I cannot recall what happened during the first months after my illness. I only know that I sat in my mother’s lap or clung to her dress as she went about her household duties. My hands felt every object and observed every motion, and in this way I learned to know many things. Soon I felt the need of some communication with others and began to make crude signs. A shake of the head meant “No” and a nod, “Yes,” a pull meant “Come” and a push, “Go.” Was it bread that I wanted? Then I would imitate the acts of cutting the slices and buttering them. If I wanted my mother to make ice-cream for dinner I made the sign for working the freezer and shivered, indicating cold. My mother, moreover, succeeded in making me understand a good deal. I always knew when she wished me to bring her something, and I would run upstairs or anywhere else she indicated. Indeed, I owe to her loving wisdom all that was bright and good in my long night.
病愈后最初几个月发生的事情我已记不起来，只记得我常常坐在母亲膝头，若是她忙着操持家务的时候，我便紧紧拉住她的衣服，跟着她里里外外四处走动。我用双手感知各种物体，揣摩各种动作。通过这种方式，我了解到许多事情。不久，我就渴望与人交流，于是开始做一些简单的示意动作。摇摇头表示“不”，点点头表示“是”，拉一拉表示“来”，推一推则是“去”。我想吃面包的时候，便模仿切面包和往上面涂黄油的动作；如果想让母亲在晚餐时做点冰激凌吃，我便作势要打开冰箱，并浑身发抖地表示“冷”。母亲也尽力让我领会她的意思。而我总是一点就通，母亲让我拿什么东西，我便跑上楼或到别处帮她拿来。在漫长的黑暗中，是母亲充满爱的智慧给了我光明，让我体会到生命的美好所在。
I understood a good deal of what was going on about me. At five I learned to fold and put away the clean clothes when they were brought in from the laundry, and I distinguished my own from the rest. I knew by the way my mother and aunt dressed when they were going out, and I invariably begged to go with them. I was always sent for when there was company, and when the guests took their leave, I waved my hand to them, I think with a vague remembrance of the meaning of the gesture. One day some gentlemen called on my mother, and I felt the shutting of the front door and other sounds that indicated their arrival. On a sudden thought I ran upstairs before anyone could stop me, to put on my idea of a company dress. Standing before the mirror, as I had seen others do, I anointed mine head with oil and covered my face thickly with powder. Then I pinned a veil over my head so that it covered my face and fell in folds down to my shoulders, and tied an enormous bustle round my small waist, so that it dangled behind, almost meeting the hem of my skirt. Thus attired I went down to help entertain the company.
我洞晓周围发生的很多事。五岁的时候，我学会了把洗好的衣服叠好收起来，还能从中分拣出自己的衣物。触摸到母亲和姑姑的衣裙和装饰，我便知道她们要外出，总是央求她们把我捎上。有亲朋好友来拜访的时候，家人总让我出来打招呼，客人走的时候我会挥手道别，我想这手势的意义还依稀留存在心中。有一天，几位先生来拜访母亲，前门关闭以及其他声音使我感觉到了他们的到来。一个突如其来的念头驱使我跑上楼去，穿上自以为是会客的衣服。我学着别人的样子，站在镜子前，摸索着涂脂抹粉。然后，我用发夹把面纱固定在头上，下端直垂至肩，轻轻遮住我的脸，最后还在小腰上系上一个大大的裙撑，让它垂在身后——它几乎就要从裙角下露出来了。如此打扮后，我便下楼帮助母亲接待客人了。
I do not remember when I first realized that I was different from other people; but I knew it before my teacher came to me. I had noticed that my mother and my friends did not use signs as I did when they wanted anything done, but talked with their mouths. Sometimes I stood between two persons who were conversing and touched their lips. I could not understand, and was vexed. I moved my lips and gesticulated frantically without result. This made me so angry at times that I kicked and screamed until I was exhausted.
我记不清什么时候开始意识到自己与众不同，不过这肯定是在沙利文小姐来之前。我发现母亲和朋友们交谈时用嘴，而不像我一样用手比画。有时候，我站在两个谈话的人中间，用手触摸他们的嘴唇，可还是不懂他们说什么，感到很困惑。我嚅动嘴唇，拼命打手势，结果无济于事。有时，这使我气急败坏，我会使劲跳脚，大喊大叫，直到筋疲力尽方才罢休。
I think I knew when I was naughty, for I knew that it hurt Ella, my nurse, to kick her, and when my fit of temper was over I had a feeling akin to regret. But I cannot remember any instance in which this feeling prevented me from repeating the naughtiness when I failed to get what I wanted.
我想我心里还是明白自己淘气的，因为我知道，我的踢打动作踢痛了保姆埃拉，一阵脾气过后，我便有些近乎懊悔的感觉。但是，我却不记得有哪一次因为这种感觉而有所克制，当我的要求得不到满足时，我便故伎重演。
In those days a little coloured girl, Martha Washington, the child of our cook, and Belle, an old setter, and a great hunter in her day, were my constant companions. Martha Washington understood my signs, and I seldom had any difficulty in making her do just as I wished. It pleased me to domineer over her, and she generally submitted to my tyranny rather than risk a hand-to-hand encounter. I was strong, active, indifferent to consequences. I knew my own mind well enough and always had my own way, even if I had to fight tooth and nail for it. We spent a great deal of time in the kitchen, kneading dough balls, helping make ice-cream, grinding coffee, quarreling over the cake-bowl, and feeding the hens and turkeys that swarmed about the kitchen steps. Many of them were so tame that they would eat from my hand and let me feel them. One big gobbler snatched a tomato from me one day and ran away with it. Inspired, perhaps, by Master Gobbler’s success, we carried off to the woodpile a cake which the cook had just frosted, and ate every bit of it. I was quite ill afterward, and I wonder if retribution also overtook the turkey.
那些日子里，常常陪伴我的有厨子的女儿，黑人小姑娘玛莎·华盛顿和当时很了不起的塞特老猎犬贝尔。玛莎能看懂我的手势，吩咐她帮我做事很少遇到障碍。我很乐意指使她，她一般会屈从于我的暴戾，不敢直接顶撞我。那时的我身体结实、生性好动，而且不计后果。我自命不凡、我行我素，甚至会为此动手打人。我们常常待在厨房里揉面团，帮忙做冰激凌，研磨咖啡，为蛋糕托而争执，给聚集在厨房台阶上的母鸡和火鸡喂食。许多鸡都很温驯，它们会从我掌心中点点啄食，还让我抚摸它们。有一天，一只大块头的雄火鸡一下啄过我手里的番茄跑了。大概是受到大火鸡成功的启发，我们偷走了一个厨娘刚撒上糖霜的蛋糕，躲在柴火堆里吃了个一干二净。没过多久，我便病得不轻，真不知道那只火鸡是否也遭到了同样的报应。
The sheds where the corn was stored, the stable where the horses were kept, and the yard where the cows were milked morning and evening were unfailing sources of interest to Martha and me. The milkers would let me keep my hands on the cows while they milked, and I often got well switched by the cow for my curiosity.
堆放玉米的仓库、圈马的马厩和每天早晚挤奶的牛栏都是让我和玛莎兴致盎然、百去不厌的地方。挤奶工在挤奶时会拉着我的手放在奶牛身上，可我因为好奇乱摸，常常惹得奶牛用尾巴使劲抽我。
The guinea-fowl likes to hide her nest in out-of-the-way places, and it was one of my greatest delights to hunt for the eggs in the long grass. I could not tell Martha Washington when I wanted to go egg-hunting, but I would double my hands and put them on the ground, which meant something round in the grass, and Martha always understood. When we were fortunate enough to find a nest I never allowed her to carry the eggs home, making her understand by emphatic signs that she might fall and break them.
珍珠鸡喜欢把巢筑在偏僻安静的地方，我的最大乐趣之一便是去深深的草丛里寻找它们的蛋。我不能对玛莎·华盛顿说我想去找蛋，但我会把双手拢圆放在地上，以示草地里有圆滚滚的东西。玛莎一看就能明白。若是运气好，我们就能找到鸡窝，可我从来不让玛莎拿蛋回家，总是用力打着手势告诉她，她会摔跤，蛋会摔碎的。
The making ready for Christmas was always a delight to me. Of course I did not know what it was all about, but I enjoyed the pleasant odours that filled the house and the tidbits that were given to Martha Washington and me to keep us quiet. We were sadly in the way, but that did not interfere with our pleasure in the least. They allowed us to grind the spices, pick over the raisins and lick the stirring spoons. I hung my stocking because the others did; I cannot remember, however, that the ceremony interested me especially, nor did my curiosity cause me to wake before daylight to look for my gifts.
圣诞节的准备总是我的一大乐事。当然，我并不明白其中的含义，但是，我喜欢满屋子弥漫的那种快乐气氛，以及为让我和玛莎安分而赏给我们的零食。我们往往碍手碍脚，但那一点也不会影响我们的快乐。他们会让我们帮着研磨香料，挑拣葡萄干，还让我们舔一舔搅拌过食物的汤匙。我学着别人挂起自己的长袜，但是我不记得自己对这个仪式有什么特别的兴趣，也没有那么好奇，不会天亮前醒来去找礼物。
Belle, our dog, my other companion, was old and lazy and liked to sleep by the open fire rather than to romp with me. I tried hard to teach her my sign language, but she was dull and inattentive. She sometimes started and quivered with excitement, then she became perfectly rigid, as dogs do when they point a bird. I did not then know why Belle acted in this way; but I knew she was not doing as I wished. This vexed me and the lesson always ended in a one-sided boxing match. Belle would get up, stretch herself lazily, give one or two contemptuous sniffs, go to the opposite side of the hearth and lie down again, and I, wearied and disappointed, went off in search of Martha.
家里懒惰的老狗贝尔是我的另一个伙伴，她宁可躺在壁炉边呼呼大睡也不肯陪我玩。我费了很大力气教她我的各种手势，可她却无精打采、漫不经心。有时候，她会突然惊起，兴奋地抖擞皮毛，接着又变得固执刻板，就像猎犬指示小鸟所在位置时的表现一般。当时我并不明白她为什么要这样做，但我知道她没有听从我的指挥。我又气又恼，对着贝尔一通乱打。贝尔爬起身，伸伸懒腰，轻蔑地哼哼两声，跑到壁炉另一边重新趴了下来。我讨了个没趣，失望之余，去找玛莎玩了。
Martha Washington had as great a love of mischief as I. Two little children were seated on the veranda steps one hot July afternoon. One was black as ebony, with little bunches of fuzzy hair tied with shoestrings sticking out all over her head like corkscrews. The other was white, with long golden curls. One child was six years old, the other two or three years older. The younger child was blind — that was I — and the other was Martha Washington. We were busy cutting out paper dolls; but we soon wearied of this amusement, and after cutting up our shoestrings and clipping all the leaves off the honeysuckle that were within reach, I turned my attention to Martha’s corkscrews. She objected at first, but finally submitted. Thinking that turn and turn about is fair play, she seized the scissors and cut off one of my curls, and would have cut them all off but for my mother’s timely interference.
和我一样，玛莎也特别喜欢恶作剧。七月一个炎热的下午，两个小孩坐在走廊的台阶上：一个肤色黑如乌木，头顶上一撮撮柔发用鞋带扎起，直往上冲，活像螺丝锥；另一个皮肤白净，披着卷曲的金色长发。一个孩子六岁，另一个才两三岁。小一点的孩子眼睛失明，那就是我，另一个是玛莎·华盛顿。我们一直在忙着玩剪纸娃娃，可没过多久，我们就觉得无聊厌烦了。于是，我们先是剪烂了自己的鞋带，又把台阶边上够得着的金银花叶子统统剪了下来。我又看上了玛莎的冲天辫。起初玛莎使劲反抗，不肯让我剪，不过最后她还是认输了。公平起见，她拿起剪刀，剪下我的一个发卷。要不是母亲及时阻止，我的头发就要被玛莎一扫而光了。
Many incidents of those early years are fixed in my memory, isolated, but clear and distinct, making the sense of that silent, aimless, dayless life all the more intense.
幼年时代的许多往事永远留在了记忆之中。这些往事之间毫无关联却清晰可辨，使我更加强烈地感受到那些寂静无声、无所事事、不见天日的岁月。
One day I happened to spill water on my apron, and I spread it out to dry before the fire which was flickering on the sitting-room hearth. The apron did not dry quickly enough to suit me, so I drew nearer and threw it right over the hot ashes. The fire leaped into life; the flames encircled me so that in a moment my clothes were blazing. I made a terrified noise that brought Viny, my old nurse, to the rescue. Throwing a blanket over me, she almost suffocated me, but she put out the fire. Except for my hands and hair I was not badly burned.
有一天，我不小心把水溅到了围裙上，便把围裙铺在客厅的壁炉前烘干。可是，我嫌围裙干得太慢，便挪近一些，拿起围裙径直放在炭灰上方。围裙被点着了，火苗围着我乱蹿，一下子点燃了我身上的衣服。我吓得纵声尖叫，老保姆维妮冲过来救我。她用一条大毯子把我裹住，差点没闷死我，但却扑灭了我身上的火苗。除了双手和头发被烧得不轻，我并没什么大碍。
About this time I found out the use of a key. One morning I locked my mother up in the pantry, where she was obliged to remain three hours, as the servants were in a detached part of the house. She kept pounding on the door, while I sat outside on the porch steps and laughed with glee as I felt the jar of the pounding. This most naughty prank of mine convinced my parents that I must be taught as soon as possible. After my teacher, Miss Sullivan, came to me, I sought an early opportunity to lock her in her room. I went upstairs with something which my mother made me understand I was to give to Miss Sullivan; but no sooner had I given it to her than I slammed the door to, locked it, and hid the key under the wardrobe in the hall. I could not be induced to tell where the key was. My father was obliged to get a ladder and take Miss Sullivan out through the window — much to my delight. Months after I produced the key.
大概就在这个时候，我发现了钥匙的用途。一天早上，我把母亲锁进了食品储藏室。由于仆人们都在与大房子分离的屋子里，母亲不得不在里面待了三个小时。她不停地敲门，我就坐在走廊的台阶上，感受到敲击房门的震动，乐得笑个不停。这种淘气的恶作剧让父母意识到，一定要尽快请个老师来管教我。我的老师沙利文小姐刚来的时候，我就找了个机会把她锁在了房间里。当时，母亲让我上楼给沙利文小姐送东西，但是，我把东西一给她就转身砰地关上门，接着上了锁。我把钥匙藏在了大厅里的橱柜底下，任凭百般哄劝，我也不肯说出藏钥匙之处。父亲没办法，只好搬来一架梯子，把沙利文小姐从窗户里接出来。我心里乐滋滋的，过了几个月，我才把钥匙交出来。
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