2018-2019学年高中英语外研版必修五学案：Module 4 英美文化欣赏 Word版含答案

【导读】《我的人生故事》是海伦·凯勒的自传性作品，被世界称为文学史上无与伦比的杰作。阅读下面的节选，请仔细思考对我们的未来人生有什么样的启示。

The Story of My Life

Helen Keller

Chapter 1

It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life.

I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation in lifting the veil that

clings about my childhood like a golden mist. The task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one. When I try to classify my earliest impressions, I find that fact and fancy look alike across the years that

link the past with the present. Thewoman paints the child's experiences

in her own fantasy. A few impressions stand out vividly from the first years of my life; but “the shadows of the prison-house are on the rest”. Besides, many of the joys and sorrows of childhood have lost their poignancy; and many incidents of vital importance in my early education have been forgotten in the excitement of great discoveries. In order, therefore, not to be tedious I shall try to present in a series of sketches，only the episodes that seem to me to be the most interesting and important.

I was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, a little town of northern Alabama.

I lived, up to the time of the illness that deprived me of my sight and hearing, in

a tiny house consisting of a large square room and a small one, in which the servants slept. It is a custom in the South to build a small house near the homestead as an annex to be used on occasion. Such a house my father built after the Civil War, and when he married my mother they went to live in it. It was completely covered with vines, climbing roses and honeysuckles. From the garden it looked like an arbour. The little porch was hidden from view by a screen of yellow roses and Southern smilax.It was the favourite haunt of humming-birds and bees.

The Keller homestead, where the family lived, was a few steps from our little rose-bower. It was call ed “Ivy Green” because the house and the surrounding trees and fences were covered with beautiful English ivy. Its old-fashioned garden was the

paradise of my childhood.

Even in the days before my teacher came, I used to feel along the square stiff boxwood hedges, and, guided by the sense of smell, would find the first violets and lilies. There, too, after a fit of temper, I went to find comfort and to hide my hot face in the cool leaves and grass. What joy it was to lose myself in that garden of flowers, to wander happily from spot to spot, until, coming suddenly upon a beautiful vine, I recognized it by its leaves and blossoms, and knew it was the vine which covered the tumble-down summer-house at the farther end of the garden! Here, also, were trailing clematis, drooping jessamine, and some rare sweet flowers called butterfly lilies, because their fragile petals resemble butterflies' wings. But the roses—they were loveliest of all. Never have I found in the greenhouses of the North such heart-satisfying roses as the climbing roses of my southern home. They used to hang in long festoons from our porch, filling the whole air with their fragrance, untainted by any earthy smell; and in the early morning, washed in the dew, they felt so soft, so pure, I could not help wondering if they did not resemble the asphodels of God's garden.

我的人生故事

海伦·凯勒

第1章

我是怀着惴惴不安的心情书写我生活的历史的。在我整个童年时代，生活犹如笼罩在我身边的一团金色雾霭。冥冥之中，我是懵懂而迟疑地揭开生活的迷帐的。写自传的任务很艰巨。每当我试图分辨孩童时期记忆的时候，我就会发现，往昔的时光美好而真实，它如同一条纽带，同此时此刻的我紧紧相连。女人们通常会以富于想象力的方式来描述自己的童年经历。虽然，那些鲜活而生动的记忆来自我生命的最初时光，但是，“牢房一般的阴暗将伴随着我的余生”。此外，童年时代的欢乐和悲伤大都成为往事前尘，它们已然失去了当时的锋芒；在我接受早期教育过程中的那些重大事件，已经随着更加激动人心的伟大发现而被淡忘。因此，从这个意义上来说，将我生活中那些至关重要的章节做一个全盘性的勾勒，对于我来说倒并不是一件枯燥乏味的工作。

我于1880年6月27日出生在亚拉巴马州北部的一个叫作图斯康比亚的小镇。

我一直住在一个狭小的房子里面，直到疾病使我丧失了视觉和听觉。当时的家是由一个巨大的四方形房间和一个小房间构成的，仆人们都睡在那个小房间里。这是源自南方人的习俗，挨着宅第建一座附属的小房子，以备不时之需。宅第是我父亲在内战结束后建造的，在娶了我母亲后，他们就在此定居了。房子完全被葡萄藤、攀爬的蔷薇和金银花覆盖了，从花园望去，那里就像一个巨大的凉亭。而那个小门廊则被满眼的黄玫瑰和南方天冬草所遮蔽。因此这里就变成了蜂雀和蜜蜂最常出没的地方。

凯勒家的宅第距我们家的玫瑰小凉亭只有几步之遥。这里也被叫作“常春藤绿地”，因为房子和周围的树丛及篱笆被美丽的英格兰常春藤所缠绕覆盖。这个老式的花园正是我童年时代的天堂。

直到我的老师出现之前，我一直习惯于沿着正方形的黄杨木树篱摸索前行。嗅觉是我的向导，通过它，我发现了生命中的第一株紫罗兰花和百合花。正是在这个小花园里，在经历了暴躁情绪的发作之后，我继续寻找令我舒适的感觉，我把自己温热的脸埋进凉飕飕的树叶和草丛之中。将自己迷失在花丛中是如此地令人愉悦，从一个地方寻觅到另一个地方也带给我其乐无穷的。就在探寻的过程中，我会突然碰到一枝美丽的藤蔓，我会通过它的叶子和花蕾来辨别其形状，而且我知道，这就是那株覆盖着摇摇欲坠的凉亭，远在花园尽头的葡萄藤！在我身边，还有触手可及的铁线莲，垂落于枝叶间的茉莉花，以及一些叫作蝴蝶百合的稀有花卉，这种花的花瓣因其形似蝴蝶那对脆弱易折的翅膀而得名。而玫瑰，则是花园中最傲人的花魁。我从来没有在北方的温室里见过长势如此繁茂的玫瑰，花朵沿着门廊形成了一道长长的花径，空气中弥漫着沁人的芳香，那种清醇的味道丝毫不沾染泥土的浊气。每天早晨，在露水的沐浴中，玫瑰娇柔淳美，这时我就会禁不住展开神思遐想，这些花儿是不是很像上帝花园中的常春花呢？

[知识积累]

1．superstitious adj.迷信的

2．fantasy n. 想象；幻想

3．deprive v. 剥夺；夺去；使丧失

4．paradise n. 天堂

[文化链接]

《我的人生故事》之作者名片

海伦·凯勒(1880－1968)，美国著名的女作家、教育家、慈善家、社会活动家。在十九个月时因患急性胃充血、脑充血而被夺去视力和听力。1899年6月考入哈佛大学拉德克利夫女子学院。她先后完成了14本著作，其中最著名的有：《假如给我三天光明》《我的人生故事》。她致力于为残疾人造福，建立了许多慈善机构，1964年荣获“总统自由勋章”，次年入选美国《时代周刊》评选的“二十世纪美国十大偶像”之一。