海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第46期
Chapter XIX
第十九章When I began my second year at the Gilman school, I was full of hope and determination to succeed. But during the first few weeks I was confronted with unforeseen difficulties. Mr. Gilman had agreed that that year I should study mathematics principally. I had physics, algebra, geometry, astronomy, Greek and Latin. Unfortunately, many of the books I needed had not been embossed in time for me to begin with the classes, and I lacked important apparatus for some of my studies. The classes I was in were very large, and it was impossible for the teachers to give me special instruction. Miss Sullivan was obliged to read all the books to me, and interpret for the instructors, and for the first time in eleven years it seemed as if her dear hand would not be equal to the task.
當我在吉爾曼的學校開始第二年的學習生涯時，我滿懷希望，內心裏充滿了必勝的信心。但是在最初的幾個星期裏，我遇到一些意外的難題。吉爾曼先生認爲我在這一年裏應該以學習數學爲主。當時我學習的課程有物理、代數、幾何學、希臘語和拉丁文。不幸的是，我需要的許多書都沒有被製成盲文，因此在有些科目上，我缺少了必要的學習工具。而且，這些科目都是很多人一起上的大課，老師不可能爲我做單獨輔導。蘇立文小姐只得把所有的課本讀給我聽，還要爲我翻譯老師的話。十一年來，她那雙神奇的手頭一次流露出力不從心的跡象。It was necessary for me to write algebra and geometry in class and solve problems in physics, and this I could not do until we bought a braille writer, by means of which I could put down the steps and processes of my work. I could not follow with my eyes the geometrical figures drawn on the blackboard, and my only means of getting a clear idea of them was to make them on a cushion with straight and curved wires, which had bent and pointed ends. I had to carry in my mind, as Mr. Keith says in his report, the lettering of the figures, the hypothesis and conclusion, the construction and the process of the proof. In a word, every study had its obstacles. Sometimes I lost all courage and betrayed my feelings in a way I am ashamed to remember, especially as the signs of my trouble were afterward used against Miss Sullivan, the only person of all the kind friends I had there, who could make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth.
對我而言，在課堂上求解物理題，進行代數和幾何運算都是必須要掌握的技能。起初我無法順利地學習這些知識，直到我們購置了一臺盲文書寫器。通過這臺機器，我可以把自己的工作進程記錄下來。我無法看到那些畫在黑板上的幾何圖形，我獲取形象認識的唯一手段，就是以一個靠墊做依託，再把幾何圖形用或直或彎的細鐵絲拼接出來。我不得不在腦海中描摹這些圖形。正如凱斯先生在他的報告中所說的那樣，我不但要抓住圖形的形狀，還要進行假設、演算和推理論證。一言以蔽之，每一個環節都是一種障礙。有時候我感到勇氣盡失，而且脾氣惡劣，我的壞脾氣甚至指向了蘇立文小姐，而在我所有的良師益友當中，她是唯一一個能撫平我內心傷痛的人，她能夠“將曲線捋直，令崎嶇之地變成坦途”。
Little by little, however, my difficulties began to disappear. The embossed books and other apparatus arrived, and I threw myself into the work with renewed confidence. Algebra and geometry were the only studies that continued to defy my efforts to comprehend them. As I have said before, I had no aptitude for mathematics; the different points were not explained to me as fully as I wished. The geometrical diagrams were particularly vexing because I could not see the relation of the different parts to one another, even on the cushion. It was not until Mr. Keith taught me that I had a clear idea of mathematics.
漸漸地，我的困難開始消失了。隨着凸版書籍和一些輔助用具的增添，我帶着重拾的信心重新投入到學習之中。代數和幾何這兩門課程仍在繼續同我的努力相抗衡。正如我以前說過的那樣，我天生缺乏數學頭腦，對不同的點面關係總是不能很好地理解。那些幾何圖形很是令人頭痛，因爲我無法看到不同圖形之間的關係，即使在墊子上擺放也不行。直到凱斯先生教了我一些數學知識之後，我才踏進了幾何學的門檻。I was beginning to overcome these difficulties when an event occurred which changed everything.
正當我開始克服種種困難的時候，隨後發生的一件事改變了一切。
