The next day — the second day of sight — I should arise with the dawn and see the thrilling miracle by which night is transformed into day. I should behold with awe the magnificent panorama of light with which the sun awakens the sleeping earth.
在能够拥抱光明的第二天，我将伴着黎明的晨光起身，去看那暗夜转化为白昼的奇景。我将怀着敬畏的心情，去看太阳以自己的光辉唤醒沉睡大地的壮丽全景。
This day I should devote to a hasty glimpse of the world, past and present. I should want to see the pageant of man’s progress, the kaleidoscope of the ages. How can so much be compressed into one day? Through the museums, of course. Often I have visited the New York Museum of Natural History to touch with my hands many of the objects there exhibited, but I have longed to see with my eyes the condensed history of the earth and its inhabitants displayed there — animals and the races of men pictured in their native environment; gigantic carcasses of dinosaurs and mastodons which roamed the earth long before man appeared, with his tiny stature and powerful brain, to conquer the animal kingdom; realistic presentations of the processes of development in animals, in man, and in the implements which man has used to fashion for himself a secure home on this planet; and a thousand and one other aspects of natural history.
这一天，我将要浏览这三千世界的过去与现在。千万年的历史变幻至今，我想看看人类在这长河之中发展进步的奇观。如此多的东西，怎能将它们压缩在短短一天之内？当然是通过博物馆。我曾多次用手触摸过纽约自然历史博物馆的展品，但我一直渴望亲眼看看地球的简史和陈列在那里的地球上的居民——按照他们原有的生活环境描画的动物和人类；巨大的恐龙和乳齿象的化石，早在人类出现并以他们短小的身材和发达的头脑征服动物王国以前，它们是地球的主宰；动物进化以及人类劳动工具的实物展示，人类使用这些工具，在这个行星上为自己建造了安全牢固的家；还有自然史的其他无数方面。
I wonder how many readers of this article have viewed this panorama of the face of living things as pictured in that inspiring museum. Many, of course, have not had the opportunity, but I am sure that many who have had the opportunity have not made use of it. there, indeed, is a place to use your eyes. You who see can spend many fruitful days there, but I with my imaginary three days of sight, could only take a hasty glimpse, and pass on.
我不知道有多少本文的读者看到过那个壮观的博物馆里所描绘的那些栩栩如生的动物形形色色的样子。当然，许多人没有这个机会，但是，我相信许多有机会的人没有利用好这个机会。那里确实是使用你眼睛的好地方。有视觉的你可以在那里度过许多受益匪浅的日子，然而我，借助于想象中的能看见的三天，仅能匆匆一瞥而过。
My next stop would be the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for just as the Museum of Natural History reveals the material aspects of the world, so does the Metropolitan show the myriad facets of the human spirit. Throughout the history of humanity the urge to artistic expression has been almost as powerful as the urge for food, shelter, and procreation. And here, in the vast chambers of the Metropolitan Museum, is unfolded before me the spirit of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as expressed in their art. I know well through my hands the sculptured gods and goddesses of the ancient Nile-land. I have felt copies of Parthenon friezes, and I have sensed the rhythmic beauty of charging Athenian warriors. Apollos and Venuses and the Winged Victory of Samothrace are friends of my finger tips. The gnarled, bearded features of Homer are dear to me, for he, too, knew blindness.
我的下一站将是大都会艺术博物馆 [2]，因为正像自然史博物馆展示了世界的物质外观那样，大都会艺术博物馆展示了人类精神的无数方面。在整个人类史中，人类对于艺术表现的强烈欲望几乎像对待食物、藏身处，以及生育繁殖一样迫切。在这里，在大都会艺术博物馆巨大的展厅里，埃及、希腊和罗马的精神在它们的艺术中表现出来，展现在我面前。我通过手清楚地知道了古代尼罗河国度诸神的雕塑。我感受了帕特农神庙的檐壁，感到了雅典冲锋战士的韵律美。阿波罗 [3]、维纳斯 [4]以及双翼胜利之神萨莫色雷斯都是我指尖的朋友。荷马 [5]的那副粗糙有须的面容对我来说是极其亲切的，因为他也懂得黑暗。
So on this, my second day of sight, I should try to probe into the soul of man through this art. The things I knew through touch I should now see. More splendid still, the whole magnificent world of painting would be opened to me, from the Italian Primitives, with their serene religious devotion, to the Moderns, with their feverish visions. I should look deep into the canvases of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt. I should want to feast my eyes upon the warm colors of Veronese, study the mysteries of E1 Greco, catch a new vision of Nature from Corot. Oh, there is so much rich meaning and beauty in the art of the ages for you who have eyes to see!
因此，这一天，给我光明的第二天，我将通过艺术来探索人类的灵魂。我会看见那些我以前仅能摸到的东西。更妙的是，整个壮丽的绘画世界将向我敞开，从富有宁静宗教色彩的意大利早期艺术直至带有狂想风格的现代派艺术。我将悉心地观察拉斐尔 [8]、达·芬奇 [9]、提香 [10]、伦勃朗 [11]的油画。我要饱览韦罗内塞 [12]的温暖色彩，研究埃尔·葛雷科 [13]的奥秘，从柯罗 [14]的绘画中重新认识大自然。啊，你们有正常视力的人们竟能欣赏到历代艺术中如此丰富的意涵和美！
My hands have lingered upon the living marble of roman sculpture as well as that of later generations. I have passed my hands over a plaster cast of Michelangelo’s inspiring and heroic Moses; I have sensed the power of Rodin; I have been awed by the devoted spirit of Gothic wood carving. These arts which can be touched have meaning for me, but even they were meant to be seen rather than felt, and I can only guess at the beauty which remains hidden from me. I can admire the simple lines of a Greek vase, but its figured decorations are lost to me.
我的手流连在罗马及之后的时代逼真的大理石雕刻上。我的手抚摸了米开朗琪罗 [6]鼓舞人心的英勇的摩西石膏像，我感知到罗丹 [7]的力量，我敬畏哥特人对于木刻的虔诚。对我来讲，这些能够触摸的艺术品是极有意义的。然而，它们是供人观赏的，而不是供人触摸的，所以我只能猜测那种我看不见的美。我能欣赏希腊花瓶简朴的线条，但却看不到它的那些图案浮装饰。
Upon my short visit to this temple of art I should not be able to review a fraction of that great world of art which is open to you. I should be able to get only a superficial impression. Artists tell me that for deep and true appreciation of art one must educated the eye. One must learn through experience to weigh the merits of line, of composition, of form and color. If I had eyes, how happily would I embark upon so fascinating a study! Yet I am told that, to many of you who have eyes to see, the world of art is a dark night, unexplored and unilluminated.
在我对这个艺术圣殿的短暂游览中，我无法评论展开在我面前的那个伟大的艺术世界，因为我只能得到一个肤浅的印象。艺术家们告诉我，要有深刻而真正的艺术鉴赏力，一个人必须训练眼睛。他必须通过经验学习判断线条、构图、形式和色彩的优劣。假如我有视觉，能从事如此让人着迷的研究，该是多么幸福啊！但是，我听说，对于许多有视力的人，艺术世界仍是个有待探索、有待照亮的黑暗世界。
It would be with extreme reluctance that I should leave the Metropolitan Museum, which contains the key to beauty — a beauty so neglected. Seeing persons, however, do not need a metropolitan to find this key to beauty. The same key lies waiting in smaller museums, and in books on the shelves of even small libraries. But naturally, in my limited time of imaginary sight, I should choose the place where the key unlocks the greatest treasures in the shortest time.
要离开装着美的钥匙——这种美经常被忽略——的大都会艺术博物馆，我肯定会极度不情愿。但是，看得见的人们往往并不需要到大都会艺术博物馆去寻找这把美的钥匙。在较小的博物馆中，甚或在小图书馆书架上的书本里，也能找到同样的钥匙。但是，在我假想的有视觉的有限时间里，我自然应当挑选一把能在最短时间内开启最大宝藏的钥匙。
I cannot enjoy the beauty of rhythmic movement except in a sphere restricted to the touch of my hands. I can vision only dimly the grace of a Pavlowa, although I know something of the delight of rhythm, for often I can sense the beat of music as it vibrates through the floor. I can well imagine that cadenced motion must be one of the most pleasing sights in the world. I have been able to gather something of this by tracing with my fingers the lines in sculptured marble; if this static grace can be so lovely, how much more acute must be the thrill of seeing grace in motion.
在无法依靠手的触觉的情况下，我不能享受律动的美。虽然我知道一点节奏的欢快，因为我常常能在音乐震动地板时感觉到它的节拍，但我也只能模糊地想象一下巴甫洛娃 [16]的优美。我能充分想象那有韵律的动作，它一定是世界上最令人悦目的景象。我用手指感受大理石雕像的线条时，就能够推断出几分。如果这种静态美都能那么可爱，看到的动态美一定更加令人激动。
The evening of my second day of sight I should spend at a theatre or at the movies. Even now I often attend theatrical performances of all sorts, but the action of the play must be spelled into my hand by a companion. But how I should like to see with my own eyes the fascinating figure of Hamlet, or the gusty Falstaff amid colorful Elizabethan trappings! How I should like to follow each movement of the graceful Hamlet, each strut of the hearty Falstaff! And since I could see only one play, I should be confronted by a many-horned dilemma, for there are scores of plays I should want to see. You who have eyes can see any you like. How many of you, I wonder, when you gaze at a play, a movie, or any spectacle, realize and give thanks for the miracle of sight which enables you to enjoy its color, grace, and movement?
拥有光明的第二晚，我要在剧院或电影院里度过。虽然我现在也常常去剧场看各种类型的演出，但是，必须由一位同伴在我手上拼写出剧情。我多么想亲眼看看哈姆莱特迷人的风采，或者穿着伊丽莎白时代鲜艳服饰的精力充沛的福斯塔夫 [15]！我多么想跟随优雅的哈姆莱特的每一个动作，注视精神饱满的福斯塔夫每一个神气活现的举止！因为我只能看一场戏，所以我将陷入为难之境，因为我想要看的戏剧有好几十出。你们有视觉，能看你们喜爱的任何东西。当你们观看一出戏剧、一部电影或者任何一个场面时，我不知道，你们究竟有多少人能对使你们享受色彩、优美和动作的视觉的奇迹有所认识，并心存感激呢？
So, through the evening of my second imaginary day of sight, the great fingers of dramatic literature would crowd sleep from my eyes.
所以，在我假想的拥有视力的第二晚，戏剧文学中的那些人物挤走了我的睡眠时间。
One of my dearest memories is of the time when Joseph Jefferson allowed me to touch his face and hands as he went through some of the gestures and speeches of his beloved Rip Van Winkle. I was able to catch thus a meager glimpse of the world of drama, and I shall never forget the delight of that moment. But, oh, how much I must miss, and how much pleasure you seeing ones can derive from watching and hearing the interplay of speech and movement in the unfolding of a dramatic performance! If I could see only one play, I should know how to picture in my mind the action of a hundred plays which I have read or had transferred to me through the medium of the manual alphabet.
我最珍贵的回忆之一，就是约瑟夫·杰斐逊让我在他又说又做地表演他所爱的瑞普·凡·温克尔 [17]时去摸他的脸庞和双手。我因此能体会到一点点戏剧的世界，我永远不会忘记那一片刻的快乐。但是，我多么希望能观看和倾听戏剧表演中对白和动作的相互作用啊！而你们看得见的人该能从中得到多少快乐啊！如果我能看到仅仅一场戏，我就会知道怎样在脑海中描绘出我用盲文字母读到或了解到的近百部戏剧的情节。
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