许国章第2册第11课

She wrote many books, too. Although other people had written books about her, people agreed that her own books are the ones that best explain how it feels to be deaf, dumb and blind. Her best book is The Story of My Life. Perhaps you have read it. Though it was written in 1902, it still is a very exciting book. Even if you have not read it, you may have heard of Helen Keller.
Helen Keller was born in a small Alabama town in 1880. When she was nineteen months old, she fell ill and had a fever. She became blind and deaf. She could not communicate with anyone, and no one could communicate with her. She grew frustrated and angry. She threw things and broke things.
海伦·凯勒的故事
一个人在出生时就耳聋的话，一般他也会是个哑巴。他的嘴和舌好像没有什么毛病，可是却讲不出话来。这是因为，一个聋人听不见别人讲话，因此没有可模仿的东西。也许他会摸索着发出声音，但他却听不到自己的声音。不过，尽管他觉得讲话有困难，又听不见，但是他能看见，因此他可以学会看书识字。今天，我们可以通过现代化的方法与仪器设备帮助他学会讲话。但海伦·凯勒出生时这些条件都不具备。
Then in 1887, a teacher, Annie Sullivan arrived at the home of the Kellers to be Helen's tutor. Though Miss Sullivan herself had been blind, she had been partly cured, and although she could not see very well, she was not blind. She remained as Helen's tutor and friend for fifty years.
Miss Sullivan began to work with Helen. She taught her to make different movements with her fingers. The movements represented the letters of the alphabet. Helen learned to make the movements, but she did not understand their meaning. She did not know that the letters were related to something in the world. But, one morning Miss Sullivan took Helen to a water pond, and she put Helen's hand under the water. At the same time she spelled the letters w-a-t-e-r on Helen's other hand. At that moment, Helen understood. Later in her life, she said, "Somehow the mystery of language then that w-a-t-e-r was the wonderful cool something flowing over my hand."
1880年，海伦·凯勒出生在阿拉巴马州的一个小镇上。她出生19个月后得了场病，发起高烧，变得又盲又聋。她无法与任何人交流，别人也无法与她交流。她变得又沮丧、又气恼，乱扔、乱摔东西。
后来在1887年，一位叫安妮·萨莉文的教师来到海伦家里作她的家庭教师。萨莉文小姐自己过去也曾失明，但她已经恢复了一些视力，尽管她的视力不算好，但算不上盲人。在以后的那五十年里，她一直是海伦的朋友兼家庭教师。
萨莉文小姐开始教海伦用手指比划出各种动作。不同的动作代表不同的字母。海伦学会了比划，但她并没有明白其中的含义。她不知道那些字母与世上实物之间有联系。直到一天早晨，萨莉文小姐带着海伦来到一个池塘边，她把海伦的手放进水里，同时在海伦另一只手上拼出“水”这个单词的字母“w-a-t-e-r”。就在那一刻，海伦明白了。后来海伦提及此事说：“语言之谜就这样被解开了。那时我才知道w-a-t-e-r这些字母原来就是在我手中流过的那凉爽、美妙的东西。”
海伦天资聪颖，学得很快。不久她就学会了很多单词。8岁时她来到波士顿市的一所盲人学校上学，学会了阅读那些专给盲人出的书。后来她甚至还进了大学，接受了全面的教育。
她还著有很多书。尽管别人也写了她的传记，但大家一致认为她的自传最能体现一个又聋、又哑、又盲的人的切身感受。她写得最好的作品是《我的一生》。也许你读过了。书是1902年写成的，但至今仍是一本很振奋人心的书。即使你从没读过这本书，也该听说过海伦·凯勒吧。
THE STORY OF HELEN KELLER
A person who is deaf when he is born, is usually dumb as well. There seems to be nothing wrong with his mouth and tongue, but he cannot speak. This is because, as he is deaf, he cannot hear other people, and therefore has nothing to imitate. He may try to make sounds himself, but he cannot hear his own voice. However, even though he finds it difficult to speak and cannot hear, he can see. He can therefore learn to read. Nowadays he can also be taught to speak because we have modern methods and equipment, but we did not have these when Helen Keller was born.
Helen was smart and learned quickly. Soon she knew many words. When she was eight years old, she went to a school for the blind in Boston, and she learned to read books written for blind people. She even went to college and had a full education.