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Miss Fuller's method was this: she passed my hand lightly over her face, and let me feel the position of her tongue and lips when she made a sound. I was eager to imitate every motion and in an hour had learned six elements of speech: M, P, A, S, T, I. Miss Fuller gave me eleven lessons in all. I shall never forget the surprise and delight I felt when I uttered my first connected sentence, "It is warm." True, they were broken and stammering syllables; but they were human speech. My soul, conscious of new strength, came out of bondage, and was reaching through those broken symbols of speech to all knowledge and all faith.
富勒小姐的授课方法是这样的：她把我的手轻轻地放在她的脸上，这样，当她发音的时候，我就能触摸到她的舌头和嘴唇的位置。我如饥似渴地模仿老师的每一个口形，只用了一个小时，我就学会了六个字母的读音：M，P，A，S，T，I。富勒小姐总共给我上了十一堂课，我永远也忘不了开口说出第一句话时的惊讶和喜悦，那句话是“天很暖和”。当然，这句话说得结结巴巴，但它的确是人类的语言。在灵魂深处，我感受到了一股挣脱了某种束缚的新生力量。此刻，它正在穿越那些断裂的音节，奔向所有的知识和所有的信念。
No deaf child who has earnestly tried to speak the words which he has never heard—to come out of the prison of silence, where no tone of love, no song of bird, no strain of music ever pierces the stillness—can forget the thrill of surprise, the joy of discovery which came over him when he uttered his first word. Only such a one can appreciate the eagerness with which I talked to my toys, to stones, trees, birds and dumb animals, or the delight I felt when at my call Mildred ran to me or my dogs obeyed my commands. It is an unspeakable boon to me to be able to speak in winged words that need no interpretation. As I talked, happy thoughts fluttered up out of my words that might perhaps have struggled in vain to escape my fingers.
没有一个聋哑孩子会用心学习他不曾听过的词语——那些词语来自于“无声的牢狱”，那里听不到柔情细语，没有鸟儿的歌唱，也没有音乐的旋律能穿透寂静——但是，当他开口说出平生第一个单词时，他就会忘掉所有的惊惧，进而沉浸在发现的喜悦之中。也只有带着这种感恩之心，我才能同我的玩具、石头、树木、飞鸟和不会说话的动物们交谈。当听到我召唤的米尔德莱德跑到我跟前，或者听到我命令的狗儿作出正确反应，我内心的喜悦就会溢于言表。对我来说，能够迅速地说出我想要表达的话而无须翻译，这的确是一种难以言说的恩赐。当我说话时，愉快的思绪就会翩然而至。当然，这很可能是我为逃脱手指的束缚而做的徒劳抗争。
