海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第5期

　　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.

　　就是在那个时候，我发现自己会使用钥匙了。一天早晨，我把母亲锁在了储藏室里，她被迫在里面待了三个小时，因为那时仆人们都出去干活了。母亲不停地敲打房门，我能感觉到敲击房门的震动声，可我却坐在走廊的台阶上咯咯地笑。这类令人头疼的恶作剧使我的父母意识到，我必须尽快接受教育。记得在我的老师苏立文小姐到来后，我还找了一个机会把她锁在了自己房间里。当时母亲领我上楼去见苏立文小姐，她想让我明白她要把我交给老师。可是没多久我就砰地一下把门关上，而且还上了锁。然后，我又把钥匙藏在了走廊里的衣橱里。家人并没有哄我交出钥匙。结果，我的父亲只得搬了一把梯子，把苏立文小姐从窗口接了出来。这出小把戏让我高兴了好一阵儿。几个月之后我才交出了钥匙。

　　When I was about five years old we moved from the little vine-covered house to a large new one. The family consisted of my father and mother, two older half-brothers, and, afterward, a little sister, Mildred. My earliest distinct recollection of my father is making my way through great drifts of newspapers to his side and finding him alone, holding a sheet of paper before his face. I was greatly puzzled to know what he was doing. I imitated this action, even wearing his spectacles, thinking they might help solve the mystery. But I did not find out the secret for several years. Then I learned what those papers were, and that my father edited one of them.

　　在我五岁大的时候，我们从藤萝覆盖的小房子搬到了一个新建的大房子里。这个家庭由我的父母，两个同父异母的哥哥，还有后来出生的小妹妹米尔德莱德组成。我最早而且印象最深的有关父亲的记忆，就是我摇摇晃晃地穿过一堆堆的报纸来到他身边，这时我就会发现他总是独自拿着一沓报纸摆在面前。我会感到极其迷惑，很想知道他在做什么。我也会模仿他的动作，甚至戴上了他的眼镜，因为我想眼镜或许能帮我解开未知的秘密。但是若干年过去了，我没有发现什么秘密。后来我才了解到那些报纸的来历——我的父亲是在对文章进行编辑校对。

　　My father was most loving and indulgent, devoted to his home, seldom leaving us, except in the hunting season. He was a great hunter, I have been told, and a celebrated shot. Next to his family he loved his dogs and gun. His hospitality was great, almost to a fault, and he seldom came home without bringing a guest. His special pride was the big garden where, it was said, he raised the finest watermelons and strawberries in the county; and to me he brought the first ripe grapes and the choicest berries. I remember his caressing touch as he led me from tree to tree, from vine to vine, and his eager delight in whatever pleased me.

　　我的父亲是那种极其眷顾家庭的人，除了狩猎季节，他很少离开我们。他是一个出色的猎人，有着一手好枪法。在家庭之外，他最爱他的狗和猎枪。另外，他还是一个极其好客的人，这几乎成了他的一个性格弱点，他很少有不带客人回家的时候。他最引以为豪的地方就是我们家的大花园，据说，他培育的西瓜和草莓是全县最好的，我还记得他把最先成熟的葡萄和精选的浆果摘给我吃。他充满慈爱地领着我在果树和藤萝之间穿行，他积极乐观的情绪时刻感染着我。

　　He was a famous story-teller; after I had acquired language he used to spell clumsily into my hand his cleverest anecdotes, and nothing pleased him more than to have me repeat them at anopportune moment.

　　父亲是一个很会讲故事的人，在我掌握了语言以后，他常常会笨拙地在我手上拼写字词，并以此来讲述他的那些奇闻逸事。在“讲完”故事后，他会让我马上“复述”出来，再也没有什么比重复故事更令他高兴的事了。

　　I was in the North, enjoying the last beautiful days of the summer of 1896, when I heard the news of my father’s death. He had had a short illness, there had been a brief time of acute suffering, then all was over. This was my first great sorrow--my first personal experience with death.

　　1896年，当时我住在北方，正惬意地享受着夏日最后的时光，就是在那个时候，我听到了父亲的死讯。他死于一次突发疾病，经历了短暂的痛苦后，人就这么离去了。父亲的死亡是我人生中第一次感受到的巨大悲恸——也使我第一次对死亡有了自己的认识。

　　How shall I write of my mother? She is so near to me that it almost seems indelicate to speak of her.

　　我又如何描述我的母亲呢?她离我是那么近，对我而言，用语言来描述她是近乎失礼的举动。

　　For a long time I regarded my little sister as an intruder. I knew that I had ceased to be my mother’s only darling, and the thought filled me with jealousy. She sat in my mother’s lapconstantly, where I used to sit, and seemed to take up all her care and time. One day something happened which seemed to me to be adding insult to injury.

　　有很长一段时间，我都把我的小妹妹视做一个入侵者。当时，我知道我已经不再是母亲唯一的宝贝，我的心里充满了嫉妒。妹妹总是坐在母亲的膝盖上，那里本是我坐的位置，而现在却被她完全占领了，她受到了所有的呵护与关爱。有一天，发生了一件不愉快的事情，那件事使我觉得受到了莫大的侮辱。

　　At that time I had a much-petted, much-abused doll, which I afterward named Nancy. She was, alas, the helpless victim of my outbursts of temper and of affection, so that she became much the worse for wear. I had dolls which talked, and cried, and opened and shut their eyes; yet I never loved one of them as I loved poor Nancy. She had a cradle, and I often spent an hour or more rocking her. I guarded both doll and cradle with the most jealous care; but once I discovered my little sister sleeping peacefully in the cradle. At this presumption on the part of one to whom as yet no tie of love bound me I grew angry. I rushed upon the cradle and over-turned it, and the baby might have been killed had my mother not caught her as she fell. Thus it is that when we walk in the valley of twofold solitude we know little of the tender affections that grow out of endearing words and actions and companionship. But afterward, when I was restored to my human heritage, Mildred and I grew into each other’s hearts, so that wewere content to go hand-in-hand wherever caprice led us, although she could not understand my finger language, nor I her childish prattle.

　　那时我有一个成天抱在手里，既宠又恨的洋娃娃，后来我给她起名叫南希。唉，实际上，这个娃娃只是供我发脾气的牺牲品，所以，她总是一副破衣烂衫的样子。我有会说话的洋娃娃，也有会哭和会眨眼睛的洋娃娃，但是我从来都不会像爱我的破南希那样爱她们。南希有一个摇篮，我经常花一个小时甚至更多的时间把她放在摇篮里摇动。我无比关切地守护着娃娃和她的摇篮。但是有一次，我发现我的小妹妹安静地躺在摇篮里熟睡。现在只能做出这样的推测，那时根本就没有爱和亲情的纽带能束缚住我的愤怒。于是，我冲过去把摇篮翻了个个儿，要不是母亲上前抓住了她，妹妹也许会被我杀死。所以说，当我们行走在备感孤独的幽谷之中，我们才会逐渐了解到充满关爱的言行以及友情所带给我们的感动。后来，当我重新恢复了人类友爱的本性后，我和米尔德莱德已经成长为彼此交心的姊妹。无论世事如何变化，我们俩都愿意手拉手地面对眼前的一切，虽然她不懂我的手语，而我也不明白她那些孩子气的语言。