海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第15期
日期:2012-05-10 10:58

(单词翻译:单击)

Another favourite haunt of mine was the orchard, where the fruit ripened early in July. The large, downy peaches would reach themselves into my hand, and as the joyous breezes flew about the trees the apples tumbled at my feet. Oh, the delight with which I gathered up the fruit in my pinafore, pressed my face against the smooth cheeks of the apples, still warm from the sun, and skipped back to the house!
果园是另一个我经常光顾的去处,那里的果实在7月初就成熟了。硕大饱满,覆盖着绒毛的桃子触手可得,和煦的微风穿过树丛,苹果在我的脚下滚来滚去。哦,把果实收集到围裙里的感觉真是妙不可言。我把脸贴在光滑温热的苹果上,感受着阳光照射的余温。然后,我蹦蹦跳跳地满载而归。
Our favourite walk was to Keller's Landing, an old tumbledown lumber-wharf on the Tennessee River, used during the Civil War to land soldiers. There we spent many happy hours and played at learning geography. I built dams of pebbles, made islands and lakes, and dug river-beds, all for fun, and never dreamed that I was learning a lesson. I listened with increasing wonder to Miss Sullivan's descriptions of the great round world with its burning mountains, buried cities, moving rivers of ice, and many other things as strange. She made raised maps in clay, so that I could feel the mountain ridges and valleys, and follow with my fingers the devious course of rivers. I liked this, too; but the division of the earth into zones and poles confused and teased my mind. The illustrative strings and the orange stick representing the poles seemed so real that even to this day the mere mention of temperate zone suggests a series of twine circles; and I believe that if any one should set about it he could convince me that white bears actually climb the North Pole.
散步时,我们最喜欢去的地方是“老凯勒码头”,这是田纳西河边一个破败不堪的木制码头。南北战争期间,这里被当做运输军队的专用码头。我们在这里学习地理知识,度过了一段令人回味的美好时光。我用小石子搭建水坝,建造岛屿和湖泊,还挖掘河床,这一切都是为了好玩儿,我从来没有意识到我正在上课学习。我满怀好奇地“听”苏立文小姐描述世界的博大精深——燃烧的山脉,被埋葬的城市,移动的冰河,以及众多奇妙的自然现象。老师会用黏土制作立体地图,这样我就能感觉到山脊和峡谷的形态,我的手指也会触摸到河流曲折的流向。我喜欢这种生动的讲解,但是把地球划分成地带和极点还是让我有些糊涂。用来说明的细线和代表极点的橘树枝似乎是最形象的比喻了,即使在今天,人们讲解地球气候带时,仍会用一串串的绳圈来说明。我想,假如有谁采用了这种方法,那么他一定会让我相信,白熊实际上是在攀登北极。
Arithmetic seems to have been the only study I did not like. From the first I was not interested in the science of numbers. Miss Sullivan tried to teach me to count by stringing beads in groups, and by arranging kindergarten straws I learned to add and subtract. I never had patience to arrange more than five or six groups at a time. When I had accomplished this my conscience was at rest for the day, and I went out quickly to find my playmates.
算术似乎是我唯一不喜欢学习的课程。从一开始我就对有关数字的科学不感兴趣。苏立文小姐试图用串珠子的方式教我计算,她还通过排列麦秆教我学习加减法。我很没有耐心,每次最多排列五六组而已。完成了课业,我的心思马上就转移到了别处,我会立刻跑出去寻找我的玩伴。
In this same leisurely manner I studied zoology and botany.
以同样轻松悠闲的方式,我还学习了有关动物学和植物学的知识。
Once a gentleman, whose name I have forgotten, sent me a collection of fossils—tiny mollusk shells beautifully marked, and bits of sandstone with the print of birds' claws, and a lovely fern in bas-relief. These were the keys which unlocked the treasures of the antediluvian world for me. With trembling fingers I listened to Miss Sullivan's descriptions of the terrible beasts, with uncouth, unpronounceable names, which once went tramping through the primeval forests, tearing down the branches of gigantic trees for food, and died in the dismal swamps of an unknown age. For a long time these strange creatures haunted my dreams, and this gloomy period formed a somber background to the joyous Now, filled with sunshine and roses and echoing with the gentle beat of my pony's hoof.
以前我遇到过一位绅士,他的名字我已经忘记了,他曾送给我一套化石收藏标本——微小的软体壳类动物形成精美的印痕,一块块砂岩上凸显出飞鸟的爪子,可爱的蕨类植物也在石头上呈现出浅浅的浮雕。对我而言,这些知识犹如开启上古世界宝藏的一把把钥匙。伴随着颤抖的手指,我“听”苏立文小姐讲述猛兽的故事。这些凶残、叫不出名字的野兽,曾经穿梭在广袤的原始森林里,它们折断巨树的枝桠用来果腹。最终,在一个古老的未知年代,这些猛兽消亡在昏暗的沼泽之中。当时,这些古怪的生物常常萦绕在我的梦境里。如今,我的世界充满了阳光和盛开的玫瑰,小马驹的蹄子发出轻柔的节拍声,同快乐的生活相比,这段阴郁的记忆变成了留在心底的前尘往事。
Another time a beautiful shell was given me, and with a child's surprise and delight I learned how a tiny mollusk had built the lustrous coil for his dwelling place, and how on still nights, when there is no breeze stirring the waves, the Nautilus sails on the blue waters of the Indian Ocean in his "ship of pearl." After I had learned a great many interesting things about the life and habits of the children of the sea—how in the midst of dashing waves the little polyps build the beautiful coral isles of the Pacific, and the foraminifera have made the chalkhills of many a land—my teacher read me "The Chambered Nautilus," and showed me that the shell-building process of the mollusks is symbolical of the development of the mind. Just as the wonder-working mantle of the Nautilus changes the material it absorbs from the water and makes it a part of itself, so the bits of knowledge one gathers undergo a similar change and become pearls of thought.
还有一次,有人给了我一个美丽的螺壳,伴随着一个小孩子的惊喜和好奇,我了解到了一个微小的软体动物是如何在它们的栖息地建造环形洞穴的。我还知道了它们在晚上活动的情形,夜间,不会有风卷起波浪,在“珍珠船”的搭载下,鹦鹉螺会航行在印度洋的蓝色海面上。我学习了很多关于海洋生物习性的知识,这些知识趣味无穷。比如,在涌动的波浪之中,微小的珊瑚虫是如何在太平洋上建造美丽的珊瑚岛的;有孔虫类又是如何形成陆地上的石灰岩山体的。我的老师为我读《背着房间的鹦鹉螺》,并且告诉我,可以把软体动物外壳的形成过程,视做一种心智发展的象征。就是说,鹦鹉螺身上的罩子是神奇工作的结果,它把从海水中吸收的物质转化成了它身体的一部分。同样,人类汲取知识也要经过类似的转化过程,直至知识变成“思想的珍珠”。

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重点单词
  • collectionn. 收集,收取,聚集,收藏品,募捐
  • dwellingn. 住处
  • dismaladj. 阴沉的,凄凉的,暗的
  • confusedadj. 困惑的;混乱的;糊涂的 v. 困惑(confu
  • lustrousadj. 有光泽的,光辉的
  • shelln. 壳,外壳 v. 去壳,脱落,拾贝壳 n.[计
  • hauntn. 常到的地方 vt. 常到,缠住,出没(像鬼魂一样)
  • primevaladj. 原始的,早期的,远古的
  • pearln. 珍珠 v. (用珍珠)装饰,呈珍珠状 adj. 珍
  • gentleadj. 温和的,轻柔的,文雅的,温顺的,出身名门的