When I began my second year at the Gilman school, I was full of hope and determination to succeed. But during the first few weeks I was confronted with unforeseen difficulties. Mr. Gilman had agreed that that year I should study mathematics principally. I had physics, algebra, geometry, astronomy, Greek and Latin. Unfortunately, many of the books I needed had not been embossed in time for me to begin with the classes, and I lacked important apparatus for some of my studies. The classes I was in were very large, and it was impossible for the teachers to give me special instruction. Miss Sullivan was obliged to read all the books to me, and interpret for the instructors, and for the first time in eleven years it seemed as if her dear hand would not be equal to the task.
我在吉尔曼学校开始第二年学习时，心中满怀希望，决心获得成功。然而，在最初几个星期里，我遇到了一些意想不到的困难。吉尔曼先生认为，我这一年应该以学习数学为主。我的课程有物理、代数、几何、希腊语和拉丁语。不幸的是，我需要的许多书都没能在开课时及时得到盲文版本，而且我还缺少有些科目必备的学习用具。我学的这些科目都是大课，老师不可能专门为我讲课。沙利文小姐只得为我读所有课本并翻译老师的讲解。十一年来，她那可爱的手第一次显得力不从心。
It was necessary for me to write algebra and geometry in class and solve problems in physics, and this I could not do until we bought a braille writer, by means of which I could put down the steps and processes of my work. I could not follow with my eyes the geometrical figures drawn on the blackboard, and my only means of getting a clear idea of them was to make them on a cushion with straight and curved wires, which had bent and pointed ends. I had to carry in my mind, as Mr. Keith says in his report, the lettering of the figures, the hypothesis and conclusion, the construction and the process of the proof. In a word, every study had its obstacles. Sometimes I lost all courage and betrayed my feelings in a way I am ashamed to remember, especially as the signs of my trouble were afterward used against Miss Sullivan, the only person of all the kind friends I had there, who could make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth.
代数和几何运算以及物理的求解应该在课堂上完成，可我却无法做到。后来，我们购置了一台盲文书写器，才使这一切有了可能。通过这台书写器，我可以记录下自己解题的每一个步骤。我看不见黑板上画的几何图形，我弄懂图形的唯一方法，是在靠垫上用直的或弯的铁丝做出几何图形，这些铁丝有的两头尖尖，有的两头弯曲。正如基思先生的报告所说，我得在头脑里记住图形的符号，假设与结论，架构以及证明步骤。总之，每一门功课的学习都遇到障碍。有时，我气馁到极点，并且流露出至今回想起来都羞愧难当的情绪，这种坏脾气后来竟然指向了沙利文小姐，这个在众多益友中唯一能够为我“捋直曲线，变崎岖为坦途”的人。
Little by little, however, my difficulties began to disappear. The embossed books and other apparatus arrived, and I threw myself into the work with renewed confidence. Algebra and geometry were the only studies that continued to defy my efforts to comprehend them. As I have said before, I had no aptitude for mathematics; the different points were not explained to me as fully as I wished. The geometrical diagrams were particularly vexing because I could not see the relation of the different parts to one another, even on the cushion. It was not until Mr. Keith taught me that I had a clear idea of mathematics.
渐渐地，我的困难开始消失。凸版书和其他学习器具到了，我重振精神，投入学习之中。代数和几何我花了很大力气依然难以理解。如同我以前所说，我没有数学头脑，而且不同的浮点也没有给我讲清楚。那些几何图形尤其令人头痛，因为我不明白各部分之间的关系，即使在垫子上拼图也不行。直到基思先生来了之后，我才对数学有了清晰的概念。
I was beginning to overcome these difficulties when an event occurred which changed everything.
正当我开始克服这些困难时，发生了一件事，使一切都发生了改变。
Just before the books came, Mr. Gilman had begun to remonstrate with Miss Sullivan on the ground that I was working too hard, and in spite of my earnest protestations, he reduced the number of my recitations. At the beginning we had agreed that I should, if necessary, take five years to prepare for college, but at the end of the first year the success of my examinations showed Miss Sullivan, Miss Harbaugh (Mr. Gilman’s head teacher), and one other, that I could without too much effort complete my preparation in two years more. Mr. Gilman at first agreed to this; but when my tasks had become somewhat perplexing, he insisted that I was overworked, and that I should remain at his school three years longer. I did not like his plan, for I wished to enter college with my class.
就在我需要的书到来之前，吉尔曼先生因我过度用功而责备沙利文小姐，而且不顾我的严肃抗议，削减了我背诵课文的次数。我们原先曾达成协议，如有必要，我考大学准备时间可达五年。但是，第一年年终时，我以优良的考试成绩向沙利文小姐、哈博小姐（吉尔曼先生聘用的校长）和其他人证明，我再读两年即可完成入学准备。吉尔曼先生起初赞同这个观点，但是，当我在学业上遇到困难时，他便认定我用功过度，认为我还应该在他的学校里再学三年。我不喜欢他的计划，希望与同班同学一道进入大学。
From February to July, 1898, Mr. Keith came out to Wrentham twice a week, and taught me algebra, geometry, Greek and Latin. Miss Sullivan interpreted his instruction.
1898年2月至7月，基思先生每星期来伦瑟姆两次，教我代数、几何、希腊语和拉丁语。沙利文小姐为他的课程做翻译。
On the seventeenth of November I was not very well, and did not go to school. Although Miss Sullivan knew that my indisposition was not serious, yet Mr. Gilman, on hearing of it, declared that I was breaking down and made changes in my studies which would have rendered it impossible for me to take my final examinations with my class. In the end the difference of opinion between Mr. Gilman and Miss Sullivan resulted in my mother’s withdrawing my sister Mildred and me from the Cambridge school.
11月17日，我感觉身体有些不适，没有去上课。沙利文小姐知道我的病并无大碍，但是，吉尔曼先生听到消息后断言，我的身体已被功课压垮，于是调整了我的课业安排，导致我无法随班参加期末考试。吉尔曼先生与沙利文小姐之间的分歧，导致了母亲最终把我和米尔德丽德从剑桥女子学校接走。
After some delay it was arranged that I should continue my studies under a tutor, Mr. Merton S. Keith, of Cambridge. Miss Sullivan and I spent the rest of the winter with our friends, the Chamberlins in Wrentham, twenty-five miles from Boston.
经过一些耽搁，学校安排我在剑桥女校的默顿·S。基思先生的指导下继续学习。我和沙利文小姐在朋友钱伯林家过完这一年的冬天，他家在伦瑟姆，距波士顿二十五英里远。
In October, 1898, we returned to Boston. For eight months Mr. Keith gave me lessons five times a week, in periods of about an hour. He explained each time what I did not understand in the previous lesson, assigned new work, and took home with him the Greek exercises which I had written during the week on my typewriter, corrected them fully, and returned them to me.
1898年10月，我们返回波士顿。基思先生连续八个月每周给我上课五次，每次大约一个小时。每次他都会先解答我上一节课不懂的地方，布置新作业，然后再把我在这一周内用打字机完成的希腊语作业带回家批改，然后再发还给我。
In this way my preparation for college went on without interruption. I found it much easier and pleasanter to be taught by myself than to receive instruction in class. There was no hurry, no confusion. My tutor had plenty of time to explain what I did not understand, so I got on faster and did better work than I ever did in school. I still found more difficulty in mastering problems in mathematics than I did in any other of my studies. I wish algebra and geometry had been half as easy as the languages and literature. But even mathematics Mr. Keith made interesting; he succeeded in whittling problems small enough to get through my brain. He kept my mind alert and eager, and trained it to reason clearly, and to seek conclusions calmly and logically, instead of jumping wildly into space and arriving nowhere. He was always gentle and forbearing, no matter how dull I might be, and believe me, my stupidity would often have exhausted the patience of Job.
我以这种方式一直在为考大学作准备。我觉得，自学比上课学习更容易，更有乐趣，不会有仓促感，也不会思维混乱。导师有充裕时间讲解我不明白之处，与学校学习相比，我学得既快又好。与其他课程相比，数学仍然使我感到最为棘手。要是代数和几何有语言和文学一半容易该有多好！不过，即使是数学，基思先生也教得颇为有趣，他把问题分解至我能理解的层次，时刻使我思维活跃和兴趣不减，训练我严密推理，冷静而合理地推导结论，而不是胡乱猜想、一事无成。无论我表现得多么迟钝——相信我，我常常笨得连约伯[35]也会失去耐心，他都一如既往地温和友善，宽容有加。【注：[35]《圣经》中的人物。约伯是上帝的忠实仆人，以虔诚和忍耐著称。】
On the 29th and 30th of June, 1899, I took my final examinations for Radcliffe College. The first day I had Elementary Greek and Advanced Latin, and the second day Geometry, Algebra and Advanced Greek.
1899年6月29日和30日，我参加了拉德克利夫学院入学考试的终考。第一天考初级希腊语和高级拉丁语，第二天考几何、代数和高级希腊语。
The braille worked well enough in the languages, but when it came to geometry and algebra, difficulties arose. I was sorely perplexed, and felt discouraged wasting much precious time, especially in algebra. It is true that I was familiar with all literary braille in common use in this country — English, American, and New York Point; but the various signs and symbols in geometry and algebra in the three systems are very different, and I had used only the English braille in my algebra.
盲文用在语言方面十分有效，但用在几何和代数上就有了问题。我浪费了许多宝贵时间，尤其是在代数上，感到不知所措，灰心丧气。其实，我熟悉国家通用的所有字母盲文——英式、美式以及纽约浮点式。但是，几何和代数的各种符号和标记，在这三种盲文体系中大不相同。我在代数中只使用过英式盲文。
Two days before the examinations, Mr. Vining sent me a braille copy of one of the old Harvard papers in algebra. To my dismay I found that it was in the American notation. I sat down immediately and wrote to Mr. Vining, asking him to explain the signs. I received another paper and a table of signs by return mail, and I set to work to learn the notation. But on the night before the algebra examination, while I was struggling over some very complicated examples, I could not tell the combinations of bracket, brace and radical. Both Mr. Keith and I were distressed and full of forebodings for the morrow; but we went over to the college a little before the examination began, and had Mr. Vining explain more fully the American symbols.
考试前两天，瓦伊宁先生给我寄来一份哈佛大学以前的代数试卷的盲文版本。令我失望的是，那是一份美式盲文标注的试卷。我立刻坐下来给瓦伊宁先生写信，请他解释那些符号的意思。他回信给我寄来了另一份试卷和一张符号表。我开始学习这些标注。然而，代数考试前一晚，我还在拼命弄清那些复杂标注的意思，我分不清括号、大括号和根号的组合方式。基思先生和我都很苦恼，对第二天的考试有不祥的预感。不过，我们在考试前一会儿到达了学院，请瓦伊宁先生详细解释了美式盲文符号的用法。
The college authorities did not allow Miss Sullivan to read the examination papers to me; so Mr. Eugene C. Vining, one of the instructors at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, was employed to copy the papers for me in American braille. Mr. Vining was a stranger to me, and could not communicate with me, except by writing braille. The proctor was also a stranger, and did not attempt to communicate with me in any way.
学院行政部门不允许沙利文小姐为我读试卷。因此，珀金斯盲人学校的教师尤金·C。瓦伊宁先生受聘为我用美式盲文抄写试卷。瓦伊宁先生对我来说是一个陌生人，除了写盲文外不能与我交流。监考人也是一个陌生人，他不打算以任何方式同我交流。
But I do not blame any one. The administrative board of Radcliffe did not realize how difficult they were making my examinations, nor did they understand the peculiar difficulties I had to surmount. But if they unintentionally placed obstacles in my way, I have the consolation of knowing that I overcame them all.
不过，我不会指责任何人。拉德克利夫学院的行政执事可能没有意识到他们为我设置的考试有多难，也不会理解我要克服怎样特殊的困难才能完成考试。然而，如果他们是无意间为我设置了障碍的话，我感到欣慰的是，我将它们全部克服了。
In geometry my chief difficulty was that I had always been accustomed to read the propositions in line print, or to have them spelled into my hand; and somehow, although the propositions were right before me, I found the braille confusing, and could not fix clearly in my mind what I was reading. But when I took up algebra I had a harder time still. The signs, which I had so lately learned, and which I thought I knew, perplexed me. Besides, I could not see what I wrote on my typewriter. I had always done my work in braille or in my head. Mr. Keith had relied too much on my ability to solve problems mentally, and had not trained me to write examination papers. Consequently my work was painfully slow, and I had to read the examples over and over before I could form any idea of what I was required to do. Indeed, I am not sure now that I read all the signs correctly. I found it very hard to keep my wits about me.
几何考试的主要困难在于：过去我一直习惯于按打印格式阅读命题，或者让人把命题在我手上拼写出来；可不知怎么搞的，虽然命题就在我面前，但我还是觉得美式盲文混乱得很，无法让所读内容在我脑子里清晰呈现出来。可是，当我拿起代数题时，觉得问题更大。困扰我的还是那些我新近刚学到并自以为掌握了的符号。此外，我看不到自己用打字机写的东西。我以前总是用盲文演算或者心算。基思先生过于强调训练我的心算能力，没有特别训练我如何书写答卷。因此，我的答卷过程异常缓慢。我不得不一遍遍读考试题目，才能明白题目要求。实话说，直到现在我也不敢肯定弄清楚了所有符号。我觉得若不出错实属不易。
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