我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第48期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第48期  

On the 29th and 30th of June
1899
I took my final examinations for Radcliffe College. The first day I had Elementary Greek and Advanced Latin
and the second day Geometry
Algebra and Advanced Greek.
The college authorities did not allow Miss Sullivan to read the examination papers to me; so Mr. Eugene C. Vining
one of the instructors at the Perkins Institution for the Blind
was employed to copy the papers for me in American braille. Mr. Vining was a stranger to me
and could not municate with me
except by writing braille. The proctor was also a stranger
and did not attempt to municate with me in any way.
The braille worked well enough in the languages
but when it came to geometry and algebra
difficulties arose.* I was sorely perplexed
and felt discouraged wasting much precious time
especially in algebra. It is true that I was familiar with all literary braille in mon use in this country--English
American
and New York Point; but the various signs and symbols in geometry and algebra in the three systems are very different
and I had used only the English braille in my algebra.
在对付语言方面，盲文可以说是绰绰有余的，但是一旦用到几何和代数上面，问题就来了。我感到既困惑又沮丧，尤其是代数，在这上面我浪费了许多宝贵时间。事实上，我对这个国家通用的所有字母盲文熟稔于心——英式、美式，以及纽约浮点式；但是面对几何和代数变化多端的符号和标记，这三种盲文体系的表现形式却是大相径庭，而在代数课中，我只使用过英式盲文。
Two days before the examinations
Mr. Vining sent me a braille copy of one of the old Harvard papers in algebra. To my dismay I found that it was in the American notation. I sat down immediately and wrote to Mr. Vining
asking him to explain the signs. I received another paper and a table of signs by return mail
and I set to work to learn the notation. But on the night before the algebra examination
while I was struggling over some very plicated examples
I could not tell the binations of bracket
brace and radical. Both Mr. Keith and I were distressed and full of forebodings for the morrow; but we went over to the college a little before the examination began
and had Mr. Vining explain more fully the American symbols.
In geometry my chief difficulty was that I had always been accustomed to read the propositions in line print
or to have them spelled into my hand; and somehow
although the propositions were right before me
I found the braille confusing
and could not fix clearly in my mind what I was reading. But when I took up algebra I had a harder time still. The signs
which I had so lately learned
and which I thought I knew
perplexed me. Besides
I could not see what I wrote on my typewriter. I had always done my work in braille or in my head. Mr. Keith had relied too much on my ability to solve problems mentally
and had not trained me to write examination papers. Consequently my work was painfully slow
and I had to read the examples over and over before I could form any idea of what I was required to do. Indeed
I am not sure now that I read all the signs correctly. I found it very hard to keep my wits about me.
But I do not blame any one. The administrative board of Radcliffe did not realize how difficult they were making my examinations
nor did they understand the peculiar difficulties I had to surmount. But if they unintentionally placed obstacles in my way
I have the consolation of knowing that I overcame them all.