The Blind Boys.
盲孩
Thursday, 24th.
星期四，24日。
The master is very ill, and they have sent in his stead the master of the fourth grade, who has been a teacher in the Institute for the Blind. He is the oldest of all the instructors, with hair so white that it looks like a wig made of cotton, and he speaks in a peculiar manner, as though he were chanting a melancholy song; but he does it well, and he knows a great deal. No sooner had he entered the schoolroom than, catching sight of a boy with a bandage on his eye, he approached the bench, and asked him what was the matter.
我们的先生大病，四年级的先生来代课了。这位先生以前曾经做过盲童学校里的教师，是学校里年纪最大的先生，头发白得像棉花做成的假发，说话的调子很妙，好像在唱悲歌。可是，讲话很巧，并且熟悉重重世事。他一进教室，看见一个眼上缚着绷带的小孩就走到他的身旁去问他患了什么。
"Take care of your eyes, my boy," he said to him.
“眼睛是要注意的！我的孩子啊！”他这样说。
And then Derossi asked him:--"Is it true, sir, that you have been a teacher of the blind?"
“听说先生在盲童学校教过书，真的吗？”于是代洛西问先生。
"Yes, for several years," he replied. And Derossi said, in a low tone, "Tell us something about it."
“噢，教过四五年。”“可以将那里的情形讲给我们听听吗？”代洛西低声说。
The master went and seated himself at his table.
先生回到自己的位上。
Coretti said aloud, "The Institute for the Blind is in the Via Nizza."
“盲童学校在维亚尼塞街哩。”可莱谛大声说。

"You say blind--blind," said the master, "as you would say poor or ill, or I know not what. But do you thoroughly comprehend the significance of that word? Reflect a little. Blind! Never to see anything! Not to be able to distinguish the day from night; to see neither the sky, nor sun, nor your parents, nor anything of what is around you, and which you touch; to be immersed in a perpetual obscurity, and as though buried in the bowels of the earth! Make a little effort to close your eyes, and to think of being obliged to remain forever thus; you will suddenly be overwhelmed by a mental agony, by terror; it will seem to you impossible to resist, that you must burst into a scream, that you must go mad or die. But, poor boys! When you enter the Institute of the Blind for the first time, during their recreation hour, and hear them playing on violins and flutes in all directions, and talking loudly and laughing, ascending and descending the stairs at a rapid pace, and wandering freely through the corridors and dormitories, you would never pronounce these unfortunates to be the unfortunates that they are. It is necessary to observe them closely. There are lads of sixteen or eighteen, robust and cheerful, who bear their blindness with a certain ease, almost with hardihood; but you understand from a certain proud, resentful expression of countenance that they must have suffered tremendously before they became resigned to this misfortune."
先生于是静静地开口了：“你们说‘盲童盲童’，好像很平常。你们懂得‘盲’字的意味吗？请想想看，盲目！什么都不见，昼夜也不能分别，天的颜色，太阳的光，自己父母的面貌，以及在自己周围的东西，自己手所碰着的东西，一切都不能看见。说起来竟好像一出世就被埋在土里，永久住在黑暗之中。啊！你们暂时眼睛闭住了，想像终身都非这样不可的情境看！你们就会觉得心里难过起来，可怕起来吧！觉得无论怎样也忍耐不住，要哭泣起来，甚至发狂而死吧！虽然如此，你们初到盲童学校去的时候，在休息时间中，可看见盲童在这里那里拉提琴呀，奏笛呀，大踏步地上下楼梯呀，大声地互相谈话呀，在廊下或寝室奔跑呀，你们也许觉得他们的境遇并不怎样不幸吧。其实，真正的情况非用心细察是不会明白的。他们在十六七岁之间，大多少年气盛，好像不甚以自己的残废为苦痛。可是，看了他们那种自矜的神情，我们愈可知道到他们将来觉悟到自己的不幸会多么难过啊！”