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But although these disappointments caused me great depression at times, I pursued my other studies with unflagging interest, especially physical geography. It was a joy to learn the secrets of nature: how—in the picturesque language of the Old Testament—the winds are made to blow from the four corners of the heavens, how the vapours ascend from the ends of the earth, how rivers are cut out among the rocks, and mountains overturned by the roots, and in what ways man may overcome many forces mightier than himself. The two years in New York were happy ones, and I look back to them with genuine pleasure.
虽然种种失望令我一度消沉沮丧，但是我对其他科目的学习兴趣依旧未减，尤其是自然地理学。了解自然界的奥秘是一种乐趣：比如风如何——就像《圣经·旧约》中所描绘的那样——自天堂的四个角落遍吹四方，水蒸气如何从大地的尽头飘升至天空，河流如何在巉岩峭壁间劈风斩浪，群山如何被大地所倾覆，人类又是以何种方式战胜比自己强大得多的自然之力的。在纽约的这两年是一段令人愉快的时光，每每想起，我都会感到由衷地开心。
I remember especially the walks we all took together every day in Central Park, the only part of the city that was congenial to me. I never lost a jot of my delight in this great park. I loved to have it described every time I entered it; for it was beautiful in all its aspects, and these aspects were so many that it was beautiful in a different way each day of the nine months I spent in New York.
我尤其记得我们每天在中央公园的集体散步，对我而言，这是这个城市唯一令我感到称心如意的所在。我从未在这个大公园里遗漏掉半点快乐。我喜欢对每一次的公园漫步进行描述，因为这里的美无处不在，我在纽约的九个月中，每天都可以感受到多姿多彩的盛景佳境。
In the spring we made excursions to various places of interest. We sailed on the Hudson River and wandered about on its green banks, of which Bryant loved to sing. I liked the simple, wild grandeur of the palisades. Among the places I visited were West Point, Tarrytown, the home of Washington Irving, where I walked through "Sleepy Hollow."
春天，我们会到各种有趣的地方旅行。我们驾船航行在哈德逊河上，徜徉在布莱恩特所吟唱的芳草依依的岸边。我喜欢河边断崖朴素雄浑的野性之美。沿河而行，我们参观了西点军校，游览了华盛顿·欧文的家乡泰瑞镇，我还在“睡谷”中走了一遭。
The teachers at the Wright-Humason School were always planning how they might give the pupils every advantage that those who hear enjoy—how they might make much of few tendencies and passive memories in the cases of the little ones—and lead them out of the cramping circumstances in which their lives were set.
赖特休梅森学校的老师们始终为学生的利益着想，他们会以学生的兴趣作为教学出发点，他们很少对年幼的学生做强行灌输，而且，他们会引领这些身患残疾的孩子走出蹇涩的生存环境。
Before I left New York, these bright days were darkened by the greatest sorrow that I have ever borne, except the death of my father. Mr. John P. Spaulding, of Boston, died in February, 1896. Only those who knew and loved him best can understand what his friendship meant to me. He, who made every one happy in a beautiful, unobtrusive way, was most kind and tender to Miss Sullivan and me. So long as we felt his loving presence and knew that he took a watchful interest in our work, fraught with so many difficulties, we could not be discouraged. His going away left a vacancy in our lives that has never been filled.
在我即将离开纽约的时候，快乐的时光已经被伤感的阴云所笼罩；除了父亲的去世，我从未承受过如此巨大的悲伤。1896年2月，波士顿的约翰·P.斯鲍尔丁先生去世了。只有那些认识他并对他最为敬重的人，才会理解我们之间的友谊是多么深厚。他以其谦逊而优雅的态度把愉悦带给身边的每一个人，他给予了我和苏立文小姐最慷慨无私的关怀。每当想到他的慈爱，我们眼前就会立刻浮现出他那关注的神情，所以，无论我们在生活学习中遇到了多么大的困难，我们都不会感到气馁无助。斯鲍尔丁先生的去世给我们的生命留下了无法弥补的巨大空白。
