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Chapter VI
第6章
I had now the key to all language, and I was eager to learn to use it. Children who hear acquire language without any particular effort; the words that fall from others' lips they catch on the wing, as it were, delightedly, while the little deaf child must trap them by a slow and often painful process. But whatever the process, the result is wonderful. Gradually from naming an object we advance step by step until we have traversed the vast distance between our first stammered syllable and the sweep of thought in a line of Shakespeare.
如今，我已经掌握了学习所有语言的关键，而且我渴望学以致用。对那些正常的孩子而言，他们学习语言并不需要特别的努力，就能够领会从别人唇间吐出的词汇，这是一个令人欣喜的过程。而对于一个聋哑小孩而言，掌握语言必须要经过一番缓慢而痛苦的学习过程。但无论是哪一种过程，其结果都会令人无比愉悦。渐渐地，我们从说出一种物体的名字，一步步发展到在更广阔的疆域里自由驰骋——从第一次发出结结巴巴的音节，到在莎士比亚的诗行间沉思，我们穿越了遥远的征途。
At first, when my teacher told me about a new thing I asked very few questions. My ideas were vague, and my vocabulary was inadequate; but as my knowledge of things grew, and I learned more and more words, my field of inquiry broadened, and I would return again and again to the same subject, eager for further information. Sometimes a new word revived an image that some earlier experience had engraved on my brain.
起初，当我的老师讲解一件新事物时，我几乎问不出什么问题。我的意识是模糊的，我的词汇也是贫乏的，但是随着接触事物的增加，我学会的词汇也越来越多。我问询的范围变宽广了，我一次又一次地周旋于同一个主题，我渴望深入了解事物的方方面面。有时候，一个新词会勾起我对早期经历的一些记忆。
I remember the morning that I first asked the meaning of the word, "love." This was before I knew many words. I had found a few early violets in the garden and brought them to my teacher. She tried to kiss me; but at that time I did not like to have any one kiss me except my mother. Miss Sullivan put her arm gently round me and spelled into my hand, "I love Helen."
我记得有一天早上，我第一次询问“爱”这个词的含义，这是我早就知道的一个词。当时，我在花园里发现了几株刚刚开放的紫罗兰，于是我把花朵带给了我的老师。老师试图吻我，但是在那个时候，除了母亲，我不喜欢被任何人亲吻。苏立文小姐轻轻地用胳膊揽着我，并且在我手上拼写“我爱海伦”。
"What is love?" I asked.
“爱是什么？”我“问”道。
She drew me closer to her and said, "It is here," pointing to my heart, whose beats I was conscious of for the first time. Her words puzzled me very much because I did not then understand anything unless I touched it.
她把我拉到她身边，对我“说”：“爱就在这里”，然后就指着我的心。这是我第一次意识到了它的跳动。老师的话令我迷惑不解，因为那时候我还不能理解无形的东西，除非我能用手摸到它。
I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words, half in signs, a question which meant, "Is love the sweetness of flowers?"
我闻着老师手里的紫罗兰，一边拼写单词，一边用手势比画，我想问的问题是：“爱是这些可爱的花朵吗？”
"No," said my teacher.
“不。”我的老师对我说。
Again I thought. The warm sun was shining on us.
于是我再次揣摩这个词。暖洋洋的阳光照在我和老师身上。
"Is this not love?" I asked, pointing in the direction from which the heat came. "Is this not love?"
“这个是爱吗？”我指着发出热量的方向“问”老师，“这个不是爱吗？”
It seemed to me that there could be nothing more beautiful than the sun, whose warmth makes all things grow. But Miss Sullivan shook her head, and I was greatly puzzled and disappointed. I thought it strange that my teacher could not show me love.
在我看来，世界上再也没有什么比太阳更美丽的东西了，它发出的光和热令万物生生不息。可是苏立文小姐仍然摇着头，我陷入了深深的困惑和失望之中。真是奇怪，为什么老师不能把“爱”展示给我看呢？
A day or two afterward I was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups--two large beads, three small ones, and so on. I had made many mistakes, and Miss Sullivan had pointed them out again and again with gentle patience. Finally I noticed a very obvious error in the sequence and for an instant I concentrated my attention on the lesson and tried to think how I should have arranged the beads. Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled with decided emphasis, "Think."
记得大约在一两天之后，我正把不同大小的珠子均匀地串在一起——先串两个大的，再串三个小的，以次类推。可我总是搞错，苏立文小姐十分耐心地把串错的珠子一一指出来。终于，我注意到了一个很明显的次序错误，就在那一瞬间，我把自己的注意力完全集中在了手工课上，我该如何解决珠子的顺序问题呢？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. This was my first conscious perception of an abstract idea.
刹那间，我明白了这个词语就是我头脑运行过程的产物，这是我对一个抽象概念的初次认识。
