Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled with decided emphasis, "Think."
苏立文小姐摸着我的额头,很有力地拼写出“think”这个词。
In a flash I knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on in my head.
刹那间,我明白了这个词语就是我头脑运行过程的产物,
This was my first conscious perception of an abstract idea.
这是我对一个抽象概念的初次认识。
For a long time I was still—I was not thinking of the beads in my lap,
有很长时间,我并没有把心思放在腿上的珠子上。
but trying to find a meaning for "love" in the light of this new idea.
随着新念头的迸发,我试图找到“爱”的含义。
The sun had been under a cloud all day, and there had been brief showers;
当时,太阳已经被云层遮盖,随后还下了一阵雨,
but suddenly the sun broke forth in all its southern splendour.
可是顷刻之间,南方的太阳便喷薄出它那特有的光芒。
Again I asked my teacher, "Is this not love?"
我又一次问我的老师:“这个是爱吗?”
"Love is something like the clouds that were in the sky before the sun came out," she replied.
“在太阳出来之前,爱有点像天上的云彩。”老师回答道。
Then in simpler words than these, which at that time I could not have understood, she explained:
显然,如此简单的回答还是使我无法理解。老师继续解释道:
"You cannot touch the clouds, you know;
“要知道,你无法摸到云彩,
but you feel the rain and know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day.
可是你能感知雨水的降落;你也知道,在经历了整天的酷热后,那些花儿和干旱的土地是多么渴望雨露的滋润。
You cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything.
虽然你不能触摸到爱,但是你能感觉到雨水滋养万物的美好。
Without love you would not be happy or want to play."
所以说,如果没有爱,你一定不会快乐,也没有心思玩耍了。”
The beautiful truth burst upon my mind,
真理之美蓦然出现在我的头脑里,
I felt that there were invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others.
在我的灵魂和其他人的灵魂之间,延伸出一条条看不见的连线。
From the beginning of my education
从我接受教育的第一天开始,
Miss Sullivan made it a practice to speak to me as she would speak to any hearing child;
苏立文小姐就像对待那些具有听力的孩子那样跟我讲话,
the only difference was that she spelled the sentences into my hand instead of speaking them.
唯一的不同是,她在我手上拼写句子,而不是直接说出来。