The Story of Helen Keller
Translated into English by Yueqing Huang
海伦·凯勒一岁半的时候被重病夺去了视力和听力。在莎莉文老师帮助下，又盲又聋的她竟然学会了读书和说话，并以优异的成绩毕业于美国哈佛大学，成为一名学识渊博，掌握英、法、德、拉丁、希腊五种文字的著名作家和教育家。著名作家马克.吐温曾说：19世纪出现了两个了不起的人物，一个是拿破仑，一个就是海伦·凯勒。“我的老师安妮·莎莉文来到我家的这一天，是我一生中最重要的一天。她使我的精神获得了解放。”海伦回忆道。
Helen Keller was deprived of vision and listening by a serious illness when she was one and a half years old. Yet with the assistance of Anne Sullivan the teacher, the blind and deaf girl actually learnt to read and speak, graduated from Harvard University with honors and became a famous writer and educationist of great scholarship proficient in English, French, German, Latin and Greek. The distinguished writer Mark Twain once said, “There are two remarkable persons in the 19th century, one is Napoleon, another is Helen Keller.” “It is the most important day in my life when teacher Anne Sullivan came to my house. She liberated my spirit.” Recalled Helen.
1880年6月27日，海伦 ·凯勒的出生让父母高兴万分。她是一个健康、聪明的小孩，6个月已经会说“茶”和“你好”，刚满周岁就会走路了。家里的庭院繁花盛开，鸟儿歌唱，充满好奇心的小海伦幸福地度过了她人生开端的19个月。但美好的时光总是短暂，一岁半的小海伦突发高烧，医生诊断为急性脑充血，宣布不治。过了几日海伦奇迹般退烧了，但当她睁开眼睛时，发现眼前一片黑暗，那种惊恐与悲伤的感觉她一生都没忘掉。从此，她开始生活在黑暗和无声的世界里。因为又聋又哑，海伦处在双重孤独中。随着年龄增长，她希望表达自己思想情感的愿望越来越强烈，几种单调的手势根本不够用。每次别人不了解她的意思，她都大发脾气，无法交流的绝望感让她疯狂地踢打哭闹，在地上翻滚、吼叫，直到精疲力竭。7岁之前的海伦是个被宠坏的脾气暴烈，任性妄为的小女孩。
The birth of Helen Keller on June 27th, 1880 got her parents delirious with joy. She was a healthy, smart baby able to utter ‘tea’ and ‘hello’ when she was 6 months old and to walk at the age of 1. Against the background of flowers in full bloom and singing of the birds in the courtyard, the curious little girl passed her first 19 months in happiness. However, good time is always short-lived, a fever suddenly came to one-and-a-half-year-old little Helen, it is diagnosed as acute brain hyperemia and declared incurable. Although Helen’s fever was gone miraculously a few days later, when she opened her eyes, she couldn't see anything but darkness, that feeling of consternation and grief was an experience she would remember for the rest of her life. Since then, she began to stay in a world of darkness and silence. Because of both deafness and dumbness, Helen was in double solitude. As she grew older, her desire to express her thoughts and feelings was increasing strong while She has too few monotonous gestures to do it. She got mad at everyone misconstruing her meaning, the despair of being at cross-purposes with everyone else makes her crying and kicking wildly, shouting and rolling on the floor until she was exhausted. Before 7, Helen was a spoiled, willful girl of fierce temper.
1887年3月，安妮·莎莉文来到海伦家，这一天成为海伦一生最重要的一天，是她帮助海伦从一只小兽变成了人。见面之初，当海伦抓住了莎莉文送给她的洋娃娃时，莎莉文就开始在海伦掌心中拼写“DOLL(娃娃) ”，海伦跟着拼写，却并不懂这字有什么意义。一天早上，海伦照老习惯乱抓别人的饭，当她抓到莎莉文盘中的香肠时，莎莉文一把按住她的手。海伦开始发脾气，满地打滚，还和老师对打……横下心的莎莉文坚决不退让，她下决心首先要让海伦养成良好的生活习惯。三四天后，海伦的发作次数减少，她开始注意周围的事物，每天模仿老师在手上拼写一些莫名的字。两周后的一天，当海伦伸手浸在清凉的流水中时，莎莉文抓住她的手，在她湿淋淋的掌心中拼写“水”。海伦挣扎着要抽回手，莎莉文紧握不放，一次又一次写着“水”。突然，海伦触电般停住挣扎，屏住呼吸，全神贯注地体会着手掌中的拼字。“水”从她掌心输入脑海，烙印于心。刹那间，她脸上闪耀出顿悟的光辉。原来每种东西是有名字的!
Anne Sullivan came to Helen’s house on March 3rd, 1887, the most important day in Helen’s life, because she turned her from a little beast into a human being. At their first meeting, Sullivan started to spell “Doll” on Helen’s palm when Helen caught hold of the doll she gave her as a gift, Helen followed her, in spite of the fact that she had no idea what the letters mean. One morning, Helen clawed at other people’s meals habitually, when it came on the sausage in Sullivan’s plate, she caught her hands. Then Helen began to get angry: rolling on the floor and fighting with teacher……the determined teacher stood fast and refused to make a concession to Helen, she made up her mind to foster Helen’s good habit. Three or four days later, the frequency of Helen’s fit decreased, she began to pay attention to things around her, and copy her teacher’s spelling of inexplicable letters on the palm everyday. Two weeks later, Sullivan seized Helen’s hand and spelled “water” in her wet palm when Helen soaked her hands in the cool water. Helen struggled to withdraw it while Sullivan refused to let it go, wrote time and again the word “water”. Suddenly, as if got an electric shock, Helen stopped to struggle, she held her breath and focused on the word on her palm. “Water” was input from her palm into the brain, and burned into her mind. For an instant her face sparkled with insight, it turns out that everything has a name!
混沌初开，海伦的生命仿佛从梦中惊醒。她坐在地上笑着，叫着，用拳头捶地。她如饥似渴地要求莎莉文老师快快教给她更多的字，她要重新认识这个世界。这一天，她学了30个字，过了一个月她学到将近400个字。之后，她开始学习阅读……
As if a chaotic world had been opened, Helen’s life seemed to be waken up from a dream. She sat there laughing, crying and thump the floor with her fist. She was thirsty for more words to be taught by Sullivan, she wanted to take a new acquaintance of the world. Today she learnt 30 words, and within a month learnt nearly 400 words. After that, she began to learn to read……
“为了得到真才实学，就得攀登奇山险峰。我滑落过好几次，跌倒，爬不上去，但每得到一点进步便受到一份鼓舞。我的心越来越热切，奋勇攀登，渐渐看见了更为广阔的世界。”
“One must scale perilous peak to learn true skills. I slid down a few times, fell and could hardly get up, but was encouraged by every progress I made. I became more and more fervent, did all I can to reach higher, and gradually saw a wider world.”
莎莉文老师堪称伟大的教育家，她对海伦的教育耐心而充满趣味，不管教什么，她总是用一个很好听的故事，或是一首诗来做形象讲解。她带海伦到大自然中学习，引导海伦触摸体会动物、植物。海伦无所不问，莎莉文老师无所不答。
Teacher Sullivan, who can be rated as a great educationist, was patient and full of fun in her education to Helen, she always explained whatever she taught vividly with a pretty story or a poem. Moreover, she brought Helen to nature to learn, guided her to touch and experience animals and plants. Helen kept asking about everything while Sullivan spared no effort to answer.
这样的学习方式让海伦收获太多，最大的收获是她找到了自我，开始享受心灵的自由飞翔。被锁在空茫黑暗中的女孩不再孤单，她学会了沟通和参与。只用了半年，海伦就可以用盲文和柏金斯盲校的孩子们通信了。
This kind of learning style benefited Helen enormously, the greatest gain was that Helen found herself, and began to enjoy a free-flying mind. The girl locked in vacant darkness was no long alone, she learnt to communicate and participate. It took Helen only half a year to learn to correspond with children in Perkins School for the Blind in Braille.
海伦是个活泼热情的女孩，爱好非常丰富。她喜爱田野漫步和户外运动，在儿童时代就学会了划船和游泳。她喜欢驾船和风浪搏斗，也喜欢月夜泛舟，她还喜欢编织、下棋、玩盲人纸牌，也乐于去博物馆，欣赏歌剧，或者看戏。她做什么都兴致勃勃，讲给别人听也活灵活现，比健全人的感受还要鲜活。
Helen is a lively and enthusiastic girl and has a good few hobbies. She likes to roam around the fields and outdoor sports, and learnt to row and swim in her childhood. She not only likes to struggle with rough weather in the boat, to go sailing on moonlight nights, to weave, play chess and blind cards, but also take delight in the museum, in appreciating operas and playgoing. She was in high spirits in doing everything, and gave vivid descriptions, the feeling to which is liver than a healthy man, to everyone else.
读书是海伦的最大乐趣，她学习知识，感受世界，如饥似渴，所有能拿到的盲文书她都反复阅读。莎莉文帮她把很多不是盲文版的书翻译成手语，当老师的手累得不得不停下时，海伦甚至着急到自己去摸书上的印刷体……
Reading is the greatest pleasure to Helen, she was eager to learn, to experience the world, and read every book in Braille at hand over and over again. Sullivan translated for Helen a good deal of books in non-Braille into sign language, when teacher’s hands were too tired to continue, Helen, in anxiety, went so far as to touch the print on the book……
身体上的缺陷挡不住一颗不屈不挠的心。小海伦宣布自己将来要考入哈佛大学，跟正常的女孩子一较高下。
Physical defects can’t stop a relentless mind. Little Helen announced that she was planning to enter Harvard University in years to come, and compete with normal girls.
为了这这个目标，她离开读了两年的聋人学校，进入剑桥女子中学学习。莎莉文每天和她一起上课，以无限的耐心把老师讲的都写到她的手心上，课后帮她查生字，反复阅读课本和笔记。
To make it true, she left the school for the deaf where she studied for 2 years, and entered Cambridge Middle School for Girls. Sullivan, who attended classes with Helen everyday, wrote every word teacher said onto Helen’s palm with infinite patience, help her learn new words and read textbooks and notes for her over and over again after class.
19岁，海伦考入哈佛大学拉德克利夫学院。在大学学习时，许多教材都没有盲文本，要靠别人把书的内容拼写在她手上，因此她预习功课的时间要比别的同学多得多。当别的同学在外面嬉戏、唱歌的时候，她正在努力备课。长期的刻苦学习，让她掌握了大量知识，并具有了超群的记忆力，她拥有了改变命运的力量。
Helen was admitted to Radcliffe College of Harvard University when she was 19. At college she was obliged to have the contents of most teaching materials spelt on her hands by other people as many of them didn’t have versions written in Braille, therefore she spent much more time preparing lessons than anyone else. When they were playing and singing outside, she had no other choice but to apply herself to the preparation of lesson. Long-term painstaking efforts on study mastered substantial knowledge for her and gave her an excellent memory, she now had the power to change her fate.
“世界是美好的，甚至黑暗和沉寂也是如此。无论出于什么样环境，都要不断努力，都要学会满足。”
“The world is beautiful, even in darkness and dreariness. One should always strive to achieve more and be happy with what he has, no matter what environment he is in.”
“我的身体虽然不自由，但我的心是自由的。”
“Despite my body is fettered, my heart is free.”
从小聋盲的海伦，虽然声带没有问题，但因为从来不曾听到、看到别人讲话，所以根本无法学会说话。为此莎莉文为海伦找了一位专家，教导她利用双手去感受别人说话时嘴型的变化，以及鼻腔吸气、吐气的不同，来学习发音。当她第一次连贯说出“天气很温暖”这个句子时，她意识到有一种新的力量，让她从灵魂的枷锁中释放出来，走出了死一般寂静的世界。
Helen was deaf and blind at a very early age, although her vocal cords has no problem, she was unable to learn to speak at all as she never heard other people’s words or watched them uttering words. For this purpose Sullivan found an expert to give Helen lessons on pronunciation by feeling the change of the mouth and differences of inhalation and exhalation of the nasal cavity with her hands. When she first uttered the words “it is warm” coherently, she was on to a new strength frees her from the fetters of the soul, and gets her out of a world of deathly hush.
在莎莉文老师陪伴下，经过反复艰苦的锻炼后，海伦走上了演讲台。
In Sullivan’s company, Helen did strenuous exercise and finally stood on the podium.
第一次演讲的时候，海伦站在台上发着抖，用尽全身力气喊出声来，自己感觉像射了一发大炮，但后来听别人说，那声音小得像蚊子。但是，从此，海伦会说话了，能演讲了!
The first time Helen gave a speech, she shivered on the stage, although she felt a cannonball had been fired as she shouted out the words with all her might, her voice, as someone else let her know subsequently, was as low as a mosquito. Nevertheless, Helen was in a position to speak and make speeches then!
大学时，海伦参与了建立盲人特别委员会的请愿活动，毕业后更是日渐忙碌。作为美国盲人基金会的领导人之一，为了向大众筹募基金，三年时间里海伦与莎莉文跑遍了全国123个城市，对20万人发表过演讲。为此，她还到白宫拜会过柯立芝总统和其他要人，她的努力得到许多人大力支持，收获了辉煌成果。
At college Helen took part in petitions to establish the Special Committee for The Blind, and became ever more busier after graduation. As one of the leaders of American Foundation for the Blind, Helen, with her teacher Sullivan, ran across 123 cities nationwide and gave speeches to 200,000 people within 3 years to collect funds. To this end, she went so far as to visit President Coolidge and dignitaries in the White House, her endeavor received strong support and achieved brilliant results.
21岁时，海伦和老师合作发表了处女作《我的生活》，在以后的六十多年中，无论工作多忙，她从没放下手中的笔，前后完成了14部著作。一场大火烧掉了她为《老师》这本书搜集了20年的笔记、信件和大部分文稿，这对健全人来说都是重大打击，海伦不放弃。她用了十年时间完成了该书，这是她献给莎莉文老师的厚礼，莎莉文为此感到无比骄傲。
When she was 21 years old, Helen, collaborated with her teacher, published her maiden work My Life, in the ensuing 6 decades, she was still active in writing no matter how busy she was and had finished 14 works altogether. A big fire devastated the notes, letters and most of manuscripts she collected within 20 year for the book The Teacher, it would be a huge blow to a healthy man, yet Helen never gave up. She spent 10 years finishing this book, took it as a gift to her teacher Sullivan, who was immensely proud of it.
1936年，66岁的莎莉文永远离开了海伦，离开了人世。海伦必须得独自面对现实了，每当懈怠、沮丧时，总有一个声音响起来：“海伦，老师可不喜欢你这样。”这慈祥的耳语支持海伦忍受痛苦，重建人生。她辛苦耕耘，开怀大笑。“我的身体虽然不自由，但我的心是自由的。”
In 1936, 66-year-old Sullivan passed away and left Helen forever. Helen had to face the reality alone, every time when she felt depressed and was to slack off, there always had a voice came out, “Helen, I don’t like you the way you are.” This motherly whisper allowed her to endure suffering, rebuild her life. She worked diligently and laughed heartily. “Although my body is fettered, my soul is free.”
1968年6月1日下午，海伦·凯勒在睡梦中去世，享年87岁。
On the afternoon of June 1st, 1968, Helen Keller passed away in her sleep at the age of 87.
海伦走遍了美国和世界各地，把自己的一生献给了盲人福利和教育事业。她赢得了世界各国人民的赞扬，并得到许多国家政府的嘉奖。著名作家马克·吐温这样评价她：19世纪出现了两个了不起的人物，一个是拿破仑，一个就是海伦·凯勒。
Helen travelled around America and the world, devoted all her life to the cause of welfare and education for the blind. She won praises from the people all over the world, and was commended by a number of national governments. The well-known writer Mark Twain rated her like this: there has two remarkable persons in the 19th century, one is Napoleon, another is Helen Keller.