(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Ray Freeman. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. This week we tell about Helen Keller. She was blind and deaf but she became a famous writer and teacher. The name Helen Keller has had special meaning for millions of people in all parts of the world. She could not see or hear. Yet Helen Keller was able to do so much with her days and years. Her success gave others hope. Helen Keller was born June twenty-seventh, eighteen eighty in a small town in northern Alabama. Her father, Arthur Keller, was a captain in the army of the South during the American Civil War. Her mother was his second wife. She was much younger than her husband. Helen was their first child.
Until she was a year-and-one-half old, Helen Keller was just like any other child. She was very active. She began walking and talking early. Then, nineteen months after she was born, Helen became very sick. It was a strange sickness that made her completely blind and deaf. The doctor could not do anything for her. Her bright, happy world now was filled with silence and darkness.
From that time until she was almost seven years old, Helen could communicate only by making signs with her hands. But she learned how to be active in her silent, dark environment. The young child had strong desires. She knew what she wanted to do. No one could stop her from doing it. More and more, she wanted to communicate with others. Making simple signs with her hands was not enough. Something was ready to explode inside of her because she could not make people understand her. She screamed and struggled when her mother tried to control her.
When Helen was six, her father learned about a doctor in Baltimore, Maryland. The doctor had successfully treated people who were blind. Helen's parents took her on the train to Baltimore. But the doctor said he could do nothing to help Helen. He suggested the Kellers get a teacher for the blind who could teach Helen to communicate. A teacher arrived from the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston. Her name was Anne Sullivan.
She herself had once been almost completely blind. But she had regained her sight. At Perkins, she had learned the newest methods of teaching the blind. Anne Sullivan began by teaching Helen that everything had a name. The secret to the names was the letters that formed them. The job was long and difficult. Helen had to learn how to use her hands and fingers to speak for her. But she was not yet ready to learn. First, she had to be taught how to obey, and how to control her anger. Miss Sullivan was quick to understand this. She wrote to friends in Boston about her experiences teaching Helen.
"The first night I arrived I gave Helen a doll. As she felt the doll with one hand I slowly formed the letters, d-o-l-l with my fingers in her other hand. Helen looked in wonder and surprise as she felt my hand. Then she formed the letters in my hand just as I had done in hers. She was quick to learn, but she was also quick in anger. For seven years, no one had taught her self-control. Instead of continuing to learn, she picked up the doll and threw it on the floor. She was this way in almost everything she did.
Even at the table, while eating, she did exactly as she pleased. She even put her hands in our plates and ate our food. The second morning, I would not let her put her hand on my plate. The family became troubled and left the room. I closed the door and continued to eat. Helen was on the floor, kicking and screaming and trying to pull the chair out from under me.
This continued for half an hour or so. Then she got up from the floor and came to find out what I was doing. Suddenly she hit me. Every time she did this I hit her hand. After a few minutes of this, she went to her place at the table and began to eat with her fingers. I gave her a spoon to eat with. She threw it on the floor. I forced her to get out of her chair to pick the spoon up. At last, after two hours, she sat down and ate like other people. I had to teach her to obey.
But it was painful to her family to see their deaf and blind child punished. So I asked them to let me move with Helen into a small one-room house nearby. The first day Helen was away from her family she kicked and screamed most of the time. That night I could not make her get into bed. We struggled, but I held her down on the bed. Luckily, I was stronger than she. The next morning I expected more of the same, but to my surprise she was calm, even peaceful.
Two weeks later, she had become a gentle child. She was ready to learn. My job now was pleasant. Helen learned quickly. Now I could lead and shape her intelligence. We spent all day together. I formed words in her hand, the names of everything we touched. But she had no idea what the words meant. As time passed, she learned how to sew clothes and make things. Every day we visited the farm animals and searched for eggs in the chicken houses. All the time, I was busy forming letters and words in her hand with my fingers. Then one day, about a month after I arrived, we were walking outside. Something important happened.
We heard someone pumping water. I put Helen's hand under the cool water and formed the word w-a-t-e-r in her other hand. W-a-t-e-r, w-a-t-e-r. I formed the word again and again in her hand. Helen looked straight up at the sky as if a lost memory or thought of some kind was coming back to her.
Suddenly, the whole mystery of language seemed clear to her. I could see that the word w-a-t-e-r meant something wonderful and cool that flowed over her hand. The word became alive for her. It awakened her spirit, gave it light and hope. She ran toward the house. I ran after her. One by one she touched things and asked their name. I told her. She went on asking for names and more names."
From that time on Helen left the house each day, searching for things to learn. Each new name brought new thoughts. Everything she touched seemed alive. One day, Helen remembered a doll she had broken. She searched everywhere for the pieces. She tried to put the pieces together but could not. She understood what she had done and was not happy. Miss Sullivan taught Helen many things -- to read and write, and even to use a typewriter. But most important, she taught Helen how to think.
For the next three years, Helen learned more and more new words. All day Miss Sullivan kept touching Helen's hand, spelling words that gave Helen a language. In time, Helen showed she could learn foreign languages. She learned Latin, Greek, French and German. Helen was able to learn many things, not just languages. She was never willing to leave a problem unfinished, even difficult problems in mathematics. One time, Miss Sullivan suggested leaving a problem to solve until the next day. But Helen wanted to keep trying. She said, "I think it will make my mind stronger to do it now." Helen traveled a lot with her family or alone with Miss Sullivan. In eighteen eighty-eight, Helen, her mother and Miss Sullivan went to Boston, Massachusetts. They visited the Perkins Institution where Miss Sullivan had learned to teach. They stayed for most of the summer at the home of family friends near the Atlantic Ocean. In Helen's first experience with the ocean, she was caught by a wave and pulled under the water. Miss Sullivan rescued her. When Helen recovered, she demanded, "Who put salt in the water? "
Three years after Helen started to communicate with her hands, she began to learn to speak as other people did. She never forgot these days. Later in life, she wrote: "No deaf child can ever forget the excitement of his first word. Only one who is deaf can understand the loving way I talked to my dolls, to the stones, to birds and animals. Only the deaf can understand how I felt when my dog obeyed my spoken command. " Those first days when Helen Keller developed the ability to talk were wonderful. But they proved to be just the beginning of her many successes.
重点解析
1.scream vi.尖叫,大笑,尖啸,令人震惊
The hurricane screamed outside.
外面飓风呼啸著。
2.communicate vt.传达, 表达, 传递（想法、感情、思想等）
A politician must be able to communicate.
政治家必须善于表达自己的观点。
3.obey vt.服从,遵从,顺从
It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.
我们必须守法。
4.pleasant a.愉快的,可爱的,亲切的
Hoping you will have a pleasant trip.
祝你旅途愉快!
5.wonderful a.令人惊奇的,奇妙的,极好的
How wonderful it was to be here with her!
和她一起在这里多好啊！
6.awaken vt. vi. 唤醒,醒来,唤起
The child has a gradual awakening to the joy of music.
那孩子渐渐领悟到音乐的乐趣。
参考译文
我是雪莉·格里菲斯。我是雷恩·弗里曼。每周我们都将讲述美国历史上的一位重要人物。
本周我们将讲述海伦·凯勒的故事。她看不见也听不见，但却成为了一位著名作家兼老师。对世界各地的人来说，海伦·凯勒这个名字有着特殊的意义。她听不见也看不见。但她在一生中做了很多。她的成功给了别人希望。
1880年6月27日，海伦·凯勒出生于阿拉巴马州北部的一个小城镇。她的父亲亚瑟·凯勒在美国内战期间是南方军队的上尉。她的母亲是他的第二任妻子。她比丈夫小很多。海伦是他们的第一个孩子。到一岁半的时候，海伦·凯勒就像其他孩子一样。她很好动，很早就开始走路和说话。在她出生19个月后，海伦生了严重的病。这种奇怪的疾病让她完全看不见也听不见。医生也无能为力。她明亮欢乐的世界现在充满了沉默和黑暗。自那时起直到她11岁，海伦仅能够通过手势交流。但是她学会了如何在沉默黑暗的环境中保持积极态度。这个年轻的孩子有着坚强的意志，她知道自己想要做什么。没人能够阻止她。她越来越想要和别人交流。仅靠手势是不够的。身体内有什么要开始爆发了，因为她不能让别人理解她。当她的母亲试图管她的时候，她就尖叫挣扎。
海伦6岁的时候，她父亲听说马里兰巴尔的摩有一位医生，他成功治愈了那些盲人。海伦的父母带着她乘火车去巴尔的摩，但是医生说他无能为力。他建议凯勒一家找一个盲人老师教海伦如何沟通。一名老师从波士顿帕金斯盲人研究所来到这里，她的名字叫做安妮·苏利文。她曾经近乎失明，但是她重获视力。在帕金斯，她学习盲人教育的最新方法。安妮·苏利文开始教海伦事物的名字。这些名字的秘诀是组成它们的字母。这份工作时间长且困难。海伦要学习如何利用双手和指头为她说话。但是她还没准备好学习这些。起初，她要学习如何服从并控制自己的脾气。苏利文很快理解了这一点。她给在波士顿的朋友们写信讲述她教授海伦的经历。
“我来的第一晚，我给了海伦一个娃娃。当她用手感受这个娃娃时，我用手指在她另一只手上慢慢写出字母 d-o-l-l。当她感受到我的手掌时，她很惊奇。然后她在我手上用手指写下了这几个字母，就像我做的一样。她学的很快，但是她很容易生气。七年来，没人教她控制自己。她没有继续学习，而是拿起了娃娃，把它仍在地板上。她几乎在每件事上都这样。即便在餐桌上，她随性所作。她甚至把双手放在我们的盘子里，吃我们的食物。第二天清晨，我不让她把手放在我的盘子里。一家人变得不安并离开了房间。我关上门，继续吃饭。海伦在地板上胡闹尖叫并试图将椅子拉开。这持续了半个小时左右。然后她从地板上起来，看我在做什么。突然，她打了我一下。每次她这么做我都会打她的手掌。几分钟后，她来到她的位子上，开始用手指吃饭。我给了她一个勺子。她把勺子仍在地板上。我让她从位子上起来，把勺子给捡起来。最终，两个小时候，她坐下并和其他人一样吃饭。我需要教会她服从。
但是看到孩子被惩罚，父母是痛苦的。因此我让他们让我和海伦搬到傍边的一个小房子。离开父母的第一天，海伦大部分时间都是踢打尖叫。那一晚，我无法让她上床睡觉。我们都在挣扎，但我把她压制在床上。幸运的是，我比她强壮。第二天早上，我没有太大的期待，但是让我惊讶的是，她很镇定，甚至是平静。两周后，她变成了一个有礼貌的孩子。她准备好开始学习了。现在我得工作很愉快，她学的很快。现在我可以引导开发她的智力。我们一整天都在一起。我在她的手掌写字母，写我们触摸到的所有事物的名字。但她不知道世界是什么。
时间流逝，她学会了如何缝衣服做东西。每天我们都去动物农场，寻找鸡舍里的鸡蛋。我一直忙于用我的手指在她的手掌上写字母。然后有一天，大概是在我来这里的一个月后，我们在外边走着。一些重要的事情发生了。我们听到有人在抽水。我把海伦的手掌放进凉爽的水中并在她的手掌上拼写字母w-a-t-e-r。我在她手上一次一次的拼写。海伦直直的看着天空，好像她找回了一种失去的记忆或想法。突然，语言的整个谜团都变得清晰了。我可以看到w-a-t-e-r这个单词意味着某些美妙清爽的东西在她手上流动。这个词对她而言变得鲜活起来。唤醒了她的心灵，给了她光和希望。她向家里跑去，我追在她后边。她一件件的摸着这些物体并问它们的名字。我一一告诉她。她继续问更多的名字。”
自那时起，海伦每天都离开家，寻找学习的东西。每种新名字都带来新的想法。她触摸的每件东西都变得鲜活。一天，海伦记起了她弄坏的娃娃。她到处寻找娃娃的碎片。她试着将碎片拼在一起，但做不到。她明白自己做的一切，很不开心，苏利文教会了海伦很多东西—读写，甚至使用打字机。但最重要的是，她教会了海伦如何思考。在接下来的三年里，海伦学会了越来越多的新词。整天苏利文都握着海伦的手拼写新语言的单词。海伦展现了她可以学习外语。她学会了拉丁语、希腊语、法语和德语、海伦能够学习很懂东西，不仅仅是语言。她从不愿留下一个没完成的问题，即便是困难的数学题。一次，苏利文建议把一个未解问题留到第二天，但是海伦想要继续尝试。她说，“我觉得现在做能让我的意志更坚强。”
海伦和家人或苏利文去过很多地方。1888年，海伦、她的母亲和苏利文来到马萨诸塞州波士顿。她们去了苏利文之前学习的珀金斯学院。她们在大西洋附近一个家族朋友的家中度过了夏天。在海伦第一次接触大海时，一个浪打中了她，将她拍下水中，苏利文救了她。当海伦病愈，她问，“谁把盐放进水里了？”从海伦开始用手交流的三年后，她开始学习说话。她从未忘记过那些时候。生命后期，她写到：“没有一个耳聋的孩子会忘记第一个单词的激动。只有耳聋的人才能理解我和娃娃、石头、小鸟和动物说话的方式。只有聋人才能理解当我的狗狗服从我发出的声音指令时的那种感受。”那些海伦·凯勒开口说话的日子很美妙。但这些只是她众多成功中的开端。
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