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Again, it was the growth of a plant that furnished the text for a lesson. We bought a lily and set it in a sunny window. Very soon the green, pointed buds showed signs of opening. The slender, fingerlike leaves on the outside opened slowly, reluctant, I thought, to reveal the loveliness they hid; once having made a start, however, the opening process went on rapidly, but in order and systematically. There was always one bud larger and more beautiful than the rest, which pushed her outer, covering back with more pomp, as if the beauty in soft, silky robes knew that she was the lily-queen by right divine, while her more timid sisters doffed their green hoods shyly, until the whole plant was one nodding bough of loveliness and fragrance.
这样的例子还有不少，比如，植物的生长过程就是我学习的“课本”。我们买来了一盆百合花，然后把它放在阳光通透的窗台上。没过多久，嫩绿挺拔的花蕾便显露出了开放的征兆。最初，纤巧得如同手指一样粗细的叶子慢慢向外张开。我想，它可能不太情愿向人展示其内在的魅力。接着，它再一次启动了开放进程，这个过程显得迅速而有条不紊；而且，总是有一个花蕾鹤立鸡群，同其余的花苞相比更大更美丽。于是，群芳就将这个最出众的花蕾推到了舞台上，而这个披着纤巧柔美外衣的蓓蕾似乎也知晓自己就是神圣的“百合花女王”；与此同时，她的那些羞怯的姊妹也纷纷摘下了绿色的头巾，直到整盆百合变成了一个争奇斗艳、芬芳四溢的花中翘楚。
Once there were eleven tadpoles in a glass globe set in a window full of plants. I remember the eagerness with which I made discoveries about them. It was great fun to plunge my hand into the bowl and feel the tadpoles frisk about, and to let them slip and slide between my fingers. One day a more ambitious fellow leaped beyond the edge of the bowl and fell on the floor, where I found him to all appearance more dead than alive. The only sign of life was a slight wriggling of his tail. But no sooner had he returned to his element than he darted to the bottom, swimming round and round in joyous activity. He had made his leap, he had seen the great world, and was content to stay in his pretty glass house under the big fuchsia tree until he attained the dignity of froghood. Then he went to live in the leafy pool at the end of the garden, where he made the summer nights musical with his quaint love-song.
有一次，在种满了各类花草的窗户边，不知是谁放了一个球形玻璃鱼缸，里面还游动着十一只蝌蚪。至今，我仍然记得对这些蝌蚪进行探索时的强烈好奇心。我把手伸进鱼缸里，让蝌蚪在手指间穿梭游动，这带给了我巨大的快乐。一天，蝌蚪里有一只雄心勃勃的家伙蹦出了鱼缸落到地上。待我摸到时，我发现它已经半死不活了，唯一的生命迹象就是它轻轻蠕动的尾巴。但是我很快把它放回了鱼缸，于是，这只蝌蚪一头扎进水底，欢快地在鱼缸里游来游去。不管怎么说，它的奋力一跃使它看到了更加广阔的世界。如今，它心满意足地回到了它那美丽的玻璃房子里，在那棵灯笼海棠树的庇护下，它最终会长成一只威风凛凛的青蛙。那时，它就会生活在花园尽头草木茂盛的池塘里，为夏夜吟唱出它奇特的爱之赞歌。
Thus I learned from life itself. At the beginning I was only a little mass of possibilities. It was my teacher who unfolded and developed them. When she came, everything about me breathed of love and joy and was full of meaning. She has never since let pass an opportunity to point out the beauty that is in everything, nor has she ceased trying in thought and action and example to make my life sweet and useful.
我就是这样了解生命的意义的。起初，我只是一知半解，但是老师为我揭示了生命的奥秘。正是老师的到来，我的生命才充满了爱和欢乐的气息，才变得不同凡响。她从来不放过任何一次向我展示万物之美的机会，她也从不放弃努力，以她的思想和言行引导我成为一个生活充实，于社会有益的人。
It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful. It was because she seized the right moment to impart knowledge that made it so pleasant and acceptable to me. She realized that a child's mind is like a shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its education and reflects here a flower, there a bush, yonder a fleecy cloud; and she attempted to guide my mind on its way, knowing that like a brook it should be fed by mountain streams and hidden springs, until it broadened out into a deep river, capable of reflecting in its placid surface, billowy hills, the luminous shadows of trees and the blue heavens, as well as the sweet face of a little flower.
正是由于老师的聪明才智，她强烈的同情心，以及她的亲手传授，我所接受的早期教育才变得如此地丰富多彩。她总是能抓住恰当的时机，使我能够愉快地接纳她所传授的知识。她知道，在接受教育的过程中，一个小孩子的思想就像一条浅浅的小溪，这条浪花涌动的小溪欢快地流过卵石密布的河道，水面上通常会反射出一枝花，一株小树，或者是一朵浮云的倒影。她试图引导我走的正是这样一条路——一条小溪应当被山川的溪流和地下的泉水所哺育，直到它成长为一条宽广深远的大河，这条大河平静的水面能够反射出连绵的山脉，明亮的树影和蓝天，以及一朵小花的甜蜜笑脸。
Any teacher can take a child to the classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn. He will not work joyously unless he feels that liberty is his, whether he is busy or at rest; he must feel the flush of victory and the heart-sinking of disappointment before he takes with a will the tasks distasteful to him and resolves to dance his way bravely through a dull routine of textbooks.
任何一个老师都能把一个小孩领进课堂，但并不是每一个老师都能让他学到东西的。他不会愉快地去学习，除非他觉得自己是自由身。无论他是忙是闲，他必须要感受到胜利的曙光和小小的缺憾，然后才能勇敢地面对那些枯燥单调的书本，并且愿意去解决眼前的问题。
My teacher is so near to me that I scarcely think of myself apart from her. How much of my delight in all beautiful things is innate, and how much is due to her influence, I can never tell. I feel that her being is inseparable from my own, and that the footsteps of my life are in hers. All the best of me belongs to her—there is not a talent, or an aspiration or a joy in me that has not been awakened by her loving touch.
我的老师离我是那么近，以至于我想象不出离开她会是什么样子。我是天生就具有沉醉于美好事物的本能，还是源于老师的引导？我从来都无法说清。我只是觉得她同我是一个不可分割的整体，我的生命足迹也是她的生活轨迹。我生命中最精彩的乐章都归功于她——我的才能，我的志向，或者我内心的快乐，无一不是被她那充满慈爱的一触所唤醒。
