海伦凯勒英语课文翻译

　　In 1882 a baby girl caught a fever that was so fierce she nearly died. She survived but the fever left its mark — she could no longer see or hear. Because she could not hear she also found it very difficult to speak.

　　So how did this child, blinded and deafened at 19 months old, grow up to become a world-famous author and public speaker?

　　The fever cut her off from the outside world, depriving her of sight and sound. It was as if she had been thrown into a dark prison cell from which there could be no release.

　　Luckily Helen was not someone who ge up easily. Soon she began to explore the world by using her other senses. She followed her mother wherever she went, hanging onto her skirts, She touched and smelled everything she came across. She copied their actions and was soon able to do certain jobs herself, like milking the cows or kneading dough, She even learnt to recognize people by feeling their faces or their clothes. She could also tell where she was in the garden by the smell of the different plants and the feel of the ground under her feet.

　　By the age of seven she had invented over 60 different signs by which she could talk to her family, If she wanted bread for example, she would pretend to cut a loaf and butter the slices. If she wanted ice cream she wrapped her arms around herself and pretended to shiver.

　　Helen was unusual in that she was extremely intelligent and also remarkably sensitive. By her own efforts she had managed to make some sense of an alien and confusing world. But even so she had limitations.

　　At the age of five Helen began to realize she was different from other people. She noticed that her family did not use signs like she did but talked with their mouths. Sometimes she stood between two people and touched their lips. She could not understand what they said and she could not make any meaningful sounds herself. She wanted to talk but no matter how she tried she could not make herself understood. This make her so angry that she used to hurl herself around the room, kicking and screaming in frustration.

　　As she got older her frustration grew and her rages became worse and worse. She became wild and unruly . If she didn't get what she wanted she would throw tantrums until her family ge in. Her fourite tricks included grabbing other people's food from their plates and hurling fragile objects to the floor. Once she even managed to lock her mother into the pantry. Eventually it became clear that something had to be done. So, just before her seventh birthday, the family hired a private tutor — Anne Sullivan.

　　Anne was careful to teach Helen especially those subjects in which she was interested. As a result Helen became gentler and she soon learnt to read and write in Braille. She also learnt to read people's lips by pressing her finger-tips against them and feeling the movement and vibrations. This method is called Tadoma and it is a skill that very, very few people manage to acquire. She also learnt to speak, a major achievement for someone who could not hear at all.

　　Helen proved to be a remarkable scholar, graduating with honours from Radcliffe College in 1904. She had phenomenal powers of concentration and memory, as well as a dogged determination to succeed. While she was still at college she wrote ‘The Story of My Life'. This was an immediate success and earned her enough money to buy her own house.

　　She toured the country, giving lecture after lecture. Many books were written about her and several plays and films were made about her life. Eventually she became so famous that she was invited abroad and received many honours from foreign universities and monarchs. In 1932 she became a vice-president of the Royal National Institute for the Blind in the United Kingdom.

　　After her death in 1968 an organization was set up in her name to combat blindness in the developing world. Today that agency, Helen Keller International, is one of the biggest organizations working with blind people overseas.

　　翻译

　　1882，一个女婴发烧得厉害，差点儿死了。她活了下来，但发烧留下了痕迹，她再也看不见或听不见了。因为她听不见，她也觉得很难说话。

　　因此如何既盲又聋的孩子，在19个月大，成长为享誉世界的作家和演说家的呢？

　　发烧使她脱离了外界，使她失去了视力和听觉。就好像她被扔进了一个黑暗的牢房里，没有释放。

　　幸运的是，海伦不是轻易放弃的人。不久，她开始用她的其他感官去探索这个世界。她跟着母亲走到哪里，垂在裙子上，触摸并闻到她所碰到的一切。她模仿自己的行为，很快就可以自己做某些工作，比如挤牛奶或揉面，她甚至学会通过摸自己的脸或衣服来认出别人。她还可以分辨出她在花园里的不同植物的气味和脚下土地的感觉。

　　七岁时，她发明了60种不同的手势，用以与家人交谈，如果她想要面包，她会假装切面包和黄油。如果她想要冰淇淋，她就用胳膊搂住自己，假装发抖。

　　海伦与众不同，因为她非常聪明，而且非常敏感。通过她自己的努力，她终于明白了一个陌生而令人困惑的世界。但即便如此，她也有局限性。

　　在五岁的时候，海伦开始意识到她与众不同。她注意到她的家人并没有像她那样使用手势，而是用嘴交谈。有时她站在两个人中间触摸他们的嘴唇。她听不懂他们说什么，她自己也不能发出任何有意义的声音。她想说话，但无论她怎样努力，她都不能使别人明白她的意思。这使她非常生气，她常常在房间里到处乱踢，沮丧地踢着尖叫。

　　随着她年龄的增长她的怒气越来越差。她变得狂野不羁。如果她没有得到想要的东西，她就会大发脾气直到她的家人了。她惯用的手段包括抓别人盘里的食物以及将易碎的物体在地板上。有一次她甚至把母亲锁在餐具室里。最后，很明显，必须做点什么。所以，就在她第七岁生日之前，家里雇了一个私人教师安妮·萨利文。

　　安妮很小心地教海伦，尤其是她感兴趣的科目。结果海伦变得温和了，她很快学会了用布莱叶盲文读写。她还学会了用手指按压嘴唇，感受动作和振动，从而读懂别人的嘴唇。这种方法被称作泰德马，是一种技能，非常，非常少的人掌握。她也学会了说话，这是对一个根本听不见的人的一个重大成就。

　　海伦证明了自己是个出色的学者，从1904拉德克利夫学院荣誉毕业。她有非凡的专注力和记忆力，还有顽强的成功决心。当她还在上大学的时候，她写了“我生命的故事”。这是一个立竿见影的成功，为她赢得了足够的钱来买她自己的房子。

　　她周游全国，演讲后演讲。许多书都是关于她的，关于她的生活也有几部戏剧和电影。最后，她变得如此著名，她被邀请出国，并获得外国大学和君主的许多荣誉。1932，她成为英国皇家国家盲人研究所的副院长。

　　1968她去世后，一个以她的名字成立的组织与发展中国家的失明作斗争。如今，该机构，海伦凯勒国际，是最大的组织之一，与盲人在海外工作。