海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第60期

　　Then, too, there is in German literature a fine reserve which I like; but its chief glory is therecognition I find in it of the redeeming potency of woman’s self-sacrificing love. This thought pervades all German literature and is mystically expressed in Goethe’s "Faust":

　　我很喜歡德國文學作品中的豐富內涵，而最令我推崇備至的，就是作品中對于女性自我犧牲精神的昭示和不遺余力的贊頌。可以說，這種思想遍及所有的德國文學作品，而對其神秘性最為深刻的闡釋當屬歌德的《浮士德》：

　　All things transitory

　　萬物皆短暫

　　But as symbols are sent.

　　唯其意象綿綿不絕。

　　Earth’s insufficiency

　　塵世間人心不古

　　Here grows to event.

　　事端頻生充滿了大地。

　　The indescribable

　　亂世難以言說

　　Here it is done.

　　所行皆不義。

　　The Woman Soul leads us upward and on!

　　唯女人之性靈引領我們邁向天際!

　　Of all the French writers that I have read, I like Moli鑢e and Racine best. There are fine things in Balzac and passages in M閞im閑 which strike one like a keen blast of sea air. Alfred de Musset isimpossible! I admire Victor Hugo—I appreciate his genius, his brilliancy, his romanticism; though he is not one of my literary passions. But Hugo and Goethe and Schiller and all great poets of all great nations are interpreters of eternal things, and my spirit reverently follows them into the regions where Beauty and Truth and Goodness are one.

　　在我所讀過的所有法國作家的作品當中，我最喜愛莫里哀和拉辛的(戲劇)著作。而巴爾扎克的鴻篇巨制和梅里美筆下的精彩段落就像一股強勁的海風，令人的精神為之一振。阿爾弗萊德·繆塞絕不可能有這樣的感召力!我很推崇維克多·雨果——我欣賞他的創(chuàng)作才能，他的睿智，他的浪漫主義精神。雖然他并不是激發(fā)我的文學熱情的啟蒙者，但是雨果、歌德和席勒，以及所有偉大民族中的所有偉大詩人，他們都是永恒價值的闡釋者，而且，我的心靈就會無比虔誠地追隨他們進入真、善、美的世界。

　　I am afraid I have written too much about my book-friends, and yet I have mentioned only the authors I love most; and from this fact one might easily suppose that my circle of friends was very limited and undemocratic, which would be a very wrong impression. I like many writers for many reasons—Carlyle for his ruggedness and scorn of shams; Wordsworth, who teaches the oneness of man and nature; I find an exquisite pleasure in the oddities and surprises of Hood, in Herrick’s quaintness and the palpable scent of lily and rose in his verses; I like Whittier for his enthusiasms and moral rectitude. I knew him, and the gentle remembrance of our friendship doubles the pleasure I have in reading his poems. I love Mark Twain—who does not? The gods, too, loved him and put into his heart all manner of wisdom; then, fearing lest he should become apessimist, they spanned his mind with a rainbow of love and faith. I like Scott for his freshness,dash and large honesty. I love all writers whose minds, like Lowell’s,bubble up in the sunshine ofoptimism—fountains of joy and good will, with occasionally a splash of anger and here and there a healing spray of sympathy and pity.

　　我如此濃墨重彩地描述自己所鐘愛的書籍，乃至提到了我最喜愛的一些作家，由此你也許會猜想我的閱讀范圍是非常有限的，我選擇書籍的方式也是武斷的，事實上，這是一種完全錯誤的猜想。我喜愛很多作家，原因多種多樣——我喜歡卡萊爾是因為他恣肆無忌的文風;而華茲華斯則向我們傳授了人類同自然和諧統(tǒng)一的真諦;我在胡德精靈古怪的詩作中發(fā)現了一種精致的快樂;而赫里克的詩篇則散發(fā)出奇特的，如同百合花和玫瑰花一般的芬芳;我喜歡惠蒂爾，因為他具有熱情如火的個性和道德良知。我認識他，對友誼的美好回憶，使我更深刻地感受到了其詩歌帶給我的快樂。我喜歡馬克·吐溫——又有誰會不喜歡他呢?連諸神也會喜歡他的，我想，諸神把所有的智慧賜給了他，接著，又唯恐他變成一個悲觀主義者，所以，諸神又在他的頭腦中架起一道愛與信念的彩虹。我喜歡司各特是因為其作品清新、率真而文思激昂。我熱愛所有作家的思想，比如洛威爾，我感覺他的思想就像在樂觀主義的陽光中汩汩涌動的噴泉——在噴涌快樂和美好意愿的同時，它偶爾也會在這里或那里濺射憤怒，或者噴灑同情和憐恤的水珠。

　　In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends. They talk to me withoutembarrassment or awkwardness. The things I have learned and the things I have been taught seem of ridiculously little importance compared with their "large loves and heavenly charities."

　　一言以蔽之，文學是我的“烏托邦”。在這個領域，我不會被剝奪任何權利，也不存在任何阻斷我同“書籍朋友們”親密接觸的屏障。這些朋友可以毫無障礙地同我自由交談，同他們那“宏大的愛心和神圣的施與”相比，我所了解的以及被傳授的那點知識顯得是那么地微不足道。