Helen Keller (1880-1968), American woman who overcame the handicap1 of her blindness and deafness and raised money by her books and lectures for the training of the blind and other charitable cause2. The following are some notes about the life of Helen Keller:
* Born on June 27, 1880 in Alabama, USA
* Became blind and deaf at about 19 months
* At age 7, she was cared and helped by Annie Sullivan, who later became Keller's life-long teacher and companion3
* Graduated from Radcliffe College4 in Cambridge, Massachusetts5, in 1904
* Wrote her first book “The Story of My Life” in 1903, while she was still a college student, telling of her early education. The book has been translated into more than 50 languages.
* Carried on a career6 of collecting money for the care and education of the blind by lecturing all over the world and writing articles and books.
* Died on June 1, 1968, age 88
The following is the third chapter of her autobiography “The story of my life”. In this chapter, Keller described how hard she tried to overcome the difficulties in learning the language, especially in understanding the meanings of the words such as “love” and “think”.
Chapter 3
I now had the key to all language, and I was eager7 to learn to use it. Children who can hear learn language without any particular effort8. They hear other people speak, and enjoy trying to make the same sounds. The deaf child must learn language in a slow and often painful way. But even though the learning may be slow and painful, the result is wonderful. We advance gradually from merely naming objects to understanding the thought in a line of Shakespeare9.
At first, when my teacher told me about a new thing, I asked very few questions. My ideas were not clear, and I didn't know many words. But as my knowledge of things grew and I learned more and more words, I could ask more questions, and I would return again and again to the same subject, eager for more information. Sometimes a new word made me remember an experience I had had earlier.
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 spring flowers in the garden and brought them to my teacher. She tried to kiss me, but at that time I did not like to have anyone kiss me except my mother. Miss Sullivan put her arm gently around me and spelled into my hand, “I love Helen.”
“What is love?” I asked.
She drew me closer to her and said, “It is here,” pointing to my heart. Her words puzzled me very much, because I did not understand anything at that time unless I touched it.
I smelled the flowers in her hand and asked half in words and half in signs a question which meant, “Is love the sweet of flowers?”
“No,” said my teacher.
I thought again. The warm sun was shining on us, and pointing in the direction from which the warmth came, I asked again, “Is this love?”
It seemed to me that there could be nothing more beautiful than the sun, whose warmth makes everything grow. But Miss Sullivan shook her head, and I was greatly puzzled and disappointed10. I thought it was very strange that my teacher could not show me love.
A day or so afterward, I was stringing beads of different sizes11. The pattern was tow large beads, three small ones, two large beads, three small ones, and so on. I had made many mistakes. Miss Sullivan had pointed out my mistakes again and again with gentle patience. Finally I saw a mistake, and I began to try harder to arrange the beads in the right order. Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled, “Think.”
In a flash12 I knew that the word was the name of what was going on in my head. This was the first time I consciously13 understood the name for something that I could not touch with my hands.
For a long time I was still14—not thinking of the beads in my hands, but trying to find a meaning for love15, now that I knew what kind of word it was. The sun was under a cloud all day, and there had been brief showers16, but suddenly the sun came out in all its southern splendor17.
Again I asked my teacher, “Isn't this love?”
“Love is something like the clouds that clouds that were in the sky before the sun came out,” she replied. Then she explained, “You can't touch the clouds, you know, but you feel the rain and you know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You cannot touch love either, but you know the sweet feeling that it pours into everything. Without love you would not be happy or want to play.”
My mind was filled with the beautiful truth. I felt ties that could not be seen connection my spirit 18 and the spirits of others.
=========================
1. handicap n． 残废，障碍
2． charitable cause 慈善事业，福利事业
3． companion n． 同伴
4． Radcliffe College 赖德克利学院
5． Massachussetts 麻萨诸塞，麻省（美国州名）
6． carry on a career 从事某种职业／事业
7． eager adj． 殷切的，热望的；be eager to (do sth．) 想做某事； (be) eager for (sth)． 想得到，盼望
8． without any particular effort 无需特别费力
9． Shakespeare (1564－1616) 莎士比亚，英国诗人和剧作家，此句中的line指他的作品（诗句）。
10． disappointed adj．失望的
11． ．．．I was stringing beads of different sizes．……我用绳子把大小不同的珠子串起来。
12． in a flash刹那间，flash n． 闪光
13． consciously adv． 有意识地，自觉地
14． still adj． 安静的
15． not thinking of．．．but trying to．．． 不是想到……，而是试图……。not．．．but 不是……而是……
16． brief shower 短暂的阵雨
17． splendor n．辉煌，璨烂
18． spirit n．精神，心灵