海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第69期

　　I count it one of the sweetest privileges of my life to have known and conversed with many men ofgenius. Only those who knew Bishop Brooks can appreciate the joy his friendship was to those who possessed it. As a child I loved to sit on his knee and clasp his great hand with one of mine, while Miss Sullivan spelled into the other his beautiful words about God and the spiritual world. I heard him with a child’s wonder and delight. My spirit could not reach up to his, but he gave me a real sense of joy in life, and I never left him without carrying away a fine thought that grew in beauty and depth of meaning as I grew. Once, when I was puzzled to know why there were so many religions, he said: "There is one universal religion, Helen—the religion of love. Love your Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of God as much as ever you can, and remember that the possibilities of good are greater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the key to Heaven." And his life was a happy illustration of this great truth. In his noble soul love and widest knowledge were blended with faith that had become insight. He saw

　　在生活當(dāng)中，我有幸享受到了許多“特權(quán)”，其中最為我珍視的就是同那些天才人物的交談。只要認(rèn)識(shí)布魯克斯主教的人，都能從與他的友誼當(dāng)中體會(huì)到切實(shí)的快樂(lè)。還是一個(gè)小孩子的時(shí)候，我就喜歡坐在他的腿上玩;我用一只手緊緊攥住他的大手，而他的關(guān)于神和靈魂世界的精彩述說(shuō)，則被蘇立文小姐一一拼寫(xiě)在我的另一只手上。我?guī)е『⒆拥暮闷婧拖矏偮?tīng)他娓娓道來(lái)，雖然我的精神境界無(wú)法達(dá)到他那樣的高度，但是他確實(shí)讓我領(lǐng)悟到了什么叫做真正快樂(lè)的生活。在我成長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程中，沒(méi)有他的悉心教誨，我就不會(huì)明了杰出思想的魅力和其深邃的內(nèi)涵。記得有一次，我對(duì)世界上竟然存在著如此多的宗教十分不解。布魯克斯主教對(duì)我說(shuō)道：“天地間只有一種宗教，海倫——那就是愛(ài)的宗教，用你全部的心靈去愛(ài)你的天父，盡你的一切可能去愛(ài)每一個(gè)神的孩子，要時(shí)刻牢記，正義的力量終將會(huì)戰(zhàn)勝邪惡，懂得了這個(gè)道理，你便得到了進(jìn)入天堂的鑰匙。”事實(shí)上，他的生活正是這種偉大真理的完美寫(xiě)照。在他崇高的博愛(ài)思想和廣博的學(xué)識(shí)之中，已經(jīng)被深深地融入了信仰的力量。他看到了——

　　God in all that liberates and lifts,

　　在人類(lèi)爭(zhēng)取解放和自由的過(guò)程中，神無(wú)處不在，

　　In all that humbles, sweetens and consoles.

　　在所有卑微者面前，神會(huì)施與傷者愛(ài)的援手

　　Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed or dogma; but he impressed upon my mind two great ideas—the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and made me feel that these truths underlie all creeds and forms of worship. God is love, God is our Father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph.

　　布魯克斯主教傳授給我的并非特殊的信條或教義，但是他把兩種偉大的觀念賜給了我——神的父親般的慈愛(ài)，以及人的兄弟般的情誼。我以為，這些真理正是構(gòu)成一切信條和崇拜形式的基礎(chǔ)。神是愛(ài)，神是我們的父，我們是他的孩子。有了這樣的信念，即使是最黑暗的云也會(huì)被吹散，而且，這里也不會(huì)有罪惡與不義的容身之地。

　　I am too happy in this world to think much about the future, except to remember that I havecherished friends awaiting me there in God’s beautiful Somewhere. In spite of the lapse of years, they seem so close to me that I should not think it strange if at any moment they should claspmy hand and speak words of endearment as they used to before they went away.

　　在這個(gè)世界上，我是感到如此地快樂(lè)，以至于很少考慮到未來(lái);但是有一件事我永遠(yuǎn)記在心里——我所珍愛(ài)的友人們正在神創(chuàng)造的愛(ài)的國(guó)度里隨時(shí)迎候我。盡管失散多年，但是他們似乎就在我的身邊;假如在某一時(shí)刻，他們抓住我的手，如同以往一樣對(duì)我說(shuō)著貼心話，那么我是不會(huì)感到絲毫驚奇的。

　　Since Bishop Brooks died I have read the Bible through; also some philosophical works on religion, among them Swedenborg’s "Heaven and Hell" and Drummond’s "Ascent of Man," and I have found no creed or system more soul-satisfying than Bishop Brooks’s creed of love. I knew Mr. Henry Drummond, and the memory of his strong, warm hand-clasp is like a benediction. He was the most sympathetic of companions. He knew so much and was so genial that it wasimpossible to feel dull in his presence.

　　自從布魯克斯主教去世后，我通讀了整部《圣經(jīng)》，還有其他的一些宗教哲學(xué)著作。這其中就包括斯韋登伯格的《天堂與地獄》和遮蒙德的《人類(lèi)的階梯》，可是我發(fā)現(xiàn)，同布魯克斯主教“愛(ài)的信念”相比，這些人所持的信條或教理都無(wú)法令人獲得心靈上的滿足。我認(rèn)識(shí)亨利·遮蒙德先生，印象中，他那雙有力、溫暖的手如同一句熱情的祝福語(yǔ)。他是最富有同情心的良友，他是如此地和藹可親，只要有他在身邊，你就不會(huì)感到枯燥乏味。