海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第17期
Chapter VIII
第八章The first Christmas after Miss Sullivan came to Tuscumbia was a great event. Every one in the family prepared surprises for me, but what pleased me most, Miss Sullivan and I prepared surprises for everybody else. The mystery that surrounded the gifts was my greatest delight and amusement. My friends did all they could to excite my curiosity by hints and half-spelled sentences which they pretended to break off in the nick of time. Miss Sullivan and I kept up a game of guessing which taught me more about the use of language than any set lessons could have done. Every evening, seated round a glowing wood fire, we played our guessing game, which grew more and more exciting as Christmas approached.
對於我們家來說，蘇立文小姐在圖斯康比亞過第一個聖誕節可是件大事。家裏每一個人都籌劃着讓我大吃一驚，但是最令我興奮的是，我和蘇立文小姐也籌劃着讓別人大吃一驚。對於那些神祕的禮物，我心裏充滿了巨大的喜悅感和好奇心。我的朋友們極盡所能，通過種種暗示和故意拼寫了一半的句子來吊我的胃口。而我和蘇立文小姐則繼續玩猜謎遊戲，同課堂所學的知識相比，這種寓教於樂的方式讓我掌握了更多的語言技巧。每天晚上，我們坐在燃燒的爐火旁玩猜謎遊戲。隨着聖誕節的日益臨近，我的心情也變得越來越興奮。On Christmas Eve the Tuscumbia schoolchildren had their tree, to which they invited me. In the centre of the schoolroom stood a beautiful tree ablaze and shimmering in the soft light, its branches loaded with strange, wonderful fruit. It was a moment of supreme happiness. I danced and capered round the tree in an ecstasy. When I learned that there was a gift for each child, I was delighted, and the kind people who had prepared the tree permitted me to hand the presents to the children. In the pleasure of doing this, I did not stop to look at my own gifts; but when I was ready for them, my impatience for the real Christmas to begin almost got beyond control. I knew the gifts I already had were not those of which friends had thrown out such tantalizing hints, and my teacher said the presents I was to have would be even nicer than these. I was persuaded, however, to content myself with the gifts from the tree and leave the others until morning.
聖誕前夜，圖斯康比亞的學童們也有自己的聖誕樹，他們邀請我去參加慶祝活動。在教室中間，矗立着一棵美麗的聖誕樹，在柔和的光線下，它閃爍着晶瑩的微光，它的枝椏上綴滿了奇特的果實。這的確是一個普天同慶的歡樂時刻，我忘乎所以地繞着聖誕樹又蹦又跳。當我得知每一個孩子都會得到一件禮物時，我更高興了。那些裝飾聖誕樹的熱心人允許我把禮物分發給別的孩子。在派發禮物的同時，我也忍不住在想着自己的那一份兒。其實我早就做好準備了，我激動得難以自抑，一心盼着儘快見到自己的禮物。我知道我的禮物不會是像朋友們暗示的那些東西，我的老師告訴我，我得到的禮物要比傳言中的東西好得多。終於，到快天亮的時候，我心滿意足地得到了聖誕樹上的禮物。
