海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第44期

In a different way Macaulay's "Life of Samuel Johnson" was interesting. My heart went out to the lonely man who ate the bread of affliction in Grub Street, and yet, in the midst of toil and cruel suffering of body and soul, always had a kind word, and lent a helping hand to the poor and despised. I rejoiced over all his successes, I shut my eyes to his faults, and wondered, not that he had them, but that they had not crushed or dwarfed his soul. But in spite of Macaulay's brilliancy and his admirable faculty of making the commonplace seem fresh and picturesque, his positiveness wearied me at times, and his frequent sacrifices of truth to effect kept me in a questioning attitude very unlike the attitude of reverence in which I had listened to the Demosthenes of Great Britain.

無論從哪種角度來看，麥考雷寫的《塞繆爾·約翰遜的一生》都很吸引人。這位在克魯伯街上啃着麪包的落魄男人令人同情，然而，即使在身體和靈魂遭受雙重磨難的情況下，他始終保持着一種友善的言行，還向貧窮無助的人伸出援手。我爲他取得的成功而歡欣鼓舞，而對他的過失則視而不見——奇怪的是，儘管重壓纏身，但是種種壓力並沒有摧垮他的意志，那些瑕疵也無損於他的人格。麥考雷以其出色的文筆化腐朽爲神奇，令生動的人物躍然紙上。他的信念偶爾也會讓我感到厭倦，但是他那爲探尋真理而孜孜以求的精神，使我看待事物的態度變得更加理性了；同我聽到“大不列顛的狄摩西尼”雄辯演說後的敬畏之情相比，這是一種完全不同的感覺。

At the Cambridge school, for the first time in my life, I enjoyed the companionship of seeing and hearing girls of my own age. I lived with several others in one of the pleasant houses connected with the school, the house where Mr. Howells used to live, and we all had the advantage of home life. I joined them in many of their games, even blind man's buff and frolics in the snow; I took long walks with them; we discussed our studies and read aloud the things that interested us. Some of the girls learned to speak to me, so that Miss Sullivan did not have to repeat their conversation.

在劍橋學習期間，我平生第一次沉浸在同學之間的友誼當中。當然，這些同學都是能看能聽，和我同齡的女孩子。我和其他幾個同學住在與學校相連的一幢房子裏，豪厄爾斯先生曾在這裏居住過，所以說，我們可能都從這所房子裏得着點“仙氣”。同學們的很多遊戲我都參加，甚至是雪中捉迷藏；我和她們一同遠足；我們還會在一起討論功課，高聲朗讀我們感興趣的文章。有些女孩學會了同我“交談”，這樣蘇立文小姐就用不着爲我重複她們的話了。

At Christmas, my mother and little sister spent the holidays with me, and Mr. Gilman kindly offered to let Mildred study in his school. So Mildred stayed with me in Cambridge, and for six happy months we were hardly ever apart. It makes me most happy to remember the hours we spent helping each other in study and sharing our recreation together.

那一年，我的母親和小妹妹和我一同度過了聖誕節。其間，熱心的吉爾曼先生還把米爾德萊德安排在他的學校讀書。就這樣，米爾德萊德和我一起待在了劍橋，差不多有六個月的時間，我們幾乎形影不離。我們在一起分享快樂；我們倆互相幫助，一學就是好幾個小時。那真是一段令人愉快的時光。

I took my preliminary examinations for Radcliffe from the 29th of June to the 3rd of July in 1897. The subjects I offered were Elementary and Advanced German, French, Latin, English, and Greek and Roman history, making nine hours in all. I passed in everything, and received "honours" in German and English.

1897年6月29日至7月3日，我參加了拉德克利夫學院的預科考試。我報考的科目有初級和高級德語、法語、拉丁文、英語、希臘語和古羅馬史。幾門考試總共用了九個小時。我不僅通過了全部考試，而且德語和英語成績是“優等”。