Chapter15 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 15 a Everything had budded and blossomed.I was happy."The Frost King"was forgotten. When the ground was strewn with the crimson and golden leaves of autumn, and the musk -scented grapes that covered the arbor at the end of the garden were turning golden brown in the sunshine,I began to write a sketch of my life -a year after I had written“The Frost King.” I was still excessively scrupulous about everything I wrote.The thought that what I wrote might not be absolutely my own tormented me.No one knew of these fears except my teacher.A strange sensitiveness prevented me from referring to the "Frost King";and often when an idea flashed out in the course of conversation I would spell softly to her,"I am not sure it is mine." At other times,in the midst of a paragraph I was writing,I said to myself, "Suppose it should be found that all this was written by some one long ago!" An impish fear clutched my hand,so that I could not write any more that day. And even now I sometimes feel the same uneasiness and disquietude.Miss ·150· 我的生活 第十五章 “冰雪之王”事件之后的那个夏天和冬天，我同家 人一起在亚拉巴马度过。我开心地找到了“回家”的感 觉。万事万物都经历了抽枝发芽、竞相怒放的过程。我 很高兴“冰雪之王”事件已成为了过眼云烟 ①musk[mAsk]n.麝香 当大地上撒满秋天那深红与金黄色的落叶，花园 ②arbor[cba]n.凉亭 尽头的凉亭覆满散发出麝香味的葡萄藤，一串串葡萄 在阳光的照耀下变成金灿灿的红褐色时，我开始用笔 3 scrupulous ['skru:pjulas] 勾勒自己的生活一此时距我写“冰雪之王”已一年 a小心谨慎的 ④torment[x'ment折 有余。 磨 那时，我仍然谨小慎微地对待自己写的任何东西。 每当想到我写的东西也许并不完全属于自己时，我就备 受折磨。除了我的老师，没有人知道我的恐惧心理。这 种奇怪的敏感心理促使我对“冰雪之王”之类的事件敬 而远之。因此，在同老师交谈时，一旦有想法从脑海中 闪现，我就会轻轻地在她手上拼写：“我不太确定这是 ⑤impish[impif]a.顽皮 的 我自己的。”有时，在我的写作途中，我会对自己说：“你 disquietude [dis'kwaiatjud] .焦虑 写的这些东西很早以前可能已经被人写过了！”一种戏 ⑦console[kan'saul安 谑般的恐惧感攫住了我的双手，于是，那一天里我就再 慰 也写不出东西了。即便现在，我还时常感受到与那时同 样的不安和焦虑。沙利文小姐想尽一切办法安慰我，帮 ·151· The Story of My Life Sullivan consoled and helped me in every way she could think of;but the terrible experience I had passed through left a lasting impression on my mind, the significance of which I am only just beginning to understand.It was with the hope of restoring my self-confidence that she persuaded me to write for the Youth's Companion a brief account of my life.I was then twelve years old.As I look back on my struggle to write that little story,it seems to me that I must have had a prophetic vision of the good that would come of the undertaking, or I should surely have failed. I wrote timidly,fearfully,but resolutely,urged on by my teacher,who knew that if I persevered,I should find my mental foothold again and get a grip on my faculties.Up to the time of the "Frost King"episode,I had lived the unconscious life of a little child;now my thoughts were turned inward, and I beheld things invisible.Gradually I emerged from the penumbra of that experience with a mind made clearer by trial and with a truer knowledge of life. The chief events of the year 1893 were my trip to Washington during the inauguration of President Cleveland,and visits to Niagara and the World's Fair.Under such circumstances my studies were constantly interrupted and often put aside for many weeks,so that it is impossible for me to give a connected account of them. We went to Niagara in March,1893.It is difficult to describe my emotions when I stood on the point which over-hangs the American Falls and felt the air vibrate and the earth tremble. It seems strange to many people that I should be impressed by the wonders and beauties of Niagara.They are always asking:"What does this beauty or that music mean to you?You cannot see the waves rolling up the beach or hear their roar.What do they mean to you?"In the most evident sense they mean everything.I cannot fathom or define their meaning any more than I can fathom or define love or religion or goodness. ·152· 我的生活 我摆脱困境，但是那次可怕的经历给我留下了难以磨灭 的印记。而对于那次事件的重要意义，直到现在我才开 ①restore[i'stx]g恢复 始慢慢理解。老师说服我为《青年之友》写一篇简练的 生活自传，希望我能因此而重获自信心。那年我十二岁， 回想起当时写那篇小故事时的挣扎过程，我想我当时一 定是对这项工作的结果有了一个良好的预期，否则肯定 2 prophetic [prau'fetik]a. 预言的 会失败。 ③timidly[timidli町ad.羞 最初，我怀着胆怯恐惧的心情进行写作，但是在 怯地 老师的督促下，我变得很坚决。她知道，如果我能够坚 ④foothold[fut.hould]m.立 脚点 持不懈，就一定会重振精神，重拾写作才能。“冰雪之 ⑤get a grip on掌握 王”事件之前，我一直生活在一个小孩子的槽懂无知之 6 penumbra [pi'nAmbra]n. 中；如今，我变得更加内敛，看待事物的角度也更加深 (日、月食的)半影 入。渐渐地，我从日食阴影般的经历中走了出来，随之 出现的是经历考验后的更加清晰的心智和更加真实的 生命真谛。 ⑦inauguration [i.nx:gju'reifan]m.就职 1893年的主要大事有二，一是参加克利夫兰总统就 典礼 职典礼期间的华盛顿之行，二是参观尼亚加拉瀑布和 世界博览会。在旅行期间，我的学业时常中断，有时 达数周之久，所以我不太可能把这些事联系在一起进 行叙述。 1893年3月，我们去了尼亚加拉瀑布。站在北美 瀑布的悬崖边上，感受着空气的震动和大地的颤抖、我 激动万分，当时的心情简直难以用语言描述 很多人似乎会觉着奇怪，想不到我这个盲人竟然会 对尼亚加拉的奇迹和美景有如此深刻的印象。他们总是 问我：“这一美景和音乐对你来说意味着什么？你看不 ⑧fathom ['faeoam],洞察 见水浪卷岸也听不到其咆哮声。它们对你有何意义？” 从最为明显的意义上来说，它们意味着一切。我对它们 的理解或定义与我对爱、宗教和善良的理解或定义有着 同等重要的意义 1893年夏天，我、沙利文小姐和亚历山大·格雷 ·153· The Story of My Life During the summer of 1893,Miss Sullivan and I visited the World's Fair with Dr.Alexander Craham Bell.I recall with unmixed delight those days when a thousand childish fancies became beautiful realities.Every day in imagination I made a trip round the world,and I saw many wonders from the uttermost parts of the earth-marvels of invention,treasuries of industry and skill and all the activities of human life actually passed under my finger tips. I liked to visit the Midway Plaisance.It seemed like the "Arabian Nights," it was crammed3 so full of novelty and interest.Here was the India of my books in the curious bazaar with its Shivas and elephant-gods;there was the land of the Pyramids concentrated in a model Cairo with its mosques and its long processions of camels;yonder were the lagoons of Venice,where we sailed every evening when the city and the fountains were illuminated.I also went on board a viking ship which lay a short distance from the little craft.I had been on a man-of-war before,in Boston,and it interested me to see,on this viking ship,how the seaman was once all in all-how he sailed and took storm and calm alike with undaunted heart,and gave chase to whosoever reechoed his cry,"We are of the sea!"and fought with brains and sinews,self-reliant, self-sufficient,instead of being thrust into the background by unintelligent machinery,as Jack is to-day.So it always is-"man only is interesting to man." At a little distance from this ship there was a model of the Santa Maria, which I also examined.The captain showed me Columbus's cabin and the desk with an hour-glass on it.This small instrument impressed me most because it made me think how weary the heroic navigator must have felt as he saw the sand dropping grain by grain while desperate men were plotting against his life. Mr.Higinbotham,President of the World's Fair,kindly gave me permission to touch the exhibits,and with an eagerness as insatiable as that with which Pizarro seized the treasures of Peru,I took in the glories of the Fair with my fingers.It was a sort of tangible kaleidoscope,this white city of the West. ·154· 我的生活 厄姆·贝尔博士一起参观了世界博览会。我记得那些毫 D uttermost ['Atomoust]a. 无杂念的喜悦日子，上千种幼稚的幻想成为现实。每天 极度的 ②marvel[ma:val]n.奇迹 我都想着环游世界，观看地球上的许多奇观一发明奇 迹、工业宝藏以及各种各样的社会活动和技能，一切都 通过我的指尖传递给我 ③cm[kraem]v.把…挤 我最喜欢的地方是普赖桑斯游乐场。那里简直就 满 是“天方夜谭”，里面充满了各色各样的奇思妙想。我 ④mosque[msk]n.清真 寺 能感受到书中描写的印度风情一奇特的集市上满是 5 procession [prau'sefan] “湿婆”和“象神”的雕像：那里还有开罗的景观模型， .行列 ⑥lagoon[lb'grn]h.浅湖 模型中还贯穿有金字塔、清真寺和长途跋涉的驼队：更 远一点的地方是威尼斯水道，每天晚上我们都乘船航 行在灯光绚烂的城市和喷泉之间。我还登上了一艘放 置在微缩城外的海盗船，虽然在波士顿时我也登上过 undaunted [.An'do:ntid]a. 军舰，可如今我却兴致勃勃地观看海盗船的水手们如 勇敢的 何扬帆远航，如何气定神闲地对抗风暴。他们的呐喊： ⑧sinews[sinju:zn.[复] 体力 “我们属于大海！”回响在人们耳边，他们同大海抗衡 的武器是灵活的头脑和强健的体力；他们独来独往，自 给自足，并未像今天的水手们那样被湮没在愚蠢的机 械文明之下。所以事实就是这样一“男人只应做属 于男人的事” 我还去视察了海盗船附近的一艘“圣玛利亚”号仿 制帆船。“船长”带我参观了哥伦布的船舱，里面有 张桌子，桌子上摆放着一个小巧的沙漏。我对这个沙漏 印象十分深刻，因为它让我想到这位伟大的航海家在看 着沙粒一点一点滴落时会多么疲惫，同时，绝望的船员 正在谋划如何除掉他。 insatiable [in'seifjabl]a. 希金博特姆先生是世界博览会的主席，他十分善 贪得无厌的 良，允许我触摸一些展品。于是，我就像贪得无厌的皮 萨罗掳掠秘鲁的珍宝一样，我用手指“吸纳”了博览会 ⑩kaleidoscope [k3 laidoskoup]m.万花筒 的精华。博览会仿佛是一个有形的万花筒，每一样东西 都让我感到无比新奇，特别是法国的青铜雕像：这些栩 ·155· The Story of My Life Everything fascinated me,especially the French bronzes.They were so lifelike, I thought they were angel visions which the artist had caught and bound in earthly forms. At the Cape of Good Hope exhibit,I learned much about the processes of mining diamonds.Whenever it was possible,I touched the machinery while it was in motion,so as to get a clearer idea how the stones were weighed,cut,and polished.I searched in the washings for a diamond and found it myself-the only true diamond,they said,that was ever found in the United States. Dr.Bell went everywhere with us and in his own delightful way described to me the objects of greatest interest.In the electrical building we examined the telephones,autophones2,phonographs,and other inventions,and he made me understand how it is possible to send a message on wires that mock space and outrun time,and,like Prometheus,to draw fire from the sky.We also visited the anthropological department,and I was much interested in the relics of ancient Mexico,in the rude stone implements that are so often the only record of an age-the simple monuments of nature's unlettered children (so I thought as I fingered them)that seem bound to last while the memorials of kings and sages crumble in dust away and in the Egyptian mummies,which I shrank from touching.From these relics I learned more about the progress of man than I have heard or read since. All these experiences added a great many new terms to my vocabulary,and in the three weeks I spent at the Fair I took a long leap from the little child's interest in fairy tales and toys to the appreciation of the real and the earnest in the workaday world. ·156· 我的生活 ①bound[baund](bind的 栩如生的雕像仿佛是现身的天使，我想，艺术家们一定 过去分词)比使凝固 是把天使抓过来并将它们塑造成型的。 在“好望角”展区，我了解了许多有关钻石开采 过程的知识。只要有机会，我都会摸一摸正在运转的机 器，这样我就能更清晰地感受到矿石如何称重、切割和 磨光。我还摸到了一块正在清洗的钻石一人们告诉我 说，这是在美国发现的唯一的一颗真钻石。 贝尔博士陪我们参观了所有地方，他愉快地向我 描述了最有趣的展品。在电子大厦，我们试用了电话机 2 autophone ['o:taufaun] 对讲机、留声机和其他一些发明。从他那里我明白了信 m自动电话 3phonograph ['faunagra:f] 息是如何突破了空间和时间的限制而在电线上传播的， n留声机 这好像是普罗米修斯再次将火种带到人间一样。在参观 ④mock[mk]g向挑 战 人类学展区时，我还对古代墨西哥文物产生了浓厚的兴 ⑤outrun[aut'rAn]超过 (6 anthropological [.aenera- 趣。原始的石器工具是那个时代仅有的记录，也是未开 p3lbd3 ikal]a.人类学的 ⑦relic[relik]n.遗迹 化的人类童年时期的简陋遗物（这是我用手指触摸后的 8 unlettered [.An'letod]a. 感想)。一代代君王和圣贤的功劳簿在历史的尘埃中分 未受教育的 崩离析，在埃及的木乃伊中被死亡尘封，但有些遗迹仍 ⑨sage[seid3]h.圣人，圣 有幸留存到现在。这些遗物让我了解到人类文明的进化 ⑩crumble[krambl]崩 溃 过程，其深意是无法从别人的讲解和阅读中领悟到的。 这些经历将我的词汇量推向了一个新的台阶。参 观博览会的这三个星期里，我从一个沉迷于童话故事 和玩具的小孩子，一跃成为懂得欣赏平凡世界真善美 ⑩workaday[wa:kadei]a. 的成年人。 普通的 ·157·