Miss Fuller's method was this: she passed my hand lightly over her face, and let me feel the position of her tongue and lips when she made a sound. I was eager to imitate every motion and in an hour had learned six elements of speech: M, P, A, S, T, I. Miss Fuller gave me eleven lessons in all. I shall never forget the surprise and delight I felt when I uttered my first connected sentence, "It is warm." True, they were broken and stammering syllables; but they were human speech. My soul, conscious of new strength, came out of bondage, and was reaching through those broken symbols of speech to all knowledge and all faith.
富勒小姐的授课方法是这样的：她把我的手轻轻地放在她的脸上，这样，当她发音的时候，我就能触摸到她的舌头和嘴唇的位置。我如饥似渴地模仿老师的每一个口形，只用了一个小时，我就学会了六个字母的读音：M，P，A，S，T，I。富勒小姐总共给我上了十一堂课，我永远也忘不了开口说出第一句话时的惊讶和喜悦，那句话是“天很暖和”。当然，这句话说得结结巴巴，但它的确是人类的语言。在灵魂深处，我感受到了一股挣脱了某种束缚的新生力量。此刻，它正在穿越那些断裂的音节，奔向所有的知识和所有的信念。
No deaf child who has earnestly tried to speak the words which he has never heard—to come out of the prison of silence, where no tone of love, no song of bird, no strain of music ever pierces the stillness—can forget the thrill of surprise, the joy of discovery which came over him when he uttered his first word. Only such a one can appreciate the eagerness with which I talked to my toys, to stones, trees, birds and dumb animals, or the delight I felt when at my call Mildred ran to me or my dogs obeyed my commands. It is an unspeakable boon to me to be able to speak in winged words that need no interpretation. As I talked, happy thoughts fluttered up out of my words that might perhaps have struggled in vain to escape my fingers.
没有一个聋哑孩子会用心学习他不曾听过的词语——那些词语来自于“无声的牢狱”，那里听不到柔情细语，没有鸟儿的歌唱，也没有音乐的旋律能穿透寂静——但是，当他开口说出平生第一个单词时，他就会忘掉所有的惊惧，进而沉浸在发现的喜悦之中。也只有带着这种感恩之心，我才能同我的玩具、石头、树木、飞鸟和不会说话的动物们交谈。当听到我召唤的米尔德莱德跑到我跟前，或者听到我命令的狗儿作出正确反应，我内心的喜悦就会溢于言表。对我来说，能够迅速地说出我想要表达的话而无须翻译，这的确是一种难以言说的恩赐。当我说话时，愉快的思绪就会翩然而至。当然，这很可能是我为逃脱手指的束缚而做的徒劳抗争。
But it must not be supposed that I could really talk in this short time. I had learned only the elements of speech. Miss Fuller and Miss Sullivan could understand me, but most people would not have understood one word in a hundred. Nor is it true that, after I had learned these elements, I did the rest of the work myself. But for Miss Sullivan's genius, untiring perseverance and devotion, I could not have progressed as far as I have toward natural speech. In the first place, I laboured night and day before I could be understood even by my most intimate friends; in the second place, I needed Miss Sullivan's assistance constantly in my efforts to articulate each sound clearly and to combine all sounds in a thousand ways. Even now she calls my attention every day to mispronounced words.
不过，在如此短的时间内学会讲话还是令人难以想象的。事实上，我只是掌握了讲话的要素而已。虽然富勒小姐和苏立文小姐明白我说的话，但是大部分人并不知道我在说什么，我说一百个词，他们未必能听懂一个词。这当然称不上真正的语言，就是说，在我学习了这些要素之后，其余的技能就要靠我自己去摸索了。多亏了苏立文小姐的天才之举，以及她孜孜不倦的奉献精神，否则，我是无法在学习自然讲话的过程中取得进步的。首先，要想让我最亲密的朋友们听懂我说的话，我必须要夜以继日地加强练习；其次，我需要苏立文小姐的持续帮助，就是说，让她帮我纠正每一个发音，然后再用上千种方式将所有的音节组合在一起。直到现在，她仍会在日常交流中提醒我读错的音。
All teachers of the deaf know what this means, and only they can at all appreciate the peculiar difficulties with which I had to contend. In reading my teacher's lips I was wholly dependent on my fingers: I had to use the sense of touch in catching the vibrations of the throat, the movements of the mouth and the expression of the face; and often this sense was at fault. In such cases I was forced to repeat the words or sentences, sometimes for hours, until I felt the proper ring in my own voice. My work was practice, practice, practice. Discouragement and weariness cast me down frequently; but the next moment the thought that I should soon be at home and show my loved ones what I had accomplished, spurred me on, and I eagerly looked forward to their pleasure in my achievement.
聋哑学校的所有老师都知道这意味着什么，对于我偏向虎山行的勇气，他们也表示出了赞同意见。在阅读课上，我完全依靠手指来感受老师嘴唇的动作：我用触觉感知喉咙的振动，口腔的开启和老师的面目表情。在通常情况下，触摸的方式总是出错。因此，我只能强迫自己一遍遍重复单词或句子，有时候，这种重复过程会持续好几个小时，一直到发音正确为止。我的作业就是练习，练习，再练习。气馁和厌倦的情绪时常困扰着我，但是一想到我即将回到家里，向亲人们展示我取得的进步，我的信心就会大增。我渴望与家人们共同分享我的学习成果。