海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第41期

But although these disappointments caused me great depression at times, I pursued my other studies with unflagging interest, especially physical geography. It was a joy to learn the secrets of nature: how—in the picturesque language of the Old Testament—the winds are made to blow from the four corners of the heavens, how the vapours ascend from the ends of the earth, how rivers are cut out among the rocks, and mountains overturned by the roots, and in what ways man may overcome many forces mightier than himself. The two years in New York were happy ones, and I look back to them with genuine pleasure.

雖然種種失望令我一度消沉沮喪，但是我對其他科目的學習興趣依舊未減，尤其是自然地理學。瞭解自然界的奧祕是一種樂趣：比如風如何——就像《聖經·舊約》中所描繪的那樣——自天堂的四個角落遍吹四方，水蒸氣如何從大地的盡頭飄升至天空，河流如何在巉巖峭壁間劈風斬浪，羣山如何被大地所傾覆，人類又是以何種方式戰勝比自己強大得多的自然之力的。在紐約的這兩年是一段令人愉快的時光，每每想起，我都會感到由衷地開心。

I remember especially the walks we all took together every day in Central Park, the only part of the city that was congenial to me. I never lost a jot of my delight in this great park. I loved to have it described every time I entered it; for it was beautiful in all its aspects, and these aspects were so many that it was beautiful in a different way each day of the nine months I spent in New York.

我尤其記得我們每天在中央公園的集體散步，對我而言，這是這個城市唯一令我感到稱心如意的所在。我從未在這個大公園裏遺漏掉半點快樂。我喜歡對每一次的公園漫步進行描述，因爲這裏的美無處不在，我在紐約的九個月中，每天都可以感受到多姿多彩的盛景佳境。

In the spring we made excursions to various places of interest. We sailed on the Hudson River and wandered about on its green banks, of which Bryant loved to sing. I liked the simple, wild grandeur of the palisades. Among the places I visited were West Point, Tarrytown, the home of Washington Irving, where I walked through "Sleepy Hollow."

春天，我們會到各種有趣的地方旅行。我們駕船航行在哈德遜河上，徜徉在布萊恩特所吟唱的芳草依依的岸邊。我喜歡河邊斷崖樸素雄渾的野性之美。沿河而行，我們參觀了西點軍校，遊覽了華盛頓·歐文的家鄉泰瑞鎮，我還在“睡谷”中走了一遭。

The teachers at the Wright-Humason School were always planning how they might give the pupils every advantage that those who hear enjoy—how they might make much of few tendencies and passive memories in the cases of the little ones—and lead them out of the cramping circumstances in which their lives were set.

賴特休梅森學校的老師們始終爲學生的利益着想，他們會以學生的興趣作爲教學出發點，他們很少對年幼的學生做強行灌輸，而且，他們會引領這些身患殘疾的孩子走出蹇澀的生存環境。

Before I left New York, these bright days were darkened by the greatest sorrow that I have ever borne, except the death of my father. Mr. John P. Spaulding, of Boston, died in February, 1896. Only those who knew and loved him best can understand what his friendship meant to me. He, who made every one happy in a beautiful, unobtrusive way, was most kind and tender to Miss Sullivan and me. So long as we felt his loving presence and knew that he took a watchful interest in our work, fraught with so many difficulties, we could not be discouraged. His going away left a vacancy in our lives that has never been filled.

在我即將離開紐約的時候，快樂的時光已經被傷感的陰雲所籠罩；除了父親的去世，我從未承受過如此巨大的悲傷。1896年2月，波士頓的約翰·P.斯鮑爾丁先生去世了。只有那些認識他並對他最爲敬重的人，纔會理解我們之間的友誼是多麼深厚。他以其謙遜而優雅的態度把愉悅帶給身邊的每一個人，他給予了我和蘇立文小姐最慷慨無私的關懷。每當想到他的慈愛，我們眼前就會立刻浮現出他那關注的神情，所以，無論我們在生活學習中遇到了多麼大的困難，我們都不會感到氣餒無助。斯鮑爾丁先生的去世給我們的生命留下了無法彌補的巨大空白。