海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第19期

　　第九章

　　The next important event in my life was my visit to Boston, in May, 1888. As if it were yesterday I remember the preparations, the departure with my teacher and my mother, the journey, and finally the arrival in Boston. How different this journey was from the one I had made to Baltimore two years before! I was no longer a restless, excitable little creature, requiring the attention of everybody on the train to keep me amused. I sat quietly beside Miss Sullivan, taking in with eager interest all that she told me about what she saw out of the car window: the beautiful Tennessee River, the great cotton-fields, the hills and woods, and the crowds of laughing negroes at the stations, who waved to the people on the train and brought delicious candy and popcorn balls through the car. On the seat opposite me sat my big rag doll, Nancy, in a new gingham dress and a beruffled sunbonnet, looking at me out of two bead eyes. Sometimes, when I was notabsorbed in Miss Sullivan’s descriptions, I remembered Nancy’s existence and took her up in my arms, but I generally calmed my conscience by making myself believe that she was asleep.

　　1888年5月的波士頓之旅是我生命中的又一件大事。當(dāng)時的情景歷歷在目，仿佛就發(fā)生在昨天。總之，在蘇立文小姐和媽媽的陪伴下，我最終到了波士頓。同我兩年前的巴爾的摩之行相比，這次旅行迥然不同。我不再是那個興奮好動，到處找樂，引得一車人注意的小丫頭了。這一次，我安靜地坐在蘇立文小姐身邊，聚精會神地“聽”她講述車窗外的風(fēng)景：秀美的田納西河，廣袤的棉花地，群山和森林，站臺上，一群有說有笑的黑人朝乘客們揮手示意，從車窗送進(jìn)來美味的糖果和爆米花。我把我的大布娃娃南希放在了對面的座位上，她穿著新的花格子衣服，頭戴花邊遮陽軟帽，用兩只玻璃眼珠看著我。偶爾，當(dāng)我聽不大懂蘇立文小姐描述的時候，我就想起了南希，我還把她抱在懷里;但是在通常情況下，我會讓自己相信南希正在睡覺，所以我會變得很安靜。

　　As I shall not have occasion to refer to Nancy again, I wish to tell here a sad experience she had soon after our arrival in Boston. She was covered with dirt--the remains of mud pies I had compelled her to eat, although she had never shown any special liking for them. The laundress at the Perkins Institution secretly carried her off to give her a bath. This was too much for poor Nancy. When I next saw her she was a formless heap of cotton, which I should not have recognized at all except for the two bead eyes which looked out at me reproachfully.

　　可是我再也沒有機(jī)會提到南希了，在此，我愿意講述她隨我到波士頓后的不幸經(jīng)歷。她滿身污漬——大多是被我強(qiáng)迫喂食的“泥巴餡餅”的剩余物，盡管她從未顯露出喜歡吃這種食品的絲毫熱情。帕金斯盲人學(xué)院的洗衣女工瞞著我給她洗了一個澡，這對可憐的南希來說簡直是滅頂之災(zāi)。當(dāng)我再見到她時，她已經(jīng)變成了一個走了形的棉花團(tuán)。除了那兩只怒目而視的玻璃眼珠，我一點(diǎn)兒都認(rèn)不出她了。

　　When the train at last pulled into the station at Boston it was as if a beautiful fairy tale had come true. The "once upon a time" was now; the "far-away country" was here.

　　當(dāng)火車終于停靠在波士頓的站臺時，一個美麗的童話故事仿佛就要變成現(xiàn)實(shí)了。此時變成了“在很久以前”，此地變成了“遙遠(yuǎn)的國度”。

　　We had scarcely arrived at the Perkins Institution for the Blind when I began to make friends with the little blind children. It delighted me inexpressibly to find that they knew the manual alphabet. What joy to talk with other children in my own language! Until then I had been like a foreigner speaking through an interpreter. In the school where Laura Bridgman was taught I was in my own country. It took me some time to appreciate the fact that my new friends were blind. I knew I could not see; but it did not seem possible that all the eager, loving children who gathered round me and joined heartily in my frolics were also blind. I remember the surprise and the pain I felt as I noticed that they placed their hands over mine when I talked to them and that they read books with their fingers. Although I had been told this before, and although I understood my own deprivations, yet I had thought vaguely that since they could hear, they must have a sort of "second sight," and I was not prepared to find one child and another and yet another deprived of the same precious gift. But they were so happy and contented that I lost all sense of pain in the pleasure of their companionship.

　　我們剛到帕金斯盲人學(xué)院，我就開始和這里的盲童交朋友了。我的興奮之情溢于言表，因?yàn)槲野l(fā)現(xiàn)同伴們都懂得用手語字母交流。能用我自己的語言同其他孩子講話真是令人開心!在這之前，我一直像個外國人一樣，需要翻譯才能講話。勞拉·布里吉曼在這所學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)的時候，我還待在自己的家鄉(xiāng)。我花了一些時間才意識到我的新朋友們都是盲人。雖然我自己也看不見，但是當(dāng)我被一群熱情好客，同樣看不見的伙伴們圍在身邊，盡情嬉戲玩耍的時候，我覺得這似乎是不可能的事情。我對伙伴們說話的時候，他們就會把他們的手放在我的手上，而且，他們還會用手指讀書。當(dāng)我發(fā)現(xiàn)這一點(diǎn)后，我感到既驚奇又苦惱。盡管家人在來這里之前就對我講過，盡管我知道自己的感官缺陷，可我還是隱約地想到，因?yàn)橥閭兙哂新犃Γ运麄兛隙ㄓ幸环N“第二視覺”功能。當(dāng)然，我也沒有指望要找到一個和我一樣既盲又聾的孩子，我想，聽覺和視覺一樣，都是人類彌足珍貴的禮物。但不管怎么說，他們是如此地快樂和滿足，置身在伙伴們的友誼之中，我完全忘卻了憂愁煩惱。