?The story of Helen Keller

By Grade Saver/姜仲華（譯）

◆語篇導讀

幼年因病失明又失聰的女作家海倫·凱勒，她在老師們的幫助下以頑強毅力學會了閱讀和說話，直至寫出曠世之作《假如給我三天光明》和《海倫·凱勒的故事》，給人們尤其是逆境中的人們極大的鼓舞。可是你知道她是怎樣學會閱讀和說話的嗎？

Helen Keller was an American author,political activist,and lecturer.She was born on June 27,1880 in a small town of Tuscumbia,Alabama.

When Helen Keller was one year old,she had an illness that left her without sight or hearing.At first,it was difficult for her to communicate,even with her family.She lived her life completely in the dark.She often felt sad.However,everything changed in March of 1887 when Helen's teacher,Anne Sullivan,came to live with the family in Alabama and turned Helen's world around.

Miss Sullivan taught Helen the names of objects by giving them to her and then spelling out the letters of their names in Helen's hands.Helen learned to spell these words through imitation,without understanding what she was doing,but in the end she realized that everything had a name,and that Miss Sullivan was teaching them to her.From this point on,Helen learned language quickly.She especially enjoyed learning out in nature,where she and her teacher would take walks and she would ask questions about her surroundings.Soon after this,Helen learned how to read.Miss Sullivan taught her this by giving her strips of cardboard with raised letters on them,and then having her act out the sentence with objects.Soon,Helen could read whole books.

Once she had learned to read,Helen decided next to learn how to speak.Her teacher and many others believed it would be impossible for her to ever speak normally,but she managed to reach that point.Miss Sullivan took Helen to the Horace Mann School in 1890 to begin learning with Miss Sarah Fuller,and she learned by feeling the position of Miss Fuller's lips and tongue when Miss Fuller spoke.The moment she spoke her first words“It is warm”was a powerful memory for her.She was excited that she might be able to speak to her family and friends at last.

◆詞語積淀

activist/??kt?v?st/n. 活躍分子；積極分子

sight/sa?t/n.視力；看見

imitation/??m??te??n/n.模仿

surrounding/s??ra?nd??/n.環境

strip/str?p/n.條；帶

cardboard/?kɑ?db??d/n.卡紙板；硬紙板

normally/?n??m?li/adv.通常；正常地

tongue/t??/n.舌頭

◆典句賞析

1.When Helen Keller was one year old,she had an illness that left her without sight or hearing.海倫·凱勒一歲時生了一場病，導致她失明又失聰。

這是一個雙重復合句。when引導時間狀語從句，that引導定語從句；left her without sight or hearing是“leave+復合賓語”結構，意為“使……處于某種狀態”；without是介詞，帶有否定含義，意為“無；沒有”，其后所跟的兩個并列成分一般要用連詞or來連接。

【即時嘗試】他把臟水留在桌子上，沒有擦干和清洗。___

2.Miss Sullivan taught her this by giving her strips of cardboard with raised letters on them,and then having her act out the sentence with objects.莎莉文老師教她閱讀的方法是先給她一些帶有凸起字母的紙板條，然后叫她用物品把紙板條上由字母組成的句子給表演出來。

by giving her...是“by doing sth.”結構，用來表示做某事的方式和方法，“by doing sth.”意為“通過做某事”；with raised letters on them屬于“with+復合賓語”結構，該結構在句中一般作定語或狀語，句中的raised是raise的過去分詞形式，具有形容詞的性質，意為“凸起的”。

【即時嘗試】李華小時候通過閱讀帶有圖片的故事書來學習英語。

3.Her teacher and many others believed it would be impossible for her to ever speak normally,but she managed to reach that point.她的老師和其他許多人都認為她不可能正常說話，但是她設法做到了這一點。

would是助動詞，和謂語動詞be一起構成過去將來時，表示在主句謂語believed之后存在的狀態；“manage to do sth.”是固定搭配，意為“設法做成某事”。注意區分“try to do sth.”，此結構意為“盡力去做某事”。

【即時嘗試】她說她會努力取得進步，并且她確實設法做到了。

（答案見第63頁）

譯文助讀

海倫·凱勒是美國作家、政治活動家和演說家。她于1880年6月27日出生于亞拉巴馬州的一個叫塔斯坎比亞的小鎮上。

海倫·凱勒一歲時生了一場病，導致她失明又失聰。一開始，她在交流上有困難，甚至無法和家人交流。她完全是生活在黑暗之中，并經常感到很傷心。然而，在1887年的三月，一切都發生了改變。這一年，海倫的老師安妮·莎莉文來到亞拉巴馬州和她家人住在一起，并且將海倫的世界徹底地改變了。

莎莉文老師教海倫物品的名字，她將物品交給海倫，然后在海倫的手心將它們名字的字母一一拼寫出來。海倫通過模仿來學習拼寫這些單詞，不過她并不理解自己在做什么。但最后，她終于意識到了所有的東西都有一個名字，莎莉文老師正在教她這些東西的名字。從這一刻開始，海倫學習語言的速度變得相當快。她特別喜歡在大自然中學習。在那兒，她和她的老師一起散步，并且她總會問一些關于她周圍事物的問題。此后不久，海倫開始學習閱讀。莎莉文老師教她閱讀的方法是先給她一些帶有凸起字母的紙板條，然后叫她用物品把紙板條上由字母組成的句子給表演出來。很快，海倫就能閱讀整本書。

海倫學會了閱讀，接下來決定學習說話。她的老師和其他許多人都認為她不可能正常說話，但是她設法做到了這一點。莎莉文老師在1890年把海倫帶到了霍勒斯·曼學校，她開始和薩拉·富勒老師一起學習，她是通過感覺富勒老師說話時嘴唇和舌頭的位置來學習的。她第一次說出“天氣很暖和”的那一刻，對她來說是很深刻的記憶。她很興奮，因為她終于可以和家人、朋友說話了。