Chapter6 The Story of My Life-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《假如给我三天光明Three Days to See》

The Story of My Life CHAPTER 6 THAD NoW the key to all language,and I was eager to learn to use it. Children who hear acquire language without any particular effort;the words that fall from others'lips they catch on the wing,as it were,delightedly,while the little deaf child must trap them by a slow and often painful process.But whatever the process,the result is wonderful.Gradually from naming an object we advance step by step until we have traversed the vast distance between our first stammered syllable and the sweep of thought in a line of Shakespeare. At first,when my teacher told me about a new thing I asked very few questions.My ideas were vague,and my vocabulary was inadequate;but as my knowledge of things grew,and I learned more and more words,my field of inquiry broadened,and I would return again and again to the same subject, eager for further information.Sometimes a new word revived an image that some earlier experience had engraved on my brain. I remember the morning that I first asked the meaning of the word,"love." This was before I knew many words.I had found a few early violets in the garden and brought them to my teacher.She tried to kiss me;but at that time I did not like to have any one kiss me except my mother.Miss Sullivan put her arm gently round me and spelled into my hand,"I love Helen." "What is love?"I asked. She drew me closer to her and said,"It is here,"pointing to my heart,whose ·072· 我的生活 第六章 如今，我已经掌握了所有语言的关键，并渴望加以 运用。对那些拥有正常听觉的孩子而言，学习语言毫不 ①as it were可以说是 费力：别人嘴里吐出的话，他们能够愉快地领会到。然 而对于耳聋的孩子来说，掌握语言必须要经过一番缓慢 而痛苦的学习过程。但无论哪种过程，结果都会愉悦无 ②traverse['trevas]横过， 横越 比。渐渐地，我们从学习物体的名字一步步地前进，直 ③stammer['stam3】结 结巴巴地说出 到穿越在更广阔的疆域里：从第一次期期艾艾地发音到 在莎士比亚的诗作中思考。 起初，老师教我新事物的时候，我很少发问。因为 那时候我概念模糊，词汇匮乏。但是，随着对事物了解 的增加，我学到的词汇越来越多，我问的问题也就增多 ④revive[ri'vaiv]g使回 了。我会围绕一个问题不停地发问，以期了解更多信息。 想起 ⑤engrave[in'greiv]v铭记 有时候，一个新词能勾起我对早期经历的一些记忆 记得有一天早上，我第一次问起“爱”这个词的含 义。其实，这个词我早就认识了。我在花园里摘了几朵 刚刚开放的紫罗兰送给老师，老师试图吻我，可是我那 时除了母亲，不愿意让任何人吻我。老师用手臂温柔地 搂着我，在我的手上拼写“我爱海伦”这几个字。 “爱是什么？”我问道。 她把我拉到身边，然后指着我的心说：“爱就在这 ·073· The Story of My Life beats I was conscious of for the first time.Her words puzzled me very much because I did not then understand anything unless I touched it. I smelt the violets in her hand and asked,half in words,half in signs,a question which meant,"Is love the sweetness of flowers?" No,”said my teacher. Again I thought.The warm sun was shining on us. "Is this not love?"I asked,pointing in the direction from which the heat came,"Is this not love?" It seemed to me that there could be nothing more beautiful than the sun, whose warmth makes all things grow.But Miss Sullivan shook her head,and I was greatly puzzled and disappointed.I thought it strange that my teacher could not show me love. A day or two afterward I was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups-two large beads,three small ones,and so on,I had made many mistakes,and Miss Sullivan had pointed them out again and again with gentle patience.Finally I noticed a very obvious error in the sequence and for an instant I concentrated my attention on the lesson and tried to think how I should have arranged the beads.Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled with decided emphasis,Think." In a flash I knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on in my head.This was my first conscious perception of an abstract idea. For a long time I was still-I was not thinking of the beads in my lap,but trying to find a meaning for"love"in the light of this new idea.The sun had been under a cloud all day,and there had been brief showers;but suddenly the sun broke forth in all its southern splendor. Again I asked my teacher,"Is this not love?" "Love is something like the clouds that were in the sky before the sun came out,"she replied.Then in simpler words than these,which at that time I could not have understood,she explained:"You cannot touch the clouds,you know; but you feel the rain and know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day.You can not touch love either;but you feel the sweetness ·074· 我的生活 ①be conscious of意识 里。”我第一次感受到了心脏的跳动。老师的话让我困 到 惑不已，因为那时候我还不能理解无形的东西，除非我 能用手摸到它。 我闻着老师手中的紫罗兰，一边拼写单词，一边用 手势比画，问她，“爱是这花香吗？” “不。”老师回答说。 于是我又想了想。暖暖的阳光洒在我们身上。 “这是爱吗？”我指着太阳发出热量的方向问老 师，“爱是太阳吗？” 在我看来，太阳是世间最美丽的东西，它发出的光 和热能让万物茁壮成长。但是老师仍然摇头，我陷入了 深深的困惑和失望。我觉着很奇怪，为什么老师不能向 我展示一下什么是爱呢？ 2 symmetrical [si'metrikal] 一两天后，我正把不同大小的珠子均匀地串在一 a.匀称的：整齐的 起一先串两个大的，再串三个小的，以此类推。可我 老是弄错，老师十分耐心地帮我纠正错误。最后，我注 意到一个很明显的顺序错误，接下来我集中注意力用心 想着我该如何将珠子串好呢？老师摸着我的前额，有力 地拼写了“想”(hink)这个单词。 ③in a flash瞬间：立刻 突然，我明白了这个词语就是我脑子里正在运行的 过程。这是我初次认识到一个抽象的概念。 有很长一段时间我坐在那里一动不动，心思完全不 ④in the light of根据 在珠子上，而是试图用这迸发的新念头寻找“爱”的含 义。那天乌云密布，还下了一场阵雨，可是顷刻之间太 ⑤splendor[splenda]n.光 阳探出了头，发出耀眼的光芒。 彩 我又问老师：“这个是爱吗？” “爱有点像太阳出来之前天上的云彩。”老师回答 说。然后又解释道，“要知道，你摸不到云彩，但你能 感受到雨水，也能察觉出在经历了天气的酷热后，花儿 和大地是多么高兴。你也不能摸到爱，但你感觉到她滋 养万物的甜蜜。没有爱，你一定不会快乐，也不会有心 ·075· The Story of My Life that it pours into everything.Without love you would not be happy or want to play." The beautiful truth burst upon my mind-I felt that there were invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others. From the beginning of my education Miss Sullivan made it a practice to speak to me as she would speak to any hearing child;the only difference was that she spelled the sentences into my hand instead of speaking them.If I did not know the words and idioms necessary to express my thoughts she supplied them,even suggesting conversation when I was unable to keep up my end of the dialogue. This process was continued for several years;for the deaf child does not learn in a month,or even in two or three years,the numberless idioms and expressions used in the simplest daily intercourse3.The little hearing child learns these from constant repetition and imitation.The conversation he hears in his home stimulates his mind and suggests topics and calls forth the spontaneous expression of his own thoughts.This natural exchange of ideas is denied to the deaf child.My teacher,realizing this,determined to supply the kinds of stimuli I lacked.This she did by repeating to me as far as possible,verbatim5,what she heard,and by showing me how I could take part in the conversation. But it was a long time before I ventured to take the initiative,and still longer before I could find something appropriate to say at the right time The deaf and the blind find it very difficult to acquire the amenities of conversation.How much more this difficulty must be augmenteds in the case of those who are both deaf and bind!They cannot distinguish the tone of the voice or,without assistance,go up and down the gamut of tones that give significance to words;nor can they watch the expression of the speaker's face, and a look is often the very soul of what one says. ·076· 我的生活 思玩耍。”虽然这些语言更简单形象些，可那时的我还 是无法理解。 这一美妙的真相突然出现在我的脑海里一我感觉 ①stretch[stret]g伸展： 舒展 到有无数隐形的线条正在我和其他人的灵魂之间穿梭。 从最开始，老师教我认字就像对待听觉正常的儿童 一样，唯一不同的是，她会在我的手里拼写单词，而不 是直接用嘴说出来。如果我不太明白能表达我思想的单 ②idiom[idiam]n.习语， 成语 词或者成语，她就会告诉我：如果我无法完成与人的对 话，她甚至会暗示我怎么做 这种情况持续了好多年，因为对于没有听觉的儿童 来说，学习日常交流中难以计数的成语和表达并不是一 个月就能够完成的事情，甚至两三年也很难完全掌握它 3 intercourse ['intaka:s]n. 们。那些听力正常的儿童通过不断地重复和模仿，很快 交流 spontancous [spon'teinias] 就能灵活运用。他们在家里听到大人们的交谈，会刺激 a.自发的 他们的思维，启发大脑中的话题，因此他们自然而然就 能表达出自己的思想；但没有听觉的儿童却不能做到这 样。老师意识到这种差别后，她决定用各种方法来弥补 5 verbatim [va:'beitim]ad. 我的缺陷。她逐字逐句地反复教我一些她所听到的日常 逐字逐句地 用语，并告诉我怎样和别人对话。 ⑥initiative[i'nifiativ]m.主 可是，很长一段时间过去了，我才敢主动开口同别 动的行动 人讲话。后来又过了很久，我才知道在恰当的时间说些 ⑦amenity[a'mirn3ti]n.愉 快，快乐 恰当的话。 ⑧augment[xg'ment]w.增 大，增加 对于聋者或盲人而言，他们很难领会到谈话的技 艺：而对那些既聋又盲的人来说，其遭遇的阻碍可谓难 ⑨gamut[gmat)]n.(全) 上加难！他们领会不了语速的快慢、声调的高低，也无 音阶，（全）音域 法观察说话人的面部表情，而神色往往最能展示说话人 的内心世界。 ·077·