In a different way Macaulay's "Life of Samuel Johnson" was interesting. My heart went out to the lonely man who ate the bread of affliction in Grub Street, and yet, in the midst of toil and cruel suffering of body and soul, always had a kind word, and lent a helping hand to the poor and despised. I rejoiced over all his successes, I shut my eyes to his faults, and wondered, not that he had them, but that they had not crushed or dwarfed his soul. But in spite of Macaulay's brilliancy and his admirable faculty of making the commonplace seem fresh and picturesque, his positiveness wearied me at times, and his frequent sacrifices of truth to effect kept me in a questioning attitude very unlike the attitude of reverence in which I had listened to the Demosthenes of Great Britain.
无论从哪种角度来看，麦考雷写的《塞缪尔·约翰逊的一生》都很吸引人。这位在克鲁伯街上啃着面包的落魄男人令人同情，然而，即使在身体和灵魂遭受双重磨难的情况下，他始终保持着一种友善的言行，还向贫穷无助的人伸出援手。我为他取得的成功而欢欣鼓舞，而对他的过失则视而不见——奇怪的是，尽管重压缠身，但是种种压力并没有摧垮他的意志，那些瑕疵也无损于他的人格。麦考雷以其出色的文笔化腐朽为神奇，令生动的人物跃然纸上。他的信念偶尔也会让我感到厌倦，但是他那为探寻真理而孜孜以求的精神，使我看待事物的态度变得更加理性了；同我听到“大不列颠的狄摩西尼”雄辩演说后的敬畏之情相比，这是一种完全不同的感觉。
At the Cambridge school, for the first time in my life, I enjoyed the companionship of seeing and hearing girls of my own age. I lived with several others in one of the pleasant houses connected with the school, the house where Mr. Howells used to live, and we all had the advantage of home life. I joined them in many of their games, even blind man's buff and frolics in the snow; I took long walks with them; we discussed our studies and read aloud the things that interested us. Some of the girls learned to speak to me, so that Miss Sullivan did not have to repeat their conversation.
在剑桥学习期间，我平生第一次沉浸在同学之间的友谊当中。当然，这些同学都是能看能听，和我同龄的女孩子。我和其他几个同学住在与学校相连的一幢房子里，豪厄尔斯先生曾在这里居住过，所以说，我们可能都从这所房子里得着点“仙气”。同学们的很多游戏我都参加，甚至是雪中捉迷藏；我和她们一同远足；我们还会在一起讨论功课，高声朗读我们感兴趣的文章。有些女孩学会了同我“交谈”，这样苏立文小姐就用不着为我重复她们的话了。
At Christmas, my mother and little sister spent the holidays with me, and Mr. Gilman kindly offered to let Mildred study in his school. So Mildred stayed with me in Cambridge, and for six happy months we were hardly ever apart. It makes me most happy to remember the hours we spent helping each other in study and sharing our recreation together.
那一年，我的母亲和小妹妹和我一同度过了圣诞节。其间，热心的吉尔曼先生还把米尔德莱德安排在他的学校读书。就这样，米尔德莱德和我一起待在了剑桥，差不多有六个月的时间，我们几乎形影不离。我们在一起分享快乐；我们俩互相帮助，一学就是好几个小时。那真是一段令人愉快的时光。
I took my preliminary examinations for Radcliffe from the 29th of June to the 3rd of July in 1897. The subjects I offered were Elementary and Advanced German, French, Latin, English, and Greek and Roman history, making nine hours in all. I passed in everything, and received "honours" in German and English.
1897年6月29日至7月3日，我参加了拉德克利夫学院的预科考试。我报考的科目有初级和高级德语、法语、拉丁文、英语、希腊语和古罗马史。几门考试总共用了九个小时。我不仅通过了全部考试，而且德语和英语成绩是“优等”。