词汇提示

1.frustrating 沮丧的

2.charitable institutions 慈善机构

3.tipped 倾倒

4.horrified 惊恐

5.handicapped 残疾的

6.sympathetic 有同情心的

7.pupil 学生

8.Braille 盲文

原文

Helen Keller

What would it be like to be unable to see anything, hear anything, or say anything?

Life for young Helen Keller was like that.

She had had an illness before she was two years old that had left her deaf, dumb and blind.

After that, it was difficult for her to communicate with anyone.

She could only learn by feeling with her hands.

This was very frustrating for Helen, her mother and her father.

Helen Keller grew up in Alabama, U.S.A., during the 1880s and 1890s.

At that time, people who had lost the use of their eyes, ears and mouth often ended up in charitable institutions.

Such a place would provide them with basic food and shelter until they died.

Or they could go out on the streets with a beggar's bowl and ask strangers for money.

Since Helen's parents were not poor, she did not have to do either of these things.

But her parents knew that they would have to do something to help her.

One day, when she was six years old, Helen became frustrated that her mother was spending so much time with the new baby.

Unable to express her anger, Helen tipped over the baby's crib, nearly injuring the baby.

Her parents were horrified and decided to take the last chance open to them.

They would try to find someone to teach Helen to communicate.

A new school in Boston claimed to be able to teach children like Helen.

The Kellers wrote a letter to the school in Boston asking for help.

In March 1887, a teacher, twenty year old Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller's home in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Anne Sullivan herself had had a very difficult life.

Her mother had died when she was eight.

Two years later, their father had abandoned Anne and her little brother Jimmy.

Anne was nearly blind and her brother had a diseased hip.

No one wanted the two handicapped children, so they were sent to a charitable institution.

Jimmy died there.

At age 14, Anne, who was not quite blind, was sent to the school for the blind in Boston.

Since she had not had any schooling before, she had to start in Grade One.

Then she had an operation that gave her back some of her eyesight.

Since Anne knew what it was like to be blind, she was a sympathetic teacher.

Before Anne could teach Helen anything, she had to get her attention.

Because Helen was so hard to communicate with, she was often left alone to do as she pleased.

A few days after she arrived, Anne insisted that Helen learn to sit down at the table and eat breakfast properly.

Anne told the Kellers to leave, and she spent all morning in the breakfast room with Helen.

Finally,after a difficult struggle she got the little girl to sit at the table and use a knife and fork.

Since the Keller family did not like to be strict with Helen, Anne decided that she needed to be alone with her for a while.

There was a little cottage away from the big house.

The teacher and pupil moved there for some weeks.

It was here that Anne taught Helen the manual alphabet.

This was a system of sign language.

But since Helen couldn't see, Anne had to make the signs in her hands so that she could feel them.

For along time, Helen had no idea what the words she was learning meant.

She learned words like "box" and "cat," but hadn't learned that they referred to those objects.

One day, Anne dragged Helen to a water pump and made the signs for"water" while she pumped water over Helen's hands.

Helen at last made the connection between the signs and the thing.

"Water"was that cool, wet liquid stuff.

Once Helen realized that the manual alphabet could be used to name things, she ran around naming everything.

Before too long, she began to make sentences using the manual alphabet.

She also learned to read and write using the "Square Hand Alphabet" which was made up of raised square letters.

Before long, she was also using Braille and beginning to read books.

Helen eventually learned to speak a little, although this was hard for her because she couldn't hear herself.

She went on to school and then to Radcliffe College.

She wrote articles and books, gave lectures, and worked tirelessly to help the blind.

The little girl who couldn't communicate with anyone became, in time, a wonderful communicator.

翻译

海伦·凯勒

什么也看不见，什么也听不见，什么也说不出来会是什么感觉?
年轻的海伦·凯勒的生活就是这样。
她在两岁之前生过一场病，导致她又聋又哑又盲。
从那以后，她很难与任何人沟通。
她只能用手摸来学习。
这对海伦、她的父母来说都是非常令人沮丧的。
海伦·凯勒于19世纪八九十年代在美国阿拉巴马州长大。
在那个时候，那些失去了眼睛、耳朵和嘴巴的人最后往往会去慈善机构。
这样的地方可以为他们提供基本的食物和住所，直到他们死去。
或者他们可以拿着乞丐的碗走到街上向陌生人要钱。
由于海伦的父母并不穷，她不必做这两件事。
但是她的父母知道他们必须做点什么来帮助她。
海伦六岁的时候，有一天，她对妈妈花那么多时间和新生婴儿在一起感到沮丧。
海伦无法表达她的愤怒，打翻了婴儿床，差点把婴儿弄伤。
她的父母吓坏了，决定抓住最后的机会。
他们会设法找人教海伦交流。
波士顿的一所新学校声称能够教海伦这样的孩子。
凯勒一家给波士顿的学校写了一封信寻求帮助。
1887年3月，20岁的教师安妮·沙利文来到凯勒在阿拉巴马州图斯坎比亚的家。
安妮·沙利文自己的生活也很艰难。
她母亲在她八岁时就去世了。
两年后，他们的父亲抛弃了安妮和她的弟弟吉米。
安妮几乎失明了，而她的哥哥髋骨有病。
没有人要这两个残疾儿童，所以他们被送到了慈善机构。
吉米死在那里。
14岁时，还没有完全失明的安妮被送到波士顿的一所盲人学校。
由于她以前没有受过任何教育，她不得不从一年级开始。
后来她做了手术，恢复了部分视力。
因为安妮知道盲人的感受，所以她是一位富有同情心的老师。
在安妮教海伦任何东西之前，她必须引起她的注意。
因为海伦很难与人沟通，所以她经常被独自留下做她想做的事。
到了几天后，安妮坚持要海伦学会在餐桌旁坐下，好好吃早餐。
安妮叫凯勒一家离开，她整个上午都和海伦待在早餐室里。
最后，经过一番艰难的挣扎，她让小女孩坐在桌子旁使用刀叉。
由于凯勒一家不喜欢对海伦太严格，安妮决定自己需要和海伦单独待一段时间。
在大房子的旁边有一间小屋。
老师和学生搬到那里住了几个星期。
就是在这里，安妮教会了海伦手工字母。
这是一种手语系统。
但由于海伦看不见，安妮不得不用手做手势，这样她才能感觉到。
很长一段时间，海伦不知道她正在学习的单词是什么意思。
她学会了“盒子”和“猫”这样的词，但不知道它们指的是这些物体。
一天，安妮把海伦拖到一个水泵旁，一边把水抽到海伦手上，一边做着“水”的手势。
海伦终于把这些符号和那个东西联系起来了。
“水”是那种又冷又湿的液体。
当海伦意识到可以用手工字母来命名事物时，她四处奔波，为所有事物命名。
不久之后，她开始用手语字母造句。
她还学会了用由凸起的方形字母组成的“方手字母表”来阅读和书写。
不久，她也开始使用盲文，并开始阅读书籍。
海伦最终学会了说一点话，尽管这对她来说很困难，因为她听不到自己的声音。
她继续上学，然后去了拉德克利夫学院。
她写文章和书，做演讲，不知疲倦地帮助盲人。
那个不能和任何人交流的小女孩，最终变成了一个很棒的沟通者。

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Level 4-Day 81.Helen Keller