Helen Keller
请点击欣赏：假如给我三天光明
Three days to see --- The First Day
来源：美语世界 娃娃女
The First Day
On the first day, I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like to gaze long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who came to me when I was a child and opened the outer world to me. I should want not merely to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my memory, but to study that face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my education. I should like to see in her eyes that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me so often.
I do not know what it is to see into the heart of a friend through that "Window of the soul", the eye. I can only "see" through my finger tips the outline of a face. I can detect laughter, sorrow, and many other obvious emotions. I know my friends from the feel of their faces. But I cannot really picture their personalities by touch. I know their personalities, of course, through other means, through the thoughts they express to me, through whatever of their actions are revealed to me. But I am denied that deeper understanding of them which I am sure would come through sight of them, through watching their reactions to various expressed thoughts and circumstances, through noting the immediate and fleeting reactions of their eyes and countenance.
Friends who are near to me I know well, because through the months and years they reveal themselves to me in all their phases; but of casual friends I have only an incomplete impression, an impression gained from a handclasp, from spoken words which I take from their lips with my finger tips, or which they tap into the palm of my hand.
How much easier, how much more satisfying it is for you who can see to grasp quickly the essential qualities of another person by watching the subtleties of expression, the quiver of a muscle, the flutter of a hand. But does it ever occur to you to use your sight to see into the inner nature of a friends or acquaintance/ Do not most of you seeing people grasp casually the outward features of a face and let it go at that?
For instance can you describe accurately the faces of five good friends? some of you can, but many cannot. As an experiment, I have questioned husbands of long standing about the color of their wives' eyes, and often they express embarrassed confusion and admit that they do not know. And, incidentally, it is a chronic complaint of wives that their husbands do not notice new dresses, new hats, and changes in household arrangements.
The eyes of seeing persons soon become accustomed to the routine of their surroundings, and they actually see only the startling and spectacular. But even in viewing the most spectacular sights the eyes are lazy. Court records reveal every day how inaccurately "eyewitnesses" see. A given event will be "seen" in several different ways by as many witnesses. Some see more than others, but few see everything that is within the range of their vision.
Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for just three days!
The first day would be a busy one. I should call to me all my dear friends and look long into their faces, imprinting upon my mind the outward evidences of the beauty that is within them. I should let my eyes rest, too, on the face of a baby, so that I could catch a vision of the eager, innocent beauty which precedes the individual's consciousness of the conflicts which life develops.
And I should like to look into the loyal, trusting eyes of my dogs - the grave, canny little Scottie, Darkie, and the stalwart, understanding Great Dane, Helga, whose warm, tender , and playful friendships are so comforting to me.
On that busy first day I should also view the small simple things of my home. I want to see the warm colors in the rugs under my feet, the pictures on the walls, the intimate trifles that transform a house into home. My eyes would rest respectfully on the books in raised type which I have read, but they would be more eagerly interested in the printed books which seeing people can read, for during the long night of my life the books I have read and those which have been read to me have built themselves into a great shining lighthouse, revealing to me the deepest channels of human life and the human spirit.
In the afternoon of that first seeing day. I should take a long walk in the woods and intoxicate my eyes on the beauties of the world of Nature trying desperately to absorb in a few hours the vast splendor which is constantly unfolding itself to those who can see. On the way home from my woodland jaunt my path would lie near a farm so that I might see the patient horses ploughing in the field 9perhaps I should see only a tractor!) and the serene content of men living close to the soil. And I should pray for the glory of a colorful sunset.
When dusk had fallen, I should experience the double delight of being able to see by artificial light which the genius of man has created to extend the power of his sight when Nature decrees darkness.
In the night of that first day of sight, I should not be able to sleep, so full would be my mind of the memories of the day.
Hellen Keller, with doll, and teacher Anne Sullivan in June 27, 1880
第一天
第一天，我想看到这些人，他们的善良、温柔和友情使我的生命值得活下去。首先我想仔细长久地观看我那亲爱的老师安妮·萨利文·梅西夫人的面容。当我还是一个孩子的时候，她来到我面前，并向我打开了外部世界。我不仅要看她脸部的轮廓，以便我能把它珍藏在我的记忆中，而且我还要研究这张脸庞，在那里找到富有同情心、温柔和耐心的活证据，她就是以这种温柔和耐心完成了教育我的艰难的任务。我要看她眼睛里包藏的那种性格力量，它使得她在困难面前那么坚定。我要看那对所有人的同情心，她如此经常地对我显露出来。
我不知道通过“心灵的窗口”－－－眼睛，看透一个朋友的内心是怎么一回事。我只能通过我的指尖“看”到一张面孔的轮廓。我能察觉欢笑、悲伤和其它许多明显的感情。我从他们面部的感触知道我的朋友，但我不能正确地凭触摸描绘出他们的品格。我当然通过其它方式知道他们的品格，通过他们对我表达的思想，通过他们对我表露的任何行为，但我不曾对他们有更深刻的了解。那更深刻的了解我相信通过看到他们，通过观察他们对各种表达出来的思想和情况的反应、通过注意他们眼睛和相貌的直接和短暂的反应可以达到。
在我身边的朋友，我熟知他们，因为长年累月他们在各方面都对我表露了他们自己。而对那些偶然的朋友我只有一个不完全的印象，一种我从下面方式中得到的印象：一次握手，我的指尖从他们的双唇上感触到的他们所说的话，或者是他们在我两手掌上轻轻地拍抚。
对你来说，一个能看见的人，通过观察微妙的表情－－－一条肌肉的颤抖、一只手的摆动，很快地了解另一个人的本质，是多么容易又多么令人满足的事情。但是你曾经有过用你的视觉去看透一个朋友或相识的内在本质的时候吗？你们能看见事物的大多数人不是偶然地抓住一张脸孔的外部特征并不再去想了吗？
例如，你能精确地描叙５个好朋友的面貌吗？有些人能够，但许多人不能。作为一个实验，我曾问过那些多年相处的丈夫们，他们妻子的眼睛是什么颜色。他们常常显得窘迫含糊，承认他们不知道。而且，顺便说一句，妻子们经常抱怨，他们的丈夫不注意新衣服、新帽子和家庭摆设的变化。
能看见的人的眼睛很快就习惯了他们周围的日常事务。他们实际上仅仅看到令人吃惊的事和引人注意的壮观之事，而即使是那些最壮观的景象，他们的眼睛也是懒洋洋的。法庭记录每天都显露出“见证人”看得多不准确。一个特定的事件，要被尽可能多的人从几个不同的方面去“看到”，有些人看得比另一些人要多些，而没有几个人看到了在他们的视线范围内的所有事情。
啊，如果我要有哪怕３天的视力，多少事我该看啊！
第一天会是很忙碌的，我要把我所有的亲爱的朋友们都叫到我这里来，长久地注视着他们的面容，把他们的内在美的外部证据深深地印在我的脑海中。我也该让我的目光停留在一个婴儿的脸上，以便我能获得一个热切渴望的纯美的视觉，这是那个人在意识到生活带来的冲突之前的美丽的视觉。
而且，我也要看看我的狗那忠诚、信任的眼睛－－－那严肃、机灵的小斯洛蒂·达基和那高大、健壮、善解人意的大达英·赫尔加，它们热情温柔和顽皮的友谊对我是个巨大的安慰。
在这繁忙的第一天，我也该看看我家的那些简单的小事情。我想看着我脚下地毯上、墙壁上图画的明朗愉快的色彩，那些使这间屋子成为一个家的亲切的琐碎物件。我的目光也要敬重地停留在那些我读过的阳文书籍上，但应更热切地对那些能看见的人所能读的出版物感兴趣，因为在我生命的漫漫长夜里，我读过的书和别人对我读过的书已筑成一座巨大的闪光的灯塔，对我显示了人类生活和人类精神的最深的航道。
那能看见的第一天的下午，我要在树林里长久地散步，让我的目光陶醉在大自然世界的美景之中。在几个小时中，试图拼命地吸收那无穷的壮丽，这对那些能看见的人却是一条小路，这样我便能看到那驯良的马匹在犁田（或许，我该看见唯一的一台拖拉机！）看到贴近泥土生活的人们那安详的满足。而且，我该为艳丽的落日光辉而祈祷。
黄昏降临时，我该感受到双倍的愉快，因为能看到人造的光芒，这是人类的天才创造出来的，当大自然黑暗降临之时，以延展他的视力。
在那能看见的第一天晚间，我是不能入睡的，我脑海中充满了白天的记忆。
Helen Keller attended the Cambridge School
