我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第27期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第27期  

Chapter XIII
It was in the spring of 1890 that I learned to speak.* The impulse to utter audible sounds had always been strong within me. I used to make noises
keeping one hand on my throat while the other hand felt the movements of my lips. I was pleased with anything that made a noise and liked to feel the cat purr and the dog bark. I also liked to keep my hand on a singer's throat
or on a piano when it was being played. Before I lost my sight and hearing
I was fast learning to talk
but after my illness it was found that I had ceased to speak because I could not hear. I used to sit in my mother's lap all day long and keep my hands on her face because it amused me to feel the motions of her lips; and I moved my lips
too
although I had fotten what talking was. My friends say that I laughed and cried naturally
and for awhile I made many sounds and word-elements
not because they were a means of munication
but because the need of exercising my vocal ans was imperative. There was
however
one word the meaning of which I still remembered
water. I pronounced it "wa-wa." Even this became less and less intelligible until the time when Miss Sullivan began to teach me. I stopped using it only after I had learned to spell the word on my fingers.
I had known for a long time that the people about me used a method of munication different from mine; and even before I knew that a deaf child could be taught to speak
I was conscious of dissatisfaction with the means of munication I already possessed. One who is entirely dependent upon the manual alphabet has always a sense of restraint
of narrowness. This feeling began to agitate me with a vexing
forward-reaching sense of a lack that should be filled. My thoughts would often rise and beat up like birds against the wind; and I persisted in using my lips and voice. Friends tried to discourage this tendency
fearing lest it would lead to disappointment. But I persisted
and an accident soon occurred which resulted in the breaking down of this great barrier—I heard the story of Ragnhild Kaata.
我很早就知道，人们使用一种与众不同的方式同我交流。我知道一个聋哑孩子是可以学会说话的，因此，我对自己已经拥有的交流手段感到了不满。一个完全依赖手写字母来交流的人总会感觉到处处受限。这种挫折感既令我无比懊恼，又使我进一步意识到，我应该尽快弥补自己的交流缺陷。我的思绪日益高涨，犹如逆风而行的飞鸟；而且，我坚持用自己的嘴唇发音。朋友们则竭力阻止我的热情，他们唯恐我因讲话不成而更加失望。我毫不动摇，随后发生的一件事终于令巨大的障碍轰然倒地——我听说了拉根希尔德·卡塔的故事。
In 1890 Mrs. Lamson
who had been one of Laura Bridgman's teachers
and who had just returned from a visit to Norway and Sweden
came to see me
and told me of Ragnhild Kaata
a deaf and blind girl in Norway who had actually been taught to speak. Mrs. Lamson had scarcely finished telling me about this girl's success before I was on fire with eagerness. I resolved that I
too
would learn to speak. I would not rest satisfied until my teacher took me
for advice and assistance
to Miss Sarah Fuller
principal of the Horace Mann School. This lovely
sweet-natured lady offered to teach me herself
and we began the enty-sixth of March
1890.