Chapter4 Three Days to See-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《假如给我三天光明Three Days to See》

Three ①ays to See which I have read or had transferred to me through the medium of the manual aphabet. So, through the evening of my second imaginary day of sight, the great fingers of dramatic literature would crowd sleep from my eyes IV The following morning, I should again greet the dawn. anxious to discover new delights, for I am sure that, for those who have eves which really see, the dawn of each day must be a perpetually new revelation of beauty This, according to the terms of my imagined miracle, is to be my third and last day of sight. I shall have no time to waste in regrets or longings: there is too much to see. The first day I devoted to my friends, animate and inanimate The second revealed to me the history of man and Nature. Today I shall spend in the workaday world of the present, amid the haunts^{} of men going about the business of life. And where can one find so many activities and conditions of men as in New York? So the city becomes my destination I start from my home in the quiet little suburb of Forest Hills, Long Island Here, surrounded by green lawns, trees, and flowers, are neat little houses. happy with the voices and movements of wives and children, havens② of peaceful rest for men who toil③} in the city. I drive across the lacy③} structure of steel which spans the East River, and I get a new and startling vision of the power and ingenuity of the mind of man. Busy boasts chug{} and scurry{} about the river - racy speed boat, stolid^{}, snorting③} tugs. If I had long days of sight ahead, I should spend many of them watching the delightful activity upon the river. I look ahead, and before me rise the fantastic towers of New York, a city tha seems to have stepped from the pages of a fairy story. What an awe-inspiring sight, these glittering spires. these vast banks of stone and steel-structures such .020: 假如给我三天光明 乐趣吧!如果我能看上哪怕一部戏,我也能在脑海中想 象出我用盲文读到的那一百部戏的情节场景。 所以,我想,第二个拥有光明之夜里,这些戏剧文 学中的人物会一直活跃在我的眼前,使我无心睡眠吧! 四 接下来的一天早晨,我将满怀发现新喜悦的期待, 再次迎接黎明的到来。因为我相信,善于观察的人,一 定会把每一个黎明都当作一次美的崭新呈现 按照我设想的奇迹,这是我拥有光明的第三天,也 就是最后一天。我将来不及后悔和希冀,因为有太多东 西要看。第一天,我把时间给予了朋友,无论有生命的 还是无生命的。第二天,我专注于人类和自然的历史 今天,我将会在当前的工作世界中度过,穿梭于那些事 ① haunt hx:nt]n. 常去的 地方 务繁忙的人群之中。好像没有什么地方能像纽约一样, 人口众多、公务繁忙、活动丰富多彩了吧!于是,纽约 就成了我要去的地方。 我先从我的家出发,它就位于长岛福利斯特希尔 ② haven ['heivan] n. 港口 的宁静小郊区。那里矗立着整洁的房屋,环绕着青草、 ③toil[toillv:辛苦地工作 绿树、红花,欢腾着主妇和孩子们的欢声笑语,无疑 ④ lacy [leisi]a. 花边的 是在城市辛劳奔波的人们停歇休养的避风港。我驾车 驶过横跨东河的花边钢筋桥梁,心中迅速升腾起对力 chug ItfAglv 发出嘎嘎 曹 量和独创崭新而深刻的认识。忙碌的船只在河中来回 ) scurry 'skAri]v 急赶 stolid 'stolidla. 迟钝的 穿梭,有疾速快艇,还有笨喘拖船。如果今天过后我 snort [sno:t]v:发出呼喊 依然能够看见,我想我一定会花很多时间来观看这河 呼哧声 面上令人欢愉的场面。 我举目遥望,那气势非凡的纽约高塔赫然耸立在我 的面前,这座城市仿佛从童话故事里走出的一般。这一 派风光,令人不禁肃然起敬;那星光闪烁的尖塔,巨石 与钢铁浇铸的宽阔堤岸,宛如众神为自已而建!尽管这 ·021· Three ①ays to See as the gods might build for themselves! This animated picture is a part of the lives of millions of people every day. How many, I wonder, give it so much as a seconds glance? Very few, I fear, Their eyes are blind to this magnificent sigh because it is so familiar to them I hurry to the top of one of those gigantic structures, the Empire State Building, for there, a short time ago, I"saw" the city below through the eves of my secretary. I am anxious to compare my fancy with reality. I am sure I should not be disappointed in the panorama spread out before me, for to me it would be a vision of another world Now I begin my rounds of the city. First, I stand at a busy corner, merely looking at people. trying by sight of them to understand something of their live I see smiles, and I am happy. I see serious determination, and I am proud, I see suffering, and I am compassionate. I stroll down{①} Fifth Avenue. I throw my eyes out of focus, so that I see no particular object but only a seething kaleidoscope of colors. I am certain that the colors of women's dresses moving in a throng must be a gorgeous spectacle of which I should never tire. But perhaps if I had sight I should be like most othe women-- too interested in styles and the cut of individual dresses to give much attention to the splendor of color in the mass. And I am convinced, too, that I should become an inveterate{}window shopper. for it must be a delight to the eye to view the myriad articles of beauty on display From Fifth Avenue I make a tour of the city-to Park Avenue, to the slums^③} to factories, to parks where children play. I take a stay-at-home trip abroad by visiting the foreign quarters. Always my eyes are open wide to all the sights of both happiness and misery so that I may probe deep and add to my understanding of how people work and live. my heart is full of the images of people and things. My eye passes lightly over no single trifle: it strives to touch and hold closely each thing its gaze rests upon. Some sights are pleasant, filling the heart with happiness: but some are miserably pathetic. To .022. 假如给我三天光明 幅生动的画面属于千百万人的日常生活,但是,我想问, 到底会有几个人对它多看一眼呢?恐怕,寥寥无几吧! 因为熟悉,所以才视而不见吧!即使是这样壮丽的景色 也不例外。 接着,我要迅速赶到那巨型建筑之一--帝国大 厦,因为不久前,我曾借秘书之眼“俯”过这座城市。 我十分渴望把我的想象与现实做一番对比。我相信,我 不会对展现在眼前的景象失望,因为对我来说,它就是 另一个世界的景色。 此时,我开始环游这座城市。首先,我会站在一个 喧嚣的街角,单纯地注视过往的人们,以凭借这一观察 去试图了解他们的生活。看见笑容,我会开心;看到认 真的决心,我会骄傲;看到苦难,我会同情。 漫步于第五大道上,我会把目光放大放远,不专注 ① stroll down漫步 于某一个具体的事物,而是感受那变幻无穷的斑斓色 彩。我相信,那穿梭于人群的女人们身上的各色衣裙, 一定是一道我永不会厌倦的美景。但是,如果我能看见. 我大概也会像大多数其他女人一样,过于关注自身衣裙 的样式和剪裁,而忽视了颜色的整体效果。我也相信 ② inveterate fin'yetoratl a 我一定也会变成商店窗的常客,因为那里陈列的各式 根深蒂固的 精美物品一定会让我大饱眼福。 从第五大道开始,我开始环游一先到公园大道, ③ slum [slAm]n.贫民窟 然后是贫民窟,接着是工厂区,最后是孩子游乐的公 园。我还会参观外国人居住区,以实现一次不出国的 国外旅行。我会睁大眼晴细细观察这里的每一个场景 或喜或悲,都能让我更深刻地理解人们的工作和生活。 各种各样的人和事会充盈我心中的每一个角落。我的 眼睛绝不放过任何一件小事,因为它们力求近距离捕 捉到所看到的每一件事物。有些场景令人欣喜,让人 心感幸福;然而有些却是极度可悲的。对于可悲之事, 我也不会捂上双眼,视而不见,因为它们本就是生活 .023. Three ①ays to See these latter I do not shut my eyes, for they, too, are part of life. To close the eye on them is to close the heart and mind My third day of sight is drawing to an end. Perhaps there are many serious pursuits to which I should devote the few remaining hours, but I am afraid that on the evening of that last day I should again run away to the theater, to a hilariously{①} funny play, so that I might appreciate the overtones{②} of comedy in the human spirit. At midnight my temporary respite{③} from blindness would cease, and permanent night would close in on④} me again. Naturally in those three short days I should not have seen all I wanted to see. Only when darkness had again descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen. But my mind would be so crowded with glorious memories that I should have little time fo regrets. Thereafter the touch of every object would bring a glowing memory of how that object looked. Perhaps this short outline of how I should spend three days of sigh does not agree with the program you would set for yourself if you knew that you were about to be stricken blind. I am, however, sure that if you actually faced that fate your eves would open to things you had never seen before, storing up memories for the long night ahead. You would use your eyes as never before. Everything you saw would become dear to you. Your eyes would touch and embrace every object that came within your range of vision. Then. at last. you would really see, and a new world of beauty would open itself before you. I who am blind can give one hint^{} to those who see - one admonition}to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense{} would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish{②} each morsel^{}, as if tomorrow you could never .024: 假如给我三天光明 的一部分。毕竟,对它们闭上双眼,就意味着闭起了 心门与思想。 拥有光明的第三天即将结束。也许,我还有很多 夙愿想用剩下的几个小时去实现,但是,恐怕时间有 限,在这最后一天的夜晚,我想我会再次跑去剧院 ① hilariously [hi'leariasli] 看一场热闹有趣的戏剧,以体会人类精神中喜剧的其 a.引人发笑地 中之意。 ② overtone ['auvataun] n. 午夜时分,我短暂的光明即将逝去,永久的黑夜将 弦外之音 ③ respite ['respait]v 暂停 再次袭来。毫无疑问,在这三天的短暂时光里,我无法 ④close inon围住:接近 看尽我想看的一切。只是当黑暗再次将我淹没时,我才 意识到还有太多东西还没来得及看。但是,我没有时间 悔恨,因为我的心里充盈了太多美好的记忆。以后的日 子里,对每一件事物的触摸,都将强烈激起我对其外形 观察的那段记忆 或许,我对于自已如何度过这三天光明世界的简短 描述,与你假如知道自已即将失明的情况下的设想并不 一致;不过,我仍然确信,假如你遭遇了那样的命运, 你一定会看到你之前从未看见的东西,并且将记忆珍 藏,以待前路的漫漫长夜。你一定会以从未有过的方式 去利用你的双眼。你所看到的一切都变得弥足珍贵。你 的目光一定会牢牢地触及每一个视力所及范围之内的事 物。此时此刻,你才真正地拥有了光明,一个美丽的新 世界才会在你眼前呈现 作为一个盲人,我要给拥有光明的人一个提醒 hint Ihint]n. 提示 o admonition 也是对那些想充分利用这一上天恩赐的人的一个忠告; Laedmou'nifanln. 忠告 利用你的双眼吧,就像你明天就会失明一样。其实, 同样的道理也适用于其他感官:去倾听声音的美妙 tactile I'tektail]a. 触觉 鸟儿的鸣啦和管弦丝竹的强劲旋律吧,就像你明天就 的 会失聪一样!去触摸你想触摸的每一样东西吧,就像 ⑧ relish ['reli门v品尝 morsel ['mxselln.(食物 你明天就会失去触觉一样!去闻闻花的芳香吧,就像 的)一口 你明天就会失去嗅觉一样!去尝尝美味佳肴吧,就像 .025. Three ①ays to See smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense: glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides. But of all the senses, I am sure that sight mus be the most delightful .026. 假如给我三天光明 你明天会失去味觉一样!充分利用你的每一种感官, 去体验大自然通过多种方式赐予你的快乐和美感。然 而,在所有感官之中,我相信,视觉一定是最让人愉 悦的。 .027.