海伦·凯勒自传《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)专用书快要到位的时候，吉尔曼先生不顾我的严词反对，对苏立文小姐纵容我的用功过度提出了忠告，他还削减了我背诵课文的次数。起初，我们曾达成协议，如果有必要的话，我应该用五年的时间为上大学做准备。但是在第一年年终的时候，我以优良的考试成绩向苏立文小姐、哈勃小姐(吉尔曼先生聘用的院长)，还有其他任何人证明，我并不需要那么漫长的准备时间，有两年时间足矣。一开始吉尔曼先生同意我的想法，但是当我在学业上遇到了稍许的困惑时，他便认定我用功过度了，并且认为我还应该在他的学校里再学三年。我不喜欢他的计划，我更愿意进入大学继续深造。

　　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，我感觉身体不适，所以就没有去上课。虽然苏立文小姐知道我的小病并无大碍，但是听到消息的吉尔曼先生断言我的病情不容乐观，于是就对我的课业安排做出了调整，其结果就是我不可能随班参加期末考试了。最终，吉尔曼先生和苏立文小姐的分歧直接导致了我的母亲把我和米尔德莱德从剑桥女子学院接走。

　　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.

　　经过了短暂的耽搁，学校安排我继续学习，这次我的导师是剑桥的默顿·S.凯斯先生。这一年的冬天，除了在学校学习，我和苏立文小姐的其余时间都是同我们的朋友一起度过的。我们的朋友钱伯林家住在兰瑟姆，那里距波士顿二十五英里远。

　　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，凯斯先生每周两次来到兰瑟姆，主要是教我代数、几何、希腊语和拉丁文课程。苏立文小姐为他做翻译。

　　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，我们返回了波士顿。在其后的八个月中，凯斯先生每周给我上五次课，每次大约一个小时。每次上课，他首先解答我上一节课不懂的难点，然后再布置新作业;同时，他把我在打字机上完成的希腊文作业带回家修改，等下次上课时再把作业退给我。

　　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, 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.

　　我正是以这种方式为上大学做着准备，其间从未间断。我发现，同接受课堂灌输相比，自学的过程更加容易，也更富有乐趣。自学时不会有仓促之感，也不会造成思维混乱。我的导师有充足的时间解答我的疑问，所以，我学得又快又好，其效果远比在学校学习要好。不过，同我所学的任何其他课程相比，数学仍然是最令我感到棘手的问题。如果代数和几何能有外语和文学一半那么容易就好了，但是即使像数学这样的课程，凯斯先生也把它变得多了些趣味。他成功地将复杂问题分解至我能够理解的最小片段;他时刻令我的思维保持在活跃和求知的状态。他训练我运用理性的思维，冷静而客观地寻求事物的结论，而不应该漫无目的地误打误撞。他总是对我宽容有加，尽管我的愚蠢可能会令约伯也失去耐心，可是无论我的理解是多么地迟钝，他始终对我抱有信心。