人們為了表達對海倫·凱勒的敬意，將每年6月的最后一周定為海倫·凱勒周（Deaf-Blind Awareness
Week）。LT本周美文精選節選海倫·凱勒自傳《假如給我三天光明》，借此紀念這位偉大的美國殘障教育家。
海倫的一生是創造奇跡的一生，她總是用驚人的毅力面對困難，用苦難成就奉獻，用愛心擁抱世界。
海倫的世界是一個無光、無聲的孤獨世界，但她卻頑強地認為假如她擁有三天光明——第一天，她要透過“靈魂之窗”看到那些鼓勵她生活下去的善良、溫厚與心懷感動的人們……
（鑒于文章長度，LT將此文分為三次發布，敬請關注待續內容。）
I, naturally,
should want most to see the things which have become dear to me through my years
of darkness. You, too, would want to let your eyes rest on the things that have
become dear to you so that you could take the memory of them with you into the
night that loomed before you.
If, by some miracle, I were granted three seeing days, to be followed by a
relapse into darkness, I should divide the period into three parts.
The First Day
On the first day, I should want to see the people whose kindness and
gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like
to gaze long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who came
to me when I was a child and opened the outer world to me. I should want not
merely to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my memory,
but to study that face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic
tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my
education. I should like to see in her eyes that strength of character which has
enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for
all humanity which she has revealed to me so often.
I do not know what it is to see into the heart of a friend through that
"Window of the soul", the eye. I can only "see" through my finger tips the
outline of a face. I can detect laughter, sorrow, and many other obvious
emotions. I know my friends from the feel of their faces. But I cannot really
picture their personalities by touch. I know their personalities, of course,
through other means, through the thoughts they express to me, through whatever
of their actions are revealed to me. But I am denied that deeper understanding
of them which I am sure would come through sight of them, through watching their
reactions to various expressed thoughts and circumstances, through noting the
immediate and fleeting reactions of their eyes and countenance.
Friends who are near to me I know well, because through the months and years
they reveal themselves to me in all their phases; but of casual friends I have
only an incomplete impression, an impression gained from a handclasp, from
spoken words which I take from their lips with my finger tips, or which they tap
into the palm of my hand.
How much easier, how much more satisfying it is for you who can see to grasp
quickly the essential qualities of another person by watching the subtleties of
expression, the quiver of a muscle, the flutter of a hand. But does it ever
occur to you to use your sight to see into the inner nature of a friends or
acquaintance/ Do not most of you seeing people grasp casually the outward
features of a face and let it go at that?
For instance can you describe accurately the faces of five good friends? some
of you can, but many cannot. As an experiment, I have questioned husbands of
long standing about the color of their wives' eyes, and often they express
embarrassed confusion and admit that they do not know. And, incidentally, it is
a chronic complaint of wives that their husbands do not notice new dresses, new
hats, and changes in household arrangements.
The eyes of seeing persons soon become accustomed to the routine of their
surroundings, and they actually see only the startling and spectacular. But even
in viewing the most spectacular sights the eyes are lazy. Court records reveal
every day how inaccurately "eyewitnesses" see. A given event will be "seen" in
several different ways by as many witnesses. Some see more than others, but few
see everything that is within the range of their vision.
Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for just three
days!
The first day would be a busy one. I should call to me all my dear friends
and look long into their faces, imprinting upon my mind the outward evidences of
the beauty that is within them. I should let my eyes rest, too, on the face of a
baby, so that I could catch a vision of the eager, innocent beauty which
precedes the individual's consciousness of the conflicts which life develops.
And I should like to look into the loyal, trusting eyes of my dogs - the
grave, canny little Scottie, Darkie, and the stalwart, understanding Great Dane,
Helga, whose warm, tender , and playful friendships are so comforting to me.
On that busy first day I should also view the small simple things of my home.
I want to see the warm colors in the rugs under my feet, the pictures on the
walls, the intimate trifles that transform a house into home. My eyes would rest
respectfully on the books in raised type which I have read, but they would be
more eagerly interested in the printed books which seeing people can read, for
during the long night of my life the books I have read and those which have been
read to me have built themselves into a great shining lighthouse, revealing to
me the deepest channels of human life and the human spirit.
In the afternoon of that first seeing day. I should take a long walk in the
woods and intoxicate my eyes on the beauties of the world of Nature trying
desperately to absorb in a few hours the vast splendor which is constantly
unfolding itself to those who can see. On the way home from my woodland jaunt my
path would lie near a farm so that I might see the patient horses ploughing in
the field perhaps I should see only a tractor!) and the serene content of men
living close to the soil. And I should pray for the glory of a colorful sunset.
When dusk had fallen, I should experience the double delight of being able to
see by artificial light which the genius of man has created to extend the power
of his sight when Nature decrees darkness.
In the night of that first day of sight, I should not be able to sleep, so
full would be my mind of the memories of the day.
(To be
continued)
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
