Chapter VIII
第八章
The first Christmas after Miss Sullivan came to Tuscumbia was a great event. Every one in the family prepared surprises for me, but what pleased me most, Miss Sullivan and I prepared surprises for everybody else. The mystery that surrounded the gifts was my greatest delight and amusement. My friends did all they could to excite my curiosity by hints and half-spelled sentences which they pretended to break off in the nick of time. Miss Sullivan and I kept up a game of guessing which taught me more about the use of language than any set lessons could have done. Every evening, seated round a glowing wood fire, we played our guessing game, which grew more and more exciting as Christmas approached.
对于我们家来说，苏立文小姐在图斯康比亚过第一个圣诞节可是件大事。家里每一个人都筹划着让我大吃一惊，但是最令我兴奋的是，我和苏立文小姐也筹划着让别人大吃一惊。对于那些神秘的礼物，我心里充满了巨大的喜悦感和好奇心。我的朋友们极尽所能，通过种种暗示和故意拼写了一半的句子来吊我的胃口。而我和苏立文小姐则继续玩猜谜游戏，同课堂所学的知识相比，这种寓教于乐的方式让我掌握了更多的语言技巧。每天晚上，我们坐在燃烧的炉火旁玩猜谜游戏。随着圣诞节的日益临近，我的心情也变得越来越兴奋。
On Christmas Eve the Tuscumbia schoolchildren had their tree, to which they invited me. In the centre of the schoolroom stood a beautiful tree ablaze and shimmering in the soft light, its branches loaded with strange, wonderful fruit. It was a moment of supreme happiness. I danced and capered round the tree in an ecstasy. When I learned that there was a gift for each child, I was delighted, and the kind people who had prepared the tree permitted me to hand the presents to the children. In the pleasure of doing this, I did not stop to look at my own gifts; but when I was ready for them, my impatience for the real Christmas to begin almost got beyond control. I knew the gifts I already had were not those of which friends had thrown out such tantalizing hints, and my teacher said the presents I was to have would be even nicer than these. I was persuaded, however, to content myself with the gifts from the tree and leave the others until morning.
圣诞前夜，图斯康比亚的学童们也有自己的圣诞树，他们邀请我去参加庆祝活动。在教室中间，矗立着一棵美丽的圣诞树，在柔和的光线下，它闪烁着晶莹的微光，它的枝桠上缀满了奇特的果实。这的确是一个普天同庆的欢乐时刻，我忘乎所以地绕着圣诞树又蹦又跳。当我得知每一个孩子都会得到一件礼物时，我更高兴了。那些装饰圣诞树的热心人允许我把礼物分发给别的孩子。在派发礼物的同时，我也忍不住在想着自己的那一份儿。其实我早就做好准备了，我激动得难以自抑，一心盼着尽快见到自己的礼物。我知道我的礼物不会是像朋友们暗示的那些东西，我的老师告诉我，我得到的礼物要比传言中的东西好得多。终于，到快天亮的时候，我心满意足地得到了圣诞树上的礼物。