The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old.
我的老师安妮·曼斯菲尔德·沙利文小姐来到我身边的那一天，是我生命中最重要的一天。我在思考这一天连接的两种生活之间存在的巨大差异时，不禁惊叹不已。我记得很清楚，那是1887年的3月3日，我刚六岁零九个月。
On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant. I guessed vaguely from my mother’s signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch, and fell on my upturned face. My fingers lingered almost unconsciously on the familiar leaves and blossoms which had just come forth to greet the sweet southern spring. I did not know what the future held of marvel or surprise for me. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually for weeks and a deep languor had succeeded this passionate struggle.
在那重要的一天的下午，我默默地站在门廊里，充满了期盼。从母亲的手势和房间里人们忙前忙后的情景，我隐约感觉到有什么不寻常的事就要发生了。于是，我走出房门，在台阶上等着。午后的阳光穿过阳台上茂盛的金银花叶，洒在我扬起的脸庞上。我的手指不知不觉地轻抚那些每日相伴的叶子和花儿，那些为迎接可爱的南方春天而绽开的花草。我无从知晓未来会发生怎样的奇迹，给我带来怎样的惊喜。之前数个星期，愤怒与辛酸一直在折磨我，我在奋力抗争之后感到无尽的倦怠。
Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was. “Light! give me light!” was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.
你可曾在茫茫大雾中到过海上，浓密的雾霾仿佛将你吞噬其中，大船在铅锤和测深绳的帮助下，紧张而急切地寻找海岸，你的心怦怦乱跳，等待着什么事情发生？在接受教育之前，我就像那艘大船，只是没有罗盘或测深绳，茫然不觉港口的远近。我常常在心底发出无言的呼唤：“光明！给我光明！”就在那一刻，爱的光辉拥抱了我的身心。
I felt approaching footsteps, I stretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother. Someone took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things to me, and, more than all things else, to love me.
我感觉到有脚步过来。我以为是母亲，便伸出了双手。有人握住了我的手，接着把我紧紧地搂在怀里。她就是来向我启示世间真理、给我深切关爱的安妮·沙利文老师。
The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed it; but I did not know this until afterward. When I had played with it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word “d-o-l-l.” I was at once interested in this finger play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation. In the days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk. But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has a name.
第二天早晨，沙利文老师带我来到她的房间，给了我一个布娃娃。后来我才知道，这个娃娃是珀金斯学校的盲童们给沙利文小姐的礼物，劳拉·布里奇曼为她穿上了衣服，不过这些是我后来才知道的。我抱着娃娃玩了一会儿，沙利文小姐在我手上慢慢地拼写出“洋娃娃”这个词。我对这种手指游戏立即产生了兴趣，并且努力模仿她。当我最终正确地拼写出这个词时，我感到无比自豪，兴奋得涨红了脸。我跑下楼，找到母亲，写给她看。当时，我并不知道这就是写字，甚至不知道世上还有文字，我只是用手指机械地模仿而已。接下来的日子里，我在这种懵懵懂懂的游戏中学会了很多单词，如别针、帽子、杯子这样的名词，还有一些如坐、站、走这样的动词。好几个星期后我才领悟到，原来世间万物都有名称。
One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled “d-o-l-l” and tried to make me understand that “d-o-l-l” applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words “m-u-g” and “w-a-t-e-r.” Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that “m-u-g” is mug and that “w-a-t-e-r” is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure.
有一天，我正在玩我的新布娃娃，沙利文小姐把我原来那个大破娃娃也拿来放在我的膝盖上，然后又在我手上拼写出“洋娃娃”这个词，试图让我明白，这两个都叫“洋娃娃”。这天早上，我们在单词“水”和“杯”之间发生了争执。沙利文小姐努力向我解释，杯是杯，水是水；而我却把两者混为一谈，固执地认为，杯就是水，水就是杯。失望之余，她暂时撇下这个话题不谈，后来一有机会她又提了起来。我听着她来回重复，实在压抑不住心中的烦闷，一把抓过新娃娃，猛地摔在了地上。我感觉到娃娃在我脚下破裂，心里痛快极了。这样发脾气后，我既不会感到伤心，也不会感到愧疚。我没有爱过这个洋娃娃。我生活的这个寂静而黑暗的世界里根本没有柔情可言。我感觉到，沙利文老师把娃娃的残骸扫到壁炉旁边。我心满意足，烦闷的心情一扫而光。她把我的帽子递给我，我知道可以去外面享受和煦的阳光了。这种想法——如果无言的感受可以被称作想法的话，使我心中雀跃不已。
We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r’meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.
水井房上的金银花散发着芳香，吸引我们沿着小路向它走去。有人正在打水，沙利文老师把我的一只手放在了出水口。当清冽的水流抚过我的手背时，她在我的另一只手上拼写出“水”这个词，起初写得很慢，后来就快写。我一动不动地站着，全神贯注地感受她手指的移动。蓦然间，我产生了一种朦胧意识，一种觉醒的战栗，仿佛记起了遗忘的东西。语言的奥秘通过某种方式向我显现出来，我知道了“水”就是正在从我手上流过的奇妙而凉爽的东西。“水”这个生动有趣的词语唤醒了我的灵魂，带给了我光明、希望、快乐与自由。确实，那些障碍依然存在，但是它们一定会被及时克服。
I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.
离开水井房后，我的求知欲油然而起。世间万物都有名称，而每个名称都能启发新的思想。回到屋里，我觉得自己触摸的一切东西仿佛都动了起来。那是因为我开始以全新的观点和新奇的眼光来看待周围的一切。进门后，我想起了那个被我摔破的娃娃，便摸索着来到壁炉前拾起了娃娃的碎片，想把它们拼凑起来，可是并没有成功。想起自己做的事情，我流下了泪水，平生第一次感受到悔恨与伤心。
I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them — words that were to make the world blossom for me, “like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.” It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come.
那天我学会了不少新单词，现在已记不得全部，但我记得有“母亲”、“父亲”、“姐妹”、“老师”等单词。这些词把我的生活装点得美丽异常，“像亚伦之杖开花那样美妙”[8]。那个重要的一天结束后，我躺在小床上，回味着一天下来的开心事，欣喜无比。世界上还有比我更幸福的孩子吗？我第一次迫不及待地期望新的一天快点到来。【注：[8]典出《圣经》，《民数记》第十七章描述：“第二天，摩西进法柜的帐幕去。谁知，利未族亚伦的杖已经发了芽，生了花苞，开了花，结了熟杏。”】
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