英語泛讀教程4unit-2-Three-Days-to-See課文和譯文

1、文檔Three Days to Seeby Helen KellerHelen Keller, blind and deaf from infancy, became a successful lecturer, author and educator with the help of her teacher. In the following essay, she discussed how people should value their ability to see.All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had

2、only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemne

3、d criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the

4、past, what regrets? Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness,a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are oftenlost when time stret

5、ches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of Eat, drink, and be merry; but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.In stories, the doomed hero is usually saved at the l

6、ast minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything th

7、ey do.Most of us, however, take life for granted. Weknow that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hard

8、ly aware of our listless attitude toward life.The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularlydoes this observation apply to those who have lost sight

9、 andhearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being gra

10、teful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence

11、 would teach him the joys of sound.Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. Nothing in particular, she replied. I might have been in

12、credulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.Howwas it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I fe

13、el the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winters sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety t

14、exture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. I am delighted to have the cool water of a brook rush

15、 through my open fingers. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.At times my heart cries out with longing to see all th

16、ese things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of colour and action which fills the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have and t

17、o long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light the gift of sight is used only as a mere convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in “ How to Use Your Eyes” . The

18、professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joyto their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dormant and sluggish faculties.Suppose you set your mind to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyes if you had only three more da

19、ys to see. If with the oncoming darkness of the third night you knew that the sun would never rise for you again, how would you spend those three precious intervening days? What would you most want to let your gaze rest upon?I, naturally, should want most to see the things which have become dear to

20、me through my years of darkness. You, too, would want to let your eyes rest long 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.I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have ma

21、de 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

22、 face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult tasks 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 al

23、l 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 thatwindow of thesoul” , 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 th

24、e 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 sur

25、e 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 t

26、o me in all their phases; but of causal 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

27、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 friend or acquaintance? Do not most of you seeing people grasp cas

28、ually 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

29、 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 s

30、ee only the startling and spectacular. But even in viewing the most spectacular sights the eyes are lazy. Court records reveal every day how inaccuratelyaeyewitnesses see. A given event will beseen in several different ways by asmany witnesses. Some see more than others, but few see everything that

31、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!(1634 words)譯文假如我有三天光明海倫凱勒海倫凱勒自幼就又盲又聾，在老師的幫助下成為一名成功的講師、作家及教育家。在這篇文章里，海倫凱勒討論了人們應(yīng)該怎樣珍惜自己的視覺能力我們大家都讀過這樣一些驚心動(dòng)魄的故事，故事中的主人公能活的時(shí)間有限而具體，或長達(dá)一年，或短至24小時(shí)。但是我們總是感興趣的是，行將死亡的人究竟愿意怎樣度過他的最后時(shí)光。當(dāng)然，我說的是能

32、進(jìn)行選擇的自由人，而不是活動(dòng)范圍受到嚴(yán)格限制的囚犯。這些故事啟迪我們思考，誘發(fā)我們想象，當(dāng)我們處于此類情況時(shí)，該怎么做呢？作為常人，我們?cè)谧詈蟮臅r(shí)刻會(huì)急于想干些什么，體驗(yàn)些什么，聯(lián)想些什么呢？回首往事時(shí)，我們又能領(lǐng)略到何種快慰，何種悔恨呢？有時(shí)我想，如果我們度過每一天時(shí)都假定明天即將去世，這會(huì)是個(gè)極好的準(zhǔn)則。這樣的處世態(tài)度會(huì)強(qiáng)烈地突出生命的價(jià)值。我們會(huì)親切地、朝氣蓬勃地、感受強(qiáng)烈地來度過每一天，而這一切卻往往在 日復(fù)一日延續(xù)的時(shí)光與歲月之中消失。當(dāng)然，有些人會(huì)奉行享樂主義“吃喝玩樂”的信條，但是大多數(shù)人則會(huì)因死亡就在眼前而心靈得到凈化。在故事中，那死神呼喚的主人公通常在最后時(shí)刻交上好運(yùn)而獲得拯

33、救，但他的價(jià)值觀幾乎總是發(fā)生了變化。他更加珍視生命的意義及其永恒而神圣的價(jià)值。人們常常注意到，那些生活在或者曾經(jīng)生活在死亡的陰影下的人，對(duì)他們所做的每一件事都賦予甜美的色彩。然而，我們中間大多數(shù)人則把生命視為理所當(dāng)然。我們知道，總有一天我們會(huì)死去，但通常我們又把那一天想象為遙遠(yuǎn)的未來。 當(dāng)我們身體健康時(shí)，死亡是件難以想象的事，我們幾乎不會(huì)想到 它。歲月無窮，因此我們忙于種種瑣事，幾乎意識(shí)不到我們漠然的生活態(tài)度。我們?cè)谑褂酶杏X功能時(shí)，恐怕也持同樣的冷漠態(tài)度。只有聾者才知道聽覺的重要，只有盲人才理解視覺給人帶來的各種恩賜。這一觀點(diǎn)特別適用于那些在成年后才喪失視覺和聽覺的人。而那些視覺和聽覺從未受到

34、損害的人，則很少充分利用這些神圣的官能。他們的眼睛和耳朵模糊地、漫不經(jīng)心地、不加欣賞地納入所有的景象和聲音。還是那句老話：東西丟失后方知珍貴，直到生病時(shí)才思健康。我常常想，如果每個(gè)人在剛成年時(shí)某個(gè)時(shí)候能失明或失聰幾天，這或許將是件喜事。黑暗將使他更加珍視景象；而寂靜則將教他領(lǐng)略聲音的歡樂。我不時(shí)考一考我的有視力的朋友，以了解他們看到了什么。最近一位好朋友來看我，她是在林中溜達(dá)了好一會(huì)兒才回來的，我問她觀察到了些什么?！皼]什么特別的東西，”她答道。要不是 我對(duì)類似的反應(yīng)已習(xí)以為常的話，我是會(huì)覺得難以置信的。其實(shí)，我早已深信：有視力者所見甚少。我問自己，在林中溜達(dá)了一個(gè)小時(shí)而竟未看到什么值得注意的

35、東西，這怎么可能呢？我這個(gè)看不見東西的人，僅憑觸摸就發(fā)現(xiàn)千百種使我感興趣的東西。我感覺到樹葉精致的對(duì)稱。我用手愛撫著光滑的白炸樹皮，或是粗糙的松樹皮。春天里，我滿懷希望地觸摸樹枝，尋找一個(gè)幼芽一一大自然經(jīng)過冬日沉睡重又蘇醒的最初征兆。我摸著花朵上那可愛的天鵝絨般的質(zhì)地， 以及它那疊合巧妙的花苞，于是我領(lǐng)略到了某種大自然的神奇。偶爾，如果十分幸運(yùn)的話， 我把手輕輕搭在 一棵小樹上，能感到一只小鳥兒盡情歡歌的顫動(dòng)。我非常高興讓清涼的溪水流過我張開的手指。對(duì)我來說， 那厚密的松針層或茂盛松軟的草地比豪華的波斯地毯更愜意； 對(duì)我來說， 四季的變幻多姿宛如一出動(dòng)人心弦永不盡止的戲劇，它的情節(jié)似流水從我指

36、尖緩緩流過。我的心時(shí)時(shí)在呼號(hào)， 渴望能見到所有這一切。 如果我單靠觸摸就能獲得如此多的樂趣， 那么通過視覺則能領(lǐng)略到更多美景！ 可是， 那些視覺完好的人顯然所見甚少。 大千世界的五光十色與千姿百態(tài)被認(rèn)為是理所當(dāng)然。 對(duì)已獲得的不以為然， 而對(duì)未獲得的卻期盼不已， 這一點(diǎn)或許是人類的特性，可是，非常遺憾，在光明的世界里，天賜的視覺只被當(dāng)作一種單純的方便，而不是一種使生活日益完美的手段。如果我是大學(xué)校長， 我就要開設(shè)一門必修課， “如何使用你們的眼睛”。 教授應(yīng)盡力向?qū)W生演示，如何做到真正看見那些從他們面前不知不覺溜掉的東西， 從而為自己的生活增添快樂。 他將盡力喚醒他們那些昏睡懶散的感官。假定你在開動(dòng)腦筋研究這