海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第47期

　　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(盲人)專用書快要到位的時(shí)候，吉爾曼先生不顧我的嚴(yán)詞反對(duì)，對(duì)蘇立文小姐縱容我的用功過度提出了忠告，他還削減了我背誦課文的次數(shù)。起初，我們?cè)_(dá)成協(xié)議，如果有必要的話，我應(yīng)該用五年的時(shí)間為上大學(xué)做準(zhǔn)備。但是在第一年年終的時(shí)候，我以優(yōu)良的考試成績向蘇立文小姐、哈勃小姐(吉爾曼先生聘用的院長)，還有其他任何人證明，我并不需要那么漫長的準(zhǔn)備時(shí)間，有兩年時(shí)間足矣。一開始吉爾曼先生同意我的想法，但是當(dāng)我在學(xué)業(yè)上遇到了稍許的困惑時(shí)，他便認(rèn)定我用功過度了，并且認(rèn)為我還應(yīng)該在他的學(xué)校里再學(xué)三年。我不喜歡他的計(jì)劃，我更愿意進(jìn)入大學(xué)繼續(xù)深造。

　　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 impossiblefor 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日早晨，我感覺身體不適，所以就沒有去上課。雖然蘇立文小姐知道我的小病并無大礙，但是聽到消息的吉爾曼先生斷言我的病情不容樂觀，于是就對(duì)我的課業(yè)安排做出了調(diào)整，其結(jié)果就是我不可能隨班參加期末考試了。最終，吉爾曼先生和蘇立文小姐的分歧直接導(dǎo)致了我的母親把我和米爾德萊德從劍橋女子學(xué)院接走。

　　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.

　　經(jīng)過了短暫的耽擱，學(xué)校安排我繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)，這次我的導(dǎo)師是劍橋的默頓·S.凱斯先生。這一年的冬天，除了在學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)，我和蘇立文小姐的其余時(shí)間都是同我們的朋友一起度過的。我們的朋友錢伯林家住在蘭瑟姆，那里距波士頓二十五英里遠(yuǎn)。

　　From February to July, 1898, Mr. Keith came out to Wrentham twice a week, and taught mealgebra, geometry, Greek and Latin. Miss Sullivan interpreted his instruction.

　　1898年2月至7月，凱斯先生每周兩次來到蘭瑟姆，主要是教我代數(shù)、幾何、希臘語和拉丁文課程。蘇立文小姐為他做翻譯。

　　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 theprevious 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，我們返回了波士頓。在其后的八個(gè)月中，凱斯先生每周給我上五次課，每次大約一個(gè)小時(shí)。每次上課，他首先解答我上一節(jié)課不懂的難點(diǎn)，然后再布置新作業(yè);同時(shí)，他把我在打字機(jī)上完成的希臘文作業(yè)帶回家修改，等下次上課時(shí)再把作業(yè)退給我。

　　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, noconfusion. 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.

　　我正是以這種方式為上大學(xué)做著準(zhǔn)備，其間從未間斷。我發(fā)現(xiàn)，同接受課堂灌輸相比，自學(xué)的過程更加容易，也更富有樂趣。自學(xué)時(shí)不會(huì)有倉促之感，也不會(huì)造成思維混亂。我的導(dǎo)師有充足的時(shí)間解答我的疑問，所以，我學(xué)得又快又好，其效果遠(yuǎn)比在學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)要好。不過，同我所學(xué)的任何其他課程相比，數(shù)學(xué)仍然是最令我感到棘手的問題。如果代數(shù)和幾何能有外語和文學(xué)一半那么容易就好了，但是即使像數(shù)學(xué)這樣的課程，凱斯先生也把它變得多了些趣味。他成功地將復(fù)雜問題分解至我能夠理解的最小片段;他時(shí)刻令我的思維保持在活躍和求知的狀態(tài)。他訓(xùn)練我運(yùn)用理性的思維，冷靜而客觀地尋求事物的結(jié)論，而不應(yīng)該漫無目的地誤打誤撞。他總是對(duì)我寬容有加，盡管我的愚蠢可能會(huì)令約伯也失去耐心，可是無論我的理解是多么地遲鈍，他始終對(duì)我抱有信心。