我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第15期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第15期  

Another favourite haunt of mine was the orchard
where the fruit ripened early in July. The large
downy peaches would reach themselves into my hand
and as the joyous breezes flew about the trees the apples tumbled at my feet. Oh
the delight with which I gathered up the fruit in my pinafore
pressed my face against the smooth cheeks of the apples
still warm from the sun
and skipped back to the house!
Our favourite walk was to Keller's Landing
an old tumbledown lumber-wharf on the Tennessee River
used during the Civil War to land soldiers. There we spent many happy hours and played at learning geography. I built dams of pebbles
made islands and lakes
and dug river-beds
all for fun
and never dreamed that I was learning a lesson. I listened with increasing wonder to Miss Sullivan's descriptions of the great round world with its burning mountains
buried cities
moving rivers of ice
and many other things as strange. She made raised maps in clay
so that I could feel the mountain ridges and valleys
and follow with my fingers the devious course of rivers. I liked this
too; but the division of the earth into zones and poles confused and teased my mind. The illustrative strings and the orange stick representing the poles seemed so real that even to this day the mere mention of temperate zone suggests a series of ine circles; and I believe that if any one should set about it he could convince me that white bears actually climb the North Pole.
Arithmetic seems to have been the only study I did not like. From the first I was not interested in the science of numbers. Miss Sullivan tried to teach me to count by stringing beads in groups
and by arranging kindergarten straws I learned to add and subtract. I never had patience to arrange more than five or six groups at a time. When I had acplished this my conscience was at rest for the day
and I went out quickly to find my playmates.
算术似乎是我唯一不喜欢学习的课程。从一开始我就对有关数字的科学不感兴趣。苏立文小姐试图用串珠子的方式教我计算，她还通过排列麦秆教我学习加减法。我很没有耐心，每次最多排列五六组而已。完成了课业，我的心思马上就转移到了别处，我会立刻跑出去寻找我的玩伴。
In this same leisurely manner I studied zoology and botany.
Once a gentleman
whose name I have fotten
sent me a collection of fossils—tiny mollusk shells beautifully marked
and bits of sandstone with the print of birds' claws
and a lovely fern in bas-relief. These were the keys which unlocked the treasures of the antediluvian world for me. With trembling fingers I listened to Miss Sullivan's descriptions of the terrible beasts
with uncouth
unpronounceable names
which once went tramping through the primeval forests
tearing down the branches of gigantic trees for food
and died in the dismal swamps of an unknown age. For a long time these strange creatures haunted my dreams
and this gloomy period formed a somber background to the joyous Now
filled with sunshine and roses and echoing with the gentle beat of my pony's hoof.
Another time a beautiful shell was given me
and with a child's surprise and delight I learned how a tiny mollusk had built the lustrous coil for his dwelling place
and how on still nights
when there is no breeze stirring the waves
the Nautilus sails on the blue waters of the Indian Ocean in his "ship of pearl." After I had learned a great many interesting things about the life and habits of the children of the sea—how in the midst of dashing waves the little polyps build the beautiful coral isles of the Pacific
and the foraminifera have made the chalkhills of many a land—my teacher read me "The Chambered Nautilus
" and showed me that the shell-building process of the mollusks is symbolical of the development of the mind. Just as the wonder-working mantle of the Nautilus changes the material it absorbs from the water and makes it a part of itself
so the bits of knowledge one gathers undergo a similar change and bee pearls of thought.