海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第12期

　　第6章

　　I had 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.

　　如今，我已經(jīng)掌握了學習所有語言的關鍵，而且我渴望學以致用。對那些正常的孩子而言，他們學習語言并不需要特別的努力，就能夠領會從別人唇間吐出的詞匯，這是一個令人欣喜的過程。而對于一個聾啞小孩而言，掌握語言必須要經(jīng)過一番緩慢而痛苦的學習過程。但無論是哪一種過程，其結果都會令人無比愉悅。漸漸地，我們從說出一種物體的名字，一步步發(fā)展到在更廣闊的疆域里自由馳騁——從第一次發(fā)出結結巴巴的音節(jié)，到在莎士比亞的詩行間沉思，我們穿越了遙遠的征途。

　　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.

　　起初，當我的老師講解一件新事物時，我?guī)缀鯁柌怀鍪裁磫栴}。我的意識是模糊的，我的詞匯也是貧乏的，但是隨著接觸事物的增加，我學會的詞匯也越來越多。我問詢的范圍變寬廣了，我一次又一次地周旋于同一個主題，我渴望深入了解事物的方方面面。有時候，一個新詞會勾起我對早期經(jīng)歷的一些記憶。

　　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."

　　我記得有一天早上，我第一次詢問“愛”這個詞的含義，這是我早就知道的一個詞。當時，我在花園里發(fā)現(xiàn)了幾株剛剛開放的紫羅蘭，于是我把花朵帶給了我的老師。老師試圖吻我，但是在那個時候，除了母親，我不喜歡被任何人親吻。蘇立文小姐輕輕地用胳膊攬著我，并且在我手上拼寫“我愛海倫”。

　　"What is love?" I asked.

　　“愛是什么?”我“問”道。

　　She drew me closer to her and said, "It is here," pointing to my heart, whose 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.

　　她把我拉到她身邊，對我“說”：“愛就在這里”，然后就指著我的心。這是我第一次意識到了它的跳動。老師的話令我迷惑不解，因為那時候我還不能理解無形的東西，除非我能用手摸到它。

　　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?"

　　我聞著老師手里的紫羅蘭，一邊拼寫單詞，一邊用手勢比畫，我想問的問題是：“愛是這些可愛的花朵嗎?”

　　"No," said my teacher.

　　“不。”我的老師對我說。

　　Again I thought. The warm sun was shining on us.

　　于是我再次揣摩這個詞。暖洋洋的陽光照在我和老師身上。

　　"Is this not love?" I asked, pointing in the direction from which the heat came. "Is this not love?"

　　“這個是愛嗎?”我指著發(fā)出熱量的方向“問”老師，“這個不是愛嗎?”

　　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.

　　在我看來，世界上再也沒有什么比太陽更美麗的東西了，它發(fā)出的光和熱令萬物生生不息?？墒翘K立文小姐仍然搖著頭，我陷入了深深的困惑和失望之中。真是奇怪，為什么老師不能把“愛”展示給我看呢?

　　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."

　　記得大約在一兩天之后，我正把不同大小的珠子均勻地串在一起——先串兩個大的，再串三個小的，以次類推?？晌铱偸歉沐e，蘇立文小姐十分耐心地把串錯的珠子一一指出來。終于，我注意到了一個很明顯的次序錯誤，就在那一瞬間，我把自己的注意力完全集中在了手工課上，我該如何解決珠子的順序問題呢?蘇立文小姐摸著我的額頭，很有力地拼寫出“think”這個詞。

　　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.

　　剎那間，我明白了這個詞語就是我頭腦運行過程的產(chǎn)物，這是我對一個抽象概念的初次認識。