海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第66期

　　哦，黑暗，黑暗，黑暗，被正午的光輝圍裹，

　　Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse

　　無可挽回的黑暗，遮天蔽日

　　Without all hope of day!

　　將人間的所有希望摒棄!

　　In imagination I can hear Homer singing, as with unsteady, hesitating steps he gropes his way from camp to camp—singing of life, of love, of war, of the splendid achievements of a noble race. It was a wonderful, glorious song, and it won the blind poet an immortal crown, the admiration of all ages.

　　在想象當(dāng)中，我能聽到荷馬的歌唱，他拖著蹣跚而躊躇的腳步在營地間逡巡——為生命，愛情，戰(zhàn)爭和一個高尚民族取得的豐功偉績而吟唱。這是一首無比絢麗而輝煌的頌歌，它為盲詩人贏得了一頂不朽的王冠，也贏得了世人的景仰贊頌。

　　I sometimes wonder if the hand is not more sensitive to the beauties of sculpture than the eye. I should think the wonderful rhythmical flow of lines and curves could be more subtly felt than seen. Be this as it may, I know that I can feel the heart-throbs of the ancient Greeks in their marblegods and goddesses.

　　我有時(shí)也想知道，在感知雕塑品的藝術(shù)魅力方面，手是否真的比不上眼睛的敏銳。我個人認(rèn)為，相對于視覺而言，手更能夠覺察到雕塑線條的韻律感和其內(nèi)在的微妙變化。總之，在一尊尊古希臘眾神的大理石雕像面前，我能夠以自己的獨(dú)特方式觸摸到他們的心跳。

　　Another pleasure, which comes more rarely than the others, is going to the theatre. I enjoy having a play described to me while it is being acted on the stage far more than reading it, because then it seems as if I were living in the midst of stirring events. It has been my privilege to meet a few great actors and actresses who have the power of so bewitching you that you forget time and place and live again in the romantic past. I have been permitted to touch the face and costumeof Miss Ellen Terry as she impersonated our ideal of a queen; and there was about her thatdivinity that hedges sublimest woe. Beside her stood Sir Henry Irving, wearing the symbols of kingship; and there was majesty of intellect in his every gesture and attitude and the royalty that subdues and overcomes in every line of his sensitive face. In the king’s face, which he wore as amask, there was a remoteness and inaccessibility of grief which I shall never forget.

　　我的另一個很特別的愛好就是去劇院看戲。大幕拉開，戲劇在舞臺上展開——真實(shí)劇情帶給我的享受遠(yuǎn)非閱讀劇本所能企及，因?yàn)閯邮幤鸱墓适虑楣?jié)會讓你產(chǎn)生身臨其境的感覺。而且，我還享受到了自由會見那幾個杰出男女演員的特別待遇，他們的表演具有一種強(qiáng)大的魔力，它可以令你忘卻時(shí)間和空間的限制，而重新生活在過去的浪漫年代。當(dāng)艾倫·泰莉小姐扮好人們理想中的王后時(shí)，我被允許觸摸她的臉和身上的裝束。我能感受到她賦予了角色一種莊嚴(yán)的神圣感，以及抑制無盡悲傷的高貴氣質(zhì)。站在她身邊的是亨利·歐文爵士，他穿著象征王權(quán)的袍服，舉手投足之間，無不流露出君王的雄才大略;而含而不露的王家威儀則銘刻在他臉部的每一個紋路上。在國王的臉上，我似乎摸到了一副面具，那種冷漠而難以解讀的憂傷令人終身難忘。

　　I also know Mr. Jefferson. I am proud to count him among my friends. I go to see him whenever I happen to be where he is acting. The first time I saw him act was while at school in New York. He played "Rip Van Winkle." I had often read the story, but I had never felt the charm of Rip’s slow,quaint, kind ways as I did in the play. Mr. Jefferson’s beautiful, pathetic representation quite carried me away with delight. I have a picture of old Rip in my fingers which they will never lose. After the play Miss Sullivan took me to see him behind the scenes, and I felt of his curious garb and his flowing hair and beard. Mr. Jefferson let me touch his face so that I could imagine how he looked on waking from that strange sleep of twenty years, and he showed me how poor old Rip staggered to his feet.

　　我還認(rèn)識了杰弗遜先生，我以結(jié)交他這樣的朋友為榮。無論什么時(shí)候，我去看他的時(shí)候他都有演出。我第一次看他的表演是在紐約上學(xué)的時(shí)候，當(dāng)時(shí)他正在演出《里普·梵·溫克爾》。我曾經(jīng)讀過這個故事，可是我從來不覺得里普那慢條斯理、奇特而友善的行為方式有什么過人之處。而杰弗遜先生那優(yōu)美動人，極具悲劇意味的表演一下子就抓住了我的心。我的手指上“保留著”一幅“老里普”的畫像，我永遠(yuǎn)也不會失去它。演出過后，蘇立文小姐帶我來到后臺，我觸摸到了里普那奇特的裝束，他飄拂的頭發(fā)和臉上的胡須。杰弗遜先生讓我摸他的臉，這樣我就能想象出在他沉睡了二十年之后一朝復(fù)蘇的樣子;而且，他還向我演示了可憐的老里普是如何步履蹣跚地走路的。