海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第42期

　　第十八章

　　In October, 1896, I entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, to be prepared for Radcliffe.

　　1896年10月，我進(jìn)入劍橋女子學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)，這也是為邁入拉德克利夫?qū)W院做準(zhǔn)備。

　　When I was a little girl, I visited Wellesley and surprised my friends by the announcement, "Some day I shall go to college--but I shall go to Harvard!" When asked why I would not go to Wellesley, I replied that there were only girls there. The thought of going to college took root in my heart and became an earnest desire, which impelled me to enter into competition for a degree with seeing and hearing girls, in the face of the strong opposition of many true and wise friends. When I left New York the idea had become a fixed purpose; and it was decided that I should go to Cambridge. This was the nearest approach I could get to Harvard and to the fulfillment of my childish declaration.

　　當(dāng)我還是個(gè)小姑娘的時(shí)候，曾去韋爾斯利參觀。當(dāng)時(shí)，我的宣言令我的朋友們?yōu)橹惑@：“將來(lái)我也會(huì)上大學(xué)——但是要上就上哈佛大學(xué)!”于是他們問我為什么不選擇韋爾斯利學(xué)院，而我卻回答說(shuō)那所學(xué)院里只有女生。從那時(shí)起，上大學(xué)的念頭就在我心里扎下了根，進(jìn)而變?yōu)橐环N堅(jiān)定不移的愿望?？梢哉f(shuō)，這種愿望激勵(lì)著我邁入學(xué)位爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn)的行列，而我的對(duì)手是一些能看能聽、耳目俱全的女孩子。當(dāng)然，我也要面對(duì)身邊那些明智而現(xiàn)實(shí)的朋友們的強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)。在我離開紐約的時(shí)候，上大學(xué)的想法已變成不可動(dòng)搖的既定目標(biāo)，因此我下定決心前往劍橋?？梢哉f(shuō)，這是為實(shí)現(xiàn)我上哈佛的童年宣言而選擇的最接近目標(biāo)的一條路。

　　At the Cambridge School the plan was to have Miss Sullivan attend the classes with me andinterpret to me the instruction given.

　　根據(jù)劍橋女子學(xué)院的安排，蘇立文小姐將同我一起上課并負(fù)責(zé)為我翻譯授課的內(nèi)容。

　　Of course my instructors had had no experience in teaching any but normal pupils, and my only means of conversing with them was reading their lips. My studies for the first year were English history, English literature, German, Latin, arithmetic, Latin composition and occasional themes. Until then I had never taken a course of study with the idea of preparing for college; but I had been well drilled in English by Miss Sullivan, and it soon became evident to my teachers that I needed no special instruction in this subject beyond a critical study of the books prescribed by the college. I had had, moreover, a good start in French, and received six months’ instruction in Latin; but German was the subject with which I was most familiar.

　　當(dāng)然，我的導(dǎo)師沒有任何教授殘疾學(xué)生的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，所以，我與老師和同學(xué)們交流的唯一手段就是唇讀。我第一學(xué)年學(xué)習(xí)的課程包括英國(guó)歷史、英國(guó)文學(xué)、德語(yǔ)、拉丁文、算術(shù)、拉丁文寫作和一些臨時(shí)性課程。即便是那時(shí)，我也從來(lái)沒有想過自己會(huì)為上大學(xué)做學(xué)業(yè)準(zhǔn)備，但不管怎么說(shuō)，在英語(yǔ)方面，我已經(jīng)接受過蘇立文小姐很好的訓(xùn)練。因此，我的學(xué)院老師很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)，對(duì)于那些指定課本，我并不需要特別的傳授。此外，我在法語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)上的起點(diǎn)也很高，而德語(yǔ)更是我再熟悉不過的科目，所以，在最初的六個(gè)月當(dāng)中，我用心學(xué)習(xí)的只有拉丁文。

　　In spite, however, of these advantages, there were serious drawbacks to my progress. Miss Sullivan could not spell out in my hand all that the books required, and it was very difficult to have textbooks embossed in time to be of use to me, although my friends in London and Philadelphia were willing to hasten the work. For a while, indeed, I had to copy my Latin in braille, so that I could recite with the other girls. My instructors soon became sufficiently familiar with my imperfect speech to answer my questions readily and correct mistakes. I could not make notes in class or write exercises; but I wrote all my compositions and translations at home on my typewriter.

　　盡管具備了這些優(yōu)勢(shì)，但是一些很嚴(yán)重的障礙仍對(duì)我的學(xué)業(yè)造成了影響。蘇立文小姐不可能把所有指定的書籍在我手上拼寫出來(lái)。盡管我在倫敦和費(fèi)城的朋友們正在不遺余力地制作盲文書籍，但是，將這些課本轉(zhuǎn)換成浮雕文字以解我的燃眉之急，這實(shí)在是一件極其困難的事。因此，我不得不將拉丁文謄寫成布萊葉盲文，這樣我就能和其他女孩一起背誦課文了。我的導(dǎo)師們很快就熟悉了我那不完美的語(yǔ)音，而且能迅速地解答我的問題并糾正我的錯(cuò)誤。雖然我不在課堂上記筆記或者做練習(xí)，但是我會(huì)把所有的作文和(盲文)翻譯用家里的打字機(jī)完成。