我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第16期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第16期  

Again
it was the growth of a plant that furnished the text for a lesson. We bought a lily and set it in a sunny window. Very soon the green
pointed buds showed signs of opening. The slender
fingerlike leaves on the outside opened slowly
reluctant
I thought
to reveal the loveliness they hid; once having made a start
however
the opening process went on rapidly
but in order and systematically. There was always one bud larger and more beautiful than the rest
which pushed her outer
covering back with more pomp
as if the beauty in soft
silky robes knew that she was the lily-queen by right divine
while her more timid sisters doffed their green hoods shyly
until the whole plant was one nodding bough of loveliness and fragrance.
Once there were eleven tadpoles in a glass globe set in a window full of plants. I remember the eagerness with which I made discoveries about them. It was great fun to plunge my hand into the bowl and feel the tadpoles frisk about
and to let them slip and slide beeen my fingers. One day a more ambitious fellow leaped beyond the edge of the bowl and fell on the floor
where I found him to all appearance more dead than alive. The only sign of life was a slight wriggling of his tail. But no sooner had he returned to his element than he darted to the bottom
swimming round and round in joyous activity. He had made his leap
he had seen the great world
and was content to stay in his pretty glass house under the big fuchsia tree until he attained the dignity of froghood. Then he went to live in the leafy pool at the end of the garden
where he made the summer nights musical with his quaint love-song.
Thus I learned from life itself. At the beginning I was only a little mass of possibilities. It was my teacher who unfolded and developed them. When she came
everything about me breathed of love and joy and was full of meaning. She has never since let pass an opportunity to point out the beauty that is in everything
nor has she ceased trying in thought and action and example to make my life sweet and useful.
我就是这样了解生命的意义的。起初，我只是一知半解，但是老师为我揭示了生命的奥祕。正是老师的到来，我的生命才充满了爱和欢乐的气息，才变得不同凡响。她从来不放过任何一次向我展示万物之美的机会，她也从不放弃努力，以她的思想和言行引导我成为一个生活充实，于社会有益的人。
It was my teacher's genius
her quick sympathy
her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful. It was because she seized the right moment to impart knowledge that made it so pleasant and acceptable to me. She realized that a child's mind is like a shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its education and reflects here a flower
there a bush
yonder a fleecy cloud; and she attempted to guide my mind on its way
knowing that like a brook it should be fed by mountain streams and hidden springs
until it broadened out into a deep river
capable of reflecting in its placid surface
billowy hills
the luminous shadows of trees and the blue heavens
as well as the sweet face of a little flower.
Any teacher can take a child to the classroom
but not every teacher can make him learn. He will not work joyously unless he feels that liberty is his
whether he is busy or at rest; he must feel the flush of victory and the heart-sinking of disappointment before he takes with a will the tasks distasteful to him and resolves to dance his way bravely through a dull routine of textbooks.
My teacher is so near to me that I scarcely think of myself apart from her. How much of my delight in all beautiful things is innate
and how much is due to her influence
I can never tell. I feel that her being is inseparable from my own
and that the footsteps of my life are in hers. All the best of me belongs to her—there is not a talent
or an aspiration or a joy in me that has not been awakened by her loving touch.