海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第54期
One day my teacher found me in a corner of the library poring over the pages of "The Scarlet Letter." I was then about eight years old. I remember she asked me if I liked little Pearl, and explained some of the words that had puzzled me. Then she told me that she had a beautiful story about a little boy which she was sure I should like better than "The Scarlet Letter." The name of the story was "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and she promised to read it to me the following summer. But we did not begin the story until August; the first few weeks of my stay at the seashore were so full of discoveries and excitement that I forgot the very existence of books. Then my teacher went to visit some friends in Boston, leaving me for a short time.
有一天，在圖書館的一個角落裏，我的老師發現我正面對着《紅字》的書頁若有所思。那時我大約八歲。我記得她問我是否喜歡小珀爾，而且還向我解釋了一些晦澀難懂的詞句。隨後，她對我說她有一本講述一個小男孩經歷的故事書，她保證那本書比《紅字》有趣得多，我也一定會喜歡的。那本書的名字叫《小爵爺方特勒羅伊》，她答應接下來的夏天就讀給我聽。可是一直到了8月份，我們還沒有開始看這本書；因爲在海邊的最初幾個星期裏，我完全沉浸在獵奇的興奮之中，以至於忘記了看書這回事。當時我的老師要去波士頓探望一些友人，所以暫時離開了我。When she returned almost the first thing we did was to begin the story of "Little Lord Fauntleroy." I recall distinctly the time and place when we read the first chapters of the fascinating child's story. It was a warm afternoon in August. We were sitting together in a hammock which swung from two solemn pines at a short distance from the house. We had hurried through the dish-washing after luncheon, in order that we might have as long an afternoon as possible for the story. As we hastened through the long grass toward the hammock, the grasshoppers swarmed about us and fastened themselves on our clothes, and I remember that my teacher insisted upon picking them all off before we sat down, which seemed to me an unnecessary waste of time. The hammock was covered with pine needles, for it had not been used while my teacher was away. The warm sun shone on the pine trees and drew out all their fragrance. The air was balmy, with a tang of the sea in it. Before we began the story Miss Sullivan explained to me the things that she knew I should not understand, and as we read on she explained the unfamiliar words. At first there were many words I did not know, and the reading was constantly interrupted; but as soon as I thoroughly comprehended the situation, I became too eagerly absorbed in the story to notice mere words, and I am afraid I listened impatiently to the explanations that Miss Sullivan felt to be necessary. When her fingers were too tired to spell another word, I had for the first time a keen sense of my deprivations. I took the book in my hands and tried to feel the letters with an intensity of longing that I can never forget.
當老師返回時，我們所做的第一件事就是開始閱讀《小爵爺方特勒羅伊》。我清楚地記得我們讀第一章時的時間和地點。那是8月裏一個溫暖宜人的下午，我們倆坐在一張搖擺的吊牀上，這張吊牀就拴在離家不遠的兩棵大松樹之間。午餐過後，我們匆匆涮過盤子，爲的是儘可能用整個下午時間看故事書。當我們快步穿過草叢奔向吊牀時，受驚的蚱蜢亂飛亂撞，紛紛落在我們身上。我記得老師堅持要先把衣服上的蚱蜢摘掉，然後再坐下看書；可是在我看來，這似乎是毫無必要的浪費時間之舉。吊牀上面已經落滿了松針，因爲自老師離開後一直沒有人用過這張吊牀。和煦的陽光灑落在松樹上，空氣中瀰漫着松針的芳香，同時夾雜着一股獨特的海洋氣息。在開始讀故事之前，蘇立文小姐向我解釋了一些我不太理解的背景，而且，在閱讀過程中，她還要隨時向我講解生詞。剛開始時有很多單詞我都不認識，閱讀因此會常常中斷；但是當我完全沉浸在故事情節之中，生詞這回事就被我忽略了。對於蘇立文小姐認爲有必要解釋的那些詞語，我想我當時聽得很不耐煩。後來，因過於疲勞，老師的手指再也拼寫不下去了，而我卻第一次產生出一種被剝奪了心愛之物的沮喪感。於是，我把書抓在手裏，如飢似渴地摸索着書頁，我永遠也不會忘記那種急切的心情。Afterward, at my eager request, Mr. Anagnos had this story embossed, and I read it again and again, until I almost knew it by heart; and all through my childhood "Little Lord Fauntleroy" was my sweet and gentle companion. I have given these details at the risk of being tedious, because they are in such vivid contrast with my vague, mutable and confused memories of earlier reading.
後來，在我的迫切請求下，阿納戈諾斯先生就把這本書製作成了浮點文字。我讀了一遍又一遍，幾乎達到了爛熟於心的程度。可以說，《小爵爺方特勒羅伊》伴我度過了整個童年時光，而且給我留下了溫馨甜蜜的回憶。我之所以冒着招人厭煩的危險提及這些陳年往事，只因爲相對於我那矇昧、善變而混亂的童年記憶而言，這本書的確可以稱之爲無比生動的一章。
