrate; division
quadruped; class
mammalia; genus
felinus; species
cat; individual
Tabby. But as I got deeper into the subject
I became more interested
and the beauty of the language delighted me. I often amused myself by reading Latin passages
picking up words I understood and trying to make sense. I have never ceased to enjoy this pastime.
There is nothing more beautiful
I think
than the evanescent fleeting images and sentiments presented by a language one is just being familiar with—ideas that flit across the mental sky
shaped and tinted by capricious fancy. Miss Sullivan sat beside me at my lessons
spelling into my hand whatever Mr. Irons said
and looking up new words for me. I was just beginning to read Caesar's "Gallic War" when I went to my home in Alabama.
我想，没有任何事物比因一种语言而产生的倏忽即逝的影像和情感更具魅力。我只是刚开始熟悉这种语言，但是，我的思想已经穿越了精神的天空，它已经被瞬息万变的幻想重新塑造和着色。上课的时候，苏立文小姐就坐在我的身边，她会把艾恩先生说的话在我手上拼写出来，而且帮我查生词。在启程返回亚拉巴马老家时，我已经开始读恺撒写的《高卢战记》了。