海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第29期

　　"My little sister will understand me now," was a thought stronger than all obstacles. I used to repeat ecstatically, "I am not dumb now." I could not be despondent while I anticipated thedelight of talking to my mother and reading her responses from her lips. It astonished me to find how much easier it is to talk than to spell with the fingers, and I discarded the manual alphabetas a medium of communication on my part; but Miss Sullivan and a few friends still use it in speaking to me, for it is more convenient and more rapid than lip-reading.

　　“我的小妹妹將會(huì)聽懂我的話。”這個(gè)強(qiáng)烈的念頭已經(jīng)超越了任何學(xué)習(xí)上的障礙。我常常出神地重復(fù)著一句話：“我不再啞了。”可以預(yù)見，我會(huì)同母親快樂地交談，我可以通過摸她的嘴唇來讀懂她的話，我不會(huì)再感到沮喪失望了。而且，我驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)，語言交流要比用手指拼寫來得更容易。所以，我會(huì)放棄使用手語字母的交流手段。不過蘇立文小姐和少數(shù)幾個(gè)朋友仍然用手指拼寫的方式同我講話，因?yàn)橥阶x相比，這種方式要方便快捷得多。

　　Just here, perhaps, I had better explain our use of the manual alphabet, which seems to puzzlepeople who do not know us. One who reads or talks to me spells with his hand, using the single-hand manual alphabet generally employed by the deaf. I place my hand on the hand of the speaker so lightly as not to impede its movements. The position of the hand is as easy to feel as it is to see. I do not feel each letter any more than you see each letter separately when you read.Constant practice makes the fingers very flexible, and some of my friends spell rapidly—about as fast as an expert writes on a typewriter. The mere spelling is, of course, no more a consciousact than it is in writing.

　　說到這里，我要好好解釋一下我們使用手語字母的過程，因?yàn)檫@似乎令很多不了解我們的人感到困惑。如果一個(gè)人想為我閱讀或者跟我講話，那么他就會(huì)用到聾啞人使用的手拼字母法。我會(huì)把自己的手輕輕地放在講話者的手上，我的動(dòng)作會(huì)輕到不妨礙對(duì)方的任何行動(dòng)。而手對(duì)位置的變化很敏感，如同長了眼睛一樣。所以，當(dāng)你為我“讀”的時(shí)候，我并不會(huì)感到辨別字母的速度比你看的速度慢。長期的訓(xùn)練令手指變得異常靈活。在我的朋友們當(dāng)中，有些人的拼寫速度驚人——就像一個(gè)熟練使用打字機(jī)的行家里手一樣快。當(dāng)然，這種拼寫方式只是一種不得已而為之的行為。

　　When I had made speech my own, I could not wait to go home. At last the happiest of happy moments arrived. I had made my homeward journey, talking constantly to Miss Sullivan, not for the sake of talking, but determined to improve to the last minute. Almost before I knew it, the train stopped at the Tuscumbia station, and there on the platform stood the whole family. My eyes fill with tears now as I think how my mother pressed me close to her, speechless and trembling with delight, taking in every syllable that I spoke, while little Mildred seized my free hand and kissed it and danced, and my father expressed his pride and affection in a big silence. It was as if Isaiah’s prophecy had been fulfilled in me, "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands!"

　　當(dāng)我能夠開口講話的時(shí)候，我?guī)缀鯚o法抑制住迫切的歸家心情。終于，最快樂的時(shí)刻到來了，我踏上了返鄉(xiāng)的旅程。一路上，我不停地和蘇立文小姐說話。當(dāng)然，這并不是為了單純地說話，我決心提高我的說話水平，直到最后一刻。不知不覺間，火車已經(jīng)?？吭趫D斯康比亞車站，全家人都站在月臺(tái)上迎接我。我的眼中噙滿淚水，我想到了母親是如何把我緊緊地?fù)г趹牙?，激?dòng)得渾身顫抖不能言語，她仔細(xì)地聆聽我發(fā)出的每一個(gè)音節(jié);我想到了小妹妹米爾德萊德抓住我的手又吻又跳;我想到了父親以長久的沉默來表達(dá)他的慈愛和自豪。我們相會(huì)的景象就像《以賽亞書》中應(yīng)驗(yàn)的預(yù)言：“大山小山必在你們面前發(fā)聲歌唱。田野的樹木也都拍掌。”