Chapter IX
第九章
The next important event in my life was my visit to Boston, in May, 1888. As if it were yesterday I remember the preparations, the departure with my teacher and my mother, the journey, and finally the arrival in Boston. How different this journey was from the one I had made to Baltimore two years before! I was no longer a restless, excitable little creature, requiring the attention of everybody on the train to keep me amused. I sat quietly beside Miss Sullivan, taking in with eager interest all that she told me about what she saw out of the car window: the beautiful Tennessee River, the great cotton-fields, the hills and woods, and the crowds of laughing negroes at the stations, who waved to the people on the train and brought delicious candy and popcorn balls through the car. On the seat opposite me sat my big rag doll, Nancy, in a new gingham dress and a beruffled sunbonnet, looking at me out of two bead eyes. Sometimes, when I was not absorbed in Miss Sullivan's descriptions, I remembered Nancy's existence and took her up in my arms, but I generally calmed my conscience by making myself believe that she was asleep.
1888年5月的波士顿之旅是我生命中的又一件大事。当时的情景历历在目，仿佛就发生在昨天。总之，在苏立文小姐和妈妈的陪伴下，我最终到了波士顿。同我两年前的巴尔的摩之行相比，这次旅行迥然不同。我不再是那个兴奋好动，到处找乐，引得一车人注意的小丫头了。这一次，我安静地坐在苏立文小姐身边，聚精会神地“听”她讲述车窗外的风景：秀美的田纳西河，广袤的棉花地，群山和森林，站台上，一群有说有笑的黑人朝乘客们挥手示意，从车窗送进来美味的糖果和爆米花。我把我的大布娃娃南希放在了对面的座位上，她穿着新的花格子衣服，头戴花边遮阳软帽，用两只玻璃眼珠看着我。偶尔，当我听不大懂苏立文小姐描述的时候，我就想起了南希，我还把她抱在怀里；但是在通常情况下，我会让自己相信南希正在睡觉，所以我会变得很安静。
As I shall not have occasion to refer to Nancy again, I wish to tell here a sad experience she had soon after our arrival in Boston. She was covered with dirt--the remains of mud pies I had compelled her to eat, although she had never shown any special liking for them. The laundress at the Perkins Institution secretly carried her off to give her a bath. This was too much for poor Nancy. When I next saw her she was a formless heap of cotton, which I should not have recognized at all except for the two bead eyes which looked out at me reproachfully.
可是我再也没有机会提到南希了，在此，我愿意讲述她随我到波士顿后的不幸经历。她满身污渍——大多是被我强迫喂食的“泥巴馅饼”的剩余物，尽管她从未显露出喜欢吃这种食品的丝毫热情。帕金斯盲人学院的洗衣女工瞒着我给她洗了一个澡，这对可怜的南希来说简直是灭顶之灾。当我再见到她时，她已经变成了一个走了形的棉花团。除了那两只怒目而视的玻璃眼珠，我一点儿都认不出她了。
When the train at last pulled into the station at Boston it was as if a beautiful fairy tale had come true. The "once upon a time" was now; the "far-away country" was here.
当火车终于停靠在波士顿的站台时，一个美丽的童话故事仿佛就要变成现实了。此时变成了“在很久以前”，此地变成了“遥远的国度”。
We had scarcely arrived at the Perkins Institution for the Blind when I began to make friends with the little blind children. It delighted me inexpressibly to find that they knew the manual alphabet. What joy to talk with other children in my own language! Until then I had been like a foreigner speaking through an interpreter. In the school where Laura Bridgman was taught I was in my own country. It took me some time to appreciate the fact that my new friends were blind. I knew I could not see; but it did not seem possible that all the eager, loving children who gathered round me and joined heartily in my frolics were also blind. I remember the surprise and the pain I felt as I noticed that they placed their hands over mine when I talked to them and that they read books with their fingers. Although I had been told this before, and although I understood my own deprivations, yet I had thought vaguely that since they could hear, they must have a sort of "second sight," and I was not prepared to find one child and another and yet another deprived of the same precious gift. But they were so happy and contented that I lost all sense of pain in the pleasure of their companionship.
我们刚到帕金斯盲人学院，我就开始和这里的盲童交朋友了。我的兴奋之情溢于言表，因为我发现同伴们都懂得用手语字母交流。能用我自己的语言同其他孩子讲话真是令人开心！在这之前，我一直像个外国人一样，需要翻译才能讲话。劳拉·布里吉曼在这所学校学习的时候，我还待在自己的家乡。我花了一些时间才意识到我的新朋友们都是盲人。虽然我自己也看不见，但是当我被一群热情好客，同样看不见的伙伴们围在身边，尽情嬉戏玩耍的时候，我觉得这似乎是不可能的事情。我对伙伴们说话的时候，他们就会把他们的手放在我的手上，而且，他们还会用手指读书。当我发现这一点后，我感到既惊奇又苦恼。尽管家人在来这里之前就对我讲过，尽管我知道自己的感官缺陷，可我还是隐约地想到，因为同伴们具有听力，所以他们肯定有一种“第二视觉”功能。当然，我也没有指望要找到一个和我一样既盲又聋的孩子，我想，听觉和视觉一样，都是人类弥足珍贵的礼物。但不管怎么说，他们是如此地快乐和满足，置身在伙伴们的友谊之中，我完全忘却了忧愁烦恼。