海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第39期

Miss Sullivan and I were at that time in Hulton, Pennsylvania, visiting the family of Mr. William Wade. Mr. Irons, a neighbour of theirs, was a good Latin scholar; it was arranged that I should study under him. I remember him as a man of rare, sweet nature and of wide experience. He taught me Latin grammar principally; but he often helped me in arithmetic, which I found as troublesome as it was uninteresting. Mr. Irons also read with me Tennyson's "In Memoriam." I had read many books before, but never from a critical point of view. I learned for the first time to know an author, to recognize his style as I recognize the clasp of a friend's hand.

那時，我和蘇立文小姐正在賓夕法尼亞州的霍爾頓，當時我們客居在威廉·韋德先生家。艾恩先生是韋德先生家的鄰居，他是一個優秀的拉丁語學者，所以跟他學習拉丁語也就成了順理成章的事。在我的記憶中，艾恩先生是一個生性樂觀、博學多聞的傑出人士。他主要教我拉丁語語法，但是他經常幫我解決算術難題——對我而言，那些數字運算實在令人撓頭。艾恩先生還陪我一起讀丁尼生的《悼念》。我以前也讀過很多書，但是從來都不曾看到過任何批判性的觀點，這是我第一次遇到具有思辨思想的作家，我認同他的文風，正如我認同一個朋友的牽手一樣。

At first I was rather unwilling to study Latin grammar. It seemed absurd to waste time analyzing, every word I came across—noun, genitive, singular, feminine—when its meaning was quite plain. I thought I might just as well describe my pet in order to know it—order, vertebrate; division, quadruped; class, mammalia; genus, felinus; species, cat; individual, Tabby. But as I got deeper into the subject, I became more interested, and the beauty of the language delighted me. I often amused myself by reading Latin passages, picking up words I understood and trying to make sense. I have never ceased to enjoy this pastime.

起初，我是抱着很不情願的態度學習拉丁語的。對你所遇到的每一個單詞進行分析——名詞屬性，所有格，單數，陰性——似乎是一種浪費時間的愚蠢舉動，尤其是當這些詞的意思十分清楚明瞭的時候。爲了能用這些拉丁詞描述我的寵物，我還是學到了一些知識——目，脊椎動物；門，四足動物；綱，哺乳動物；屬，貓科；個體，虎斑貓。隨着學習的深入，我變得越來越有興趣，語言之美實在難以言說。我常常讀拉丁文文章自娛自樂，我會把學過的詞挑選出來並體味其中的含義。在其後的生活中，我從來沒有中止過這種消遣。

There is nothing more beautiful, I think, than the evanescent fleeting images and sentiments presented by a language one is just becoming familiar with—ideas that flit across the mental sky, shaped and tinted by capricious fancy. Miss Sullivan sat beside me at my lessons, spelling into my hand whatever Mr. Irons said, and looking up new words for me. I was just beginning to read Caesar's "Gallic War" when I went to my home in Alabama.

我想，沒有任何事物比因一種語言而產生的倏忽即逝的影像和情感更具魅力。我只是剛開始熟悉這種語言，但是，我的思想已經穿越了精神的天空，它已經被瞬息萬變的幻想重新塑造和着色。上課的時候，蘇立文小姐就坐在我的身邊，她會把艾恩先生說的話在我手上拼寫出來，而且幫我查生詞。在啓程返回亞拉巴馬老家時，我已經開始讀愷撒寫的《高盧戰記》了。