我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第29期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第29期  

"My little sister will understand me now
" was a thought stronger than all obstacles. I used to repeat ecstatically
"I am not dumb now." I could not be despondent while I anticipated the delight of talking to my mother and reading her responses from her lips. It astonished me to find how much easier it is to talk than to spell with the fingers
and I discarded the manual alphabet as a medium of munication on my part; but Miss Sullivan and a few friends still use it in speaking to me
for it is more convenient and more rapid than lip-reading.
Just here
perhaps
I had better explain our use of the manual alphabet
which seems to puzzle people who do not know us. One who reads or talks to me spells with his hand
using the single-hand manual alphabet generally employed by the deaf. I place my hand on the hand of the speaker so lightly as not to impede its movements. The position of the hand is as easy to feel as it is to see. I do not feel each letter any more than you see each letter separately when you read. Constant practice makes the fingers very flexible
and some of my friends spell rapidly—about as fast as an expert writes on a typewriter. The mere spelling is
of course
no more a conscious act than it is in writing.
When I had made speech my own
I could not wait to go home. At last the happiest of happy moments arrived. I had made my homeward journey
talking constantly to Miss Sullivan
not for the sake of talking
but determined to improve to the last minute. Almost before I knew it
the train stopped at the Tuscumbia station
and there on the platform stood the whole family. My eyes fill with tears now as I think how my mother pressed me close to her
speechless and trembling with delight
taking in every syllable that I spoke
while little Mildred seized my free hand and kissed it and danced
and my father expressed his pride and affection in a big silence. It was as if Isaiah's prophecy had been fulfilled in me
"The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands!"
当我能够开口讲话的时候，我几乎无法抑制住迫切的归家心情。终于，最快乐的时刻到来了，我踏上了返乡的旅程。一路上，我不停地和苏立文小姐说话。当然，这并不是为了单纯地说话，我决心提高我的说话水平，直到最后一刻。不知不觉间，火车已经停靠在图斯康比亚车站，全家人都站在月台上迎接我。我的眼中噙满泪水，我想到了母亲是如何把我紧紧地搂在怀里，激动得浑身颤抖不能言语，她仔细地聆听我发出的每一个音节；我想到了小妹妹米尔德莱德抓住我的手又吻又跳；我想到了父亲以长久的沉默来表达他的慈爱和自豪。我们相会的景象就像《以赛亚书》中应验的预言：“大山小山必在你们面前发声歌唱。田野的树木也都拍掌。”