海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第26期

On the third day after the beginning of the storm the snow ceased. The sun broke through the clouds and shone upon a vast, undulating white plain. High mounds, pyramids heaped in fantastic shapes, and impenetrable drifts lay scattered in every direction.

肆虐的暴風雪終於在第三天停止了。太陽穿過雲層照耀在綿延起伏的白色原野上，高高的雪丘姿態萬千，令人難以置信地向着四面八方散播開來。

Narrow paths were shoveled through the drifts. I put on my cloak and hood and went out. The air stung my cheeks like fire. Half walking in the paths, half working our way through the lesser drifts, we succeeded in reaching a pine grove just outside a broad pasture. The trees stood motionless and white like figures in a marble frieze. There was no odour of pine-needles. The rays of the sun fell upon the trees, so that the twigs sparkled like diamonds and dropped in showers when we touched them. So dazzling was the light, it penetrated even the darkness that veils my eyes.

人們在積雪上踏出了一條條小路。我穿上斗篷繫着頭巾走到屋外，冷氣頓時把我的臉頰刺得火燒火燎地疼。事實上，我們是在一邊試探一邊行走的。最終，我們總算來到了大牧場外圍的那片松樹林。松樹一動不動地靜靜矗立着，掛滿積雪的樹身就像毛茸茸的未經加工的大理石；林子裏聞不到松針的味道，陽光灑落在林間，只要輕輕一碰，小樹枝上的積雪就像寶石雨一樣紛紛墜落。那晶瑩剔透的光線是如此炫目，甚至能穿透蒙在我眼睛上的黑麪紗。

As the days wore on, the drifts gradually shrunk, but before they were wholly gone another storm came, so that I scarcely felt the earth under my feet once all winter. At intervals the trees lost their icy covering, and the bulrushes and underbrush were bare; but the lake lay frozen and hard beneath the sun.

隨着時間的推移，積雪也漸漸融化了。在另一次風暴尚未來臨之前，我幾乎感覺不到腳下正踩着嚴冬的土地。在這短暫的寧靜時刻，樹木丟棄了披在身上的冰衣，蘆葦和草叢露出了身形，只有陽光下的冰湖展示着冬日的美景。

Our favourite amusement during that winter was tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake rises abruptly from the water's edge. Down these steep slopes we used to coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us a shove, and off we went! Plunging through drifts, leaping hollows, swooping down upon the lake, we would shoot across its gleaming surface to the opposite bank. What joy! What exhilarating madness! For one wild, glad moment we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine!

我們最喜愛的冬季娛樂活動是滑雪橇。湖岸突兀地躍出水面，我們跨過陡峭的斜坡下到湖面；坐上了雪橇，一個小男孩會用力從後面一推，我們就嗖地滑了出去！雪橇穿過積雪，越過凹坑，猛地衝向湖心。最後，我們會穿過晶瑩閃爍的冰面直到對岸。這是多麼有趣、多麼瘋狂的遊戲啊！記得有一次，在那、興奮的一刻，雪橇上的防護鎖鏈啪地折斷了，於是，我們的手緊緊地握在了一起，伴隨着耳邊的疾風，我們覺得自己就像駕雲飛翔的神靈！