作者：（美）欧内斯特·米勒尔·海明威
出版社：江苏凤凰科学技术出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
穿指流沙细数年华：那些发人深省的英语哲理美文：汉英对照试读：
前言
在世界文学的璀璨星空里，群星荟萃，流光溢彩。我国文学著作璀璨夺目，国外的散文诗歌中也不乏珍品。很多名家的经典之作被先后翻译过来，并受到国内广大读者的喜爱。这里分类别地翻译整理了一些经典哲理散文，内容包括幸福、勇气、珍惜等方面；这里列举几个著名作家的情况，让大家对本书有个大致了解，希望给读者带来生活启迪和美的感受。 书中有以硬汉作家著称的欧内斯特. 海明威的作品。1953 年，他以《老人与海》一书获得普利策奖；1954 年，《老人与海》又为海明威夺得了诺贝尔文学奖。2001 年，海明威的《太阳照常升起》与《永别了，武器》两部作 品被美国现代图书馆列入“20 世纪中的100 部最佳英文小说”。这里选用了他的《真正的高贵》一文，它向我们展示了这位大家的思想境界和人生态度。 书中还有世界著名教育家、盲人女作家海伦·凯勒的经典之作《假如给我三天光明》的节选。该书的前半部分主要写了海伦变成盲聋人后的生活，后半部分则介绍了海伦的求学生涯。同时也介绍了她丰富多彩的生活以及她的慈善活动等。她以一个身残志坚的柔弱女子的视角，告诫身体健全的人们应珍惜生命，珍惜拥有的一切。 英国哲学家、数学家、逻辑学家、历史学家伯特兰·罗素的《我为什么而生》也位列书中。伯兰特·罗素是20 世纪西方最著名、影响最大的学者和和平主义社会活动家之一。1950 年，罗素获得诺贝尔文学奖，以表彰其“多样且重要的作品，持续不断地追求人道主义理想和思想自由”。他的代表作有《幸福之路》《西方哲学史》《数学原理》《物的分析》等。 本书中的作品从不同角度阐释生活的意义，提醒我们热爱生活，摒弃迷茫，珍惜当下。如塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯所言：“ 好书即为金玉良言与思想光华之总成，令人铭于心，爱不忍释，成为我们相随之伴侣与慰藉。”笔者衷心地希望本书可以成为读者朋友的枕边密友，苦乐相伴。第一卷 你若盛开，清风自来
Love Your Life American│Henry David Thoreau However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks the poorest when you are richest. The faultfinder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode1; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. Maybe they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving2. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable3. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like a sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.Turn the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. 热词天地 1.abode [ə'bəʊd] 住所；家 2.misgiving [mɪs'ɡɪvɪŋ] 疑虑；顾虑 3.disreputable [dɪs'repjətəbl] 名声不好的；不光彩的 热爱生活 【美】亨利.戴维.梭罗 无论你生活得怎样卑微，请直接面对吧！不要逃避，也不要恶语相加。生活并没有你想的那么糟。在你堆金积玉的时候，你的生活却看起来一贫如洗。一个吹毛求疵的人在天堂也能找到些问题。即使一贫如洗，也要热爱你的生活。纵然身处陋室，你也可以度过愉快、兴奋、辉煌的时光。斜阳西照，透过济贫院的窗，如在富人公寓的窗子上一般明亮；两地门前的积雪都会在初春消融。在我眼中，只有心态平和的人才会容易满足，积极乐观，不论身处何地都可以像在皇宫一般。于我而言，城中的穷人常常有着最独立自由的生活，可能只是由于他们伟大到可以乐观接受一切。大多数人是不屑于靠城镇的援助生活的；但事实上，他们却常常通过不正当的途径谋生，而这样的行为令他们更加不堪。视穷困如园中芳草，像圣人那般耕植它吧！别再为追寻新事物而徒增忧愁，不管是新衣服还是新朋友。去寻找那旧有的事物，返璞归真。世间万物是不变的，变的是我们。你可以卖掉衣服，但要保留自己的思想。 絮语点滴 生活的真谛在于悠然自得。世间万物，无欲则刚，有容乃大！ Companionship of Books British│Samuel Smiles A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps, for there is a companionship of books as well as of men, and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men. A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling1 us in age. Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book. The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize2 with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together and he, in them. A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out, for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished3, become our constant companions and comforters. Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products, for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good. Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe. 热词天地 1.console [kən'səʊl] 安慰，慰问，抚慰 2.sympathize ['sɪmpəˌθaɪz] 同情；赞同；支持 3.cherish ['tʃerɪʃ] 珍爱；钟爱；怀念 as well as 也，又 whether…or…是……还是…… in times of在……的时刻；在……的时期 与书为伴 【英】塞缪尔.斯迈尔斯 读一个人在读的书，如同读这个人本身；同样的，观察他的朋友，也如同观察这个人自身。因为有的人用书来做伴，也有的人与人做伴；不管以书为友还是与人为伴，每个人都要有自己的知己。 一本好书可以成为我们的挚友，它始终如一，永不改变。它是最耐心、最令人欢欣的伴侣。即使在穷困之时，危难之际，它也不会背弃我们；它总是那么亲切，满心善意地接受我们。年华正盛之时，好书可以给予我们快乐，为我们指引方向；当年华逝去，好书又能给我们的心灵以慰藉与鼓励。人们经常由于喜欢同一本书而成为知己。书是一种更加真实和高尚的情感纽带。人们可以通过自己最喜爱的作者沟通想法，交流情感，彼此心意相通，共享悲欢。他们与作者同在，作者也与他们共生。好书如最精致的器皿，珍藏着人生思想的精粹。这是因为在很大程度上，人类生活的世界就是人们思想的世界。因此，最好的书籍就是那些被铭记并珍藏的良言佳句和卓越思想，它们已经成为了我们永恒的伴侣与慰藉。书籍有着不朽的本质。它们是迄今为止人类创造的最为恒久的作品。寺庙会坍塌，神像会朽烂，但书籍却经久长存。对那些伟大的思想来说，时间是微不足道的，多年前首次出现在作者脑海的那些伟大思想，今天依然清新如故。那时的语言和思想依然栩栩如生，它们跃然纸上同我们侃侃而谈。时间唯一的作用就是：取其精华，去其糟粕，因为只有真正优秀的文学作品，才能经得起时间的淬炼。 书籍让我们同优秀的人做朋友，让我们置身于历代伟人巨匠之间。我们如闻其声，如观其行，如见其人。我们与他们情感融汇，悲喜与共；我们对他们的经历感同身受，恍若在作者描绘的舞台上，与他们一起登场。 絮语点滴 古人说，书中有黄金屋、颜如玉、千盅粟；我说书中有闺中友、万栋宅。所以，把握你的财富吧！ True Nobility American│Ernest Hemingway In a calm sea every man is a pilot. But all sunshine without shade, all pleasure without pain, is not life at all. Take the lot of the happiest—it is a tangled yarn. Bereavements1 and blessings, one following another, make us sad and blessed by turns. Even death itself makes life more loving. Men come closest to their true selves in the sober moments of life, under the shadows of sorrow and loss. In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character, not brains so much as heart, not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment. I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without. In an age of extravagance2 and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity are. To regret one's errors to the point of not repeating them is true repentance3. There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self. 热词天地 1.bereavement [bɪ'ri:vmənt] 丧亲之痛 2.extravagance [ɪk'strævəɡəns] 奢侈品；挥霍 3.repentance [rɪ'pentəns] 后悔；忏悔；悔过 真正的高贵 【美】欧内斯特.海明威 风平浪静的海面上，每个人都是自己生命的舵手。 然而，假如只有阳光没有阴霾，只有欢笑，没有悲伤哭泣，那他与生活的本质就渐行渐远了。人生的欢乐，就像一团纠结的毛线：丧亲之痛和上帝的恩宠在循环往复着，我们的喜怒哀乐，周而复始。连死亡也可以让人对生命愈加眷恋。所以，当人悲伤惆怅时，也往往接近最真实的自己。 不管是在生活琐事上，还是在职场羁务方面，才智没有性情重要，头脑没有心灵重要，禀赋也没有以判断为基础的自制、耐心与自律重要。 我深信，内心严谨的人生活得更加简朴。在这个物欲横流，奢靡成风的时代，我由衷地希望能够告知所有人，人类真正所需的，其实很少。 错了能改正，不重蹈覆辙，才是真正意义上的悔悟。 胜人一筹，高人一等，都不能称为高贵；真正高贵的人，在于比过去的自己更进一步。 絮语点滴 接受真实也就是更客观地评价自己，评价外界。这样不至于让自己大喜大悲，也不会情绪失控，一发不可收拾。 Taking Your Fun American│Orison Marden Ten things are necessary for happiness in this life, the first being a good digestion, and the other nine—money; so at least it is said by our modern philosophers. Yet the author of A Gentle Life speaks more truly in saying that the Divine Creation includes thousands of superfluous1 joys which are totally unnecessary to the bare support of life. He alone is the happy man who has learned to extract happiness—not from ideal conditions, but from the actual ones about him. The man who has mastered the secret will not wait for ideal surroundings; he will not wait until next year, next decade, until he gets rich, until he can travel abroad, until he can afford to surround himself with works of the great masters; but he will make the most out of life today, where he is. Paradise is here or nowhere; you must take your joy with you or you will never find it. It is after business hours, not in them, that men break down. Men must, like Philip Amour, turn the key on business when they leave it, and at once unlock the doors of some wholesome2 recreation. Dr. Lyman Beecher used to divert himself with a violin. He had a regular system of what he called "unwinding", thus relieving the great strain put upon him. "A man," says Dr. Johnson, "should spend part of his time with the laughers." Humor was Lincoln's life-preserver, as it has been of thousands of others. "If it were not for this," he used to say, "I should die." His jests and quaint stories lighted the gloom of dark hours of national peril. "Next to virtue," said Agnes Strickland, " the fun in this world is what we can least spare." "I have fun from morning till night, " said the editor Charles A. Dana to a friend who was growing prematurely old. "Do you read novels, and play billiards, and walk a great deal?" Gladstone early formed a habit of looking on the bright side of things, and never lost a moment's sleep by worrying about public business. There are many out-of-door sports, and the very presence of nature is to many a great joy. How true it is that, if we are cheerful and contented3, all nature smiles with us—the air seems more balmy4, the sky more clear, the earth has a brighter green, the trees have a richer foliage, the flowers are more fragrant, the birds sing more sweetly, and the sun, moon, and stars all appear more beautiful. "It is a grand thing to live—to open the eyes in the morning and look out upon the world, to drink in the pure air and enjoy the sweet sunshine, to feel the pulse bound, and the being thrill with the consciousness of strength and power in every nerve; it is a good thing simply to be alive, and it is a good world we live in, in spite of the abuse we are fond of giving it." Upon every side of us are to be found what one has happily called—unworked joy mines. And he who goes "prospecting" to see what he can daily discover is a wise man, training his eyes to see beauty in everything and everywhere. "One ought, every day," says Goethe, "at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." And if this be good for oneself, why not try the song, the poem, the picture, and the good words on someone else? Shall music and poetry die out of you while you are struggling for that which can never enrich5 the character, nor add to the soul's worth? Shall a disciplined imagination fill the mind with beautiful pictures? He who has intellectual resources to fall back upon will not lack for daily recreation most wholesome... In the world of books, what is grand and inspiring may easily become a part of every man's life. A fondness for good literature, for good fiction, for travel, for history, and for biography—what is better than this? 热词天地 1.superfluous [su:'pɜ:flʊəs] 过多的；多余的 2.wholesome ['həʊlsəm] 有益健康的；健全的；合乎卫生的 3.contented [kən'tentɪd] 满意的，满足的 4.balmy ['bɑ:mɪ] （指空气）暖和的；温暖的；芳香的 5.enrich [ɪn'rɪtʃ] 使充实；使丰富；使富有；使富裕 用快乐装点生活 【美】奥里森.马登 要想拥有幸福的生活，就一定要具备十个条件。第一，要有良好的消化能力，其余九项毫无例外均为—财富。至少，我们现代哲学家们是这样讲的。然而，《温柔的生活》的作者给的说法好像更为精准，他说神圣产物中蕴含着不可数的过剩快乐，假如一个人对生活无所欲求，那么，这些快乐就全无必要了。 他本身就是一个快乐的人，他懂得如何获取快乐—快乐并非来自于虚幻的想象，而是来自于身边真实的生活。一个掌握了其中奥妙的人不会抱有不切实际的幻想。他不会等到下一年、下个十年才去享受快乐；他不会等到自己变得富有，可以到国外旅行，可以拥有无数大师级作品的时候才去拥抱快乐；他只会尽情地享受现在所拥有的每一天。 人间处处都可以是天堂，但你首先必须保持一颗快乐的心，否则将永远难以寻觅快乐。通常，放松的时间，而不是工作时间，容易让人崩溃。人们要以菲利普·阿穆尔为典范，在不工作时，就扭转钥匙，立即打开这扇益于身心的娱乐活动之门。莱曼·比彻博士常常用一把小提琴来转移他的注意力。他有一套十分规律的、被他称作“降压”的系统，以此来减轻自己身上的巨大压力。 约翰逊博士说过：“人应该多用点时间欢笑。” 幽默是林肯人生的护身符，还有无数的人也是如此。他常常说：“假如不是如此，我早就一命呜呼了。”正是他的幽默与人生中的传奇故事照亮了美国低谷时期忧郁又暗淡的时光。 艾格尼斯·斯特里克兰说：“除了美德，我们在这个世界还能够分享欢笑。” “我整天都很快乐。”编辑查尔斯·达纳向一个未老先衰的朋友问道，“平时，你是否会读读小说、打打桌球或者经常散散步呢？” 格莱斯顿很早就养成了一个良好习惯。他习惯于去发现事物中好的方面，因此他从没因忧愁公务而错过片刻的睡眠。 很多的户外运动和自然景象都能给我们带来欢乐。这是一个毋庸置疑的事实——假如我们心情舒畅、心满意足，大自然也会向我们展开笑颜—空气似乎更加温暖，天空也好像更加澄澈，大地呈现出更加明亮的绿意，树木的枝叶更加繁茂，花儿更为芬芳四溢，鸟儿的歌声更为甜美，太阳、月亮和繁星都更加美丽迷人。“活着真是一件很美妙的事—清晨，张开眼睛，极目眺望窗外的美景，尽情啜饮清新的空气，全然沐浴暖暖的日光，尽情感受脉搏的跳动，并为每一根神经里迸跃的力量而激动不已；简朴地生活是一件美好的事，我们生活在一个美丽的世界，虽然我们总是不经意地给它带来伤害。” 任何人身上都有着被称之为“未被挖掘的快乐宝藏”，它遍布在每个角落。 那个每天去“采矿”，并能够有新发现的人才是真正的智者，他让自己的眼睛随时随地都能发现生活中的美好。 歌德曾说：“一个人每天至少要听一首歌曲，读一首好诗，赏一幅精致的画，并且，假如有可能，再说上几句满含哲理的话语。”假若这样有助于身心，何不试着让其他人也去听歌、读诗、赏画、讲几句美言呢？当你在为那些既不能丰富你的性格、又不能增进你心灵价值的事物而不懈追逐时，音乐和诗歌可有在你的心底销声匿迹？墨守成规的想象力怎能在你的大脑中填满精美的图画呢？一个思想博大精深的人每天都不会缺乏益于身心的娱乐活动…… 在书的世界，宏伟而激励人心的篇章很容易地就可以成为每个人生活的一部分。说到对优秀的文学、出色的小说、游记、史书和人物传记等的喜欢—还有什么喜悦能超越其上呢？ 絮语点滴 生活可以枯燥无味，也可以丰富多彩；可以平淡无奇，也可以绮丽绚烂。只要你调整好心态，安排好做事的顺序，生活就会朝着你希望的方向发展。 The Faculty of Delight British│Charles Edward Montague Among the mind's powers is one that comes of itself to many children and artists. It need not be lost, to the end of his days, by anyone who has ever had it. This is the power of taking delight in a thing, or rather in anything, everything, not as a means to some other end, but just because it is what it is, as the lover dotes on whatever may be the traits of the beloved object. A child in the full health of his mind will put his hand flat on the summer turf1, feel it, and give a little shiver of private glee2 at the elastic firmness of the globe. He is not thinking how well it will do for some game or to feed sheep upon. That would be the way of the wooer whose mind runs on his mistress's money. The child's is sheer affection, the true ecstatic sense of the thing's inherent characteristics. No matter what the things may be, no matter what they are good or no good for, there they are, each with a thrilling unique look and feel of its own, like a face; the iron astringently3 coop4 under its paint, the painted wood familiarly warmer, the clod crumbling enchantingly down in the hands, with its little dry smell of the sun and of hot nettles; each common thing a personality marked by delicious differences. The joy of an Adam new to the garden and just looking round is brought by the normal child to the things that he does as well as those that he sees. To be suffered to do some plain work with the real spade used by mankind can give him a mystical exaltation: to come home with his legs, as the French say, reentering his body from the fatigue of helping the gardener to weed5 beds sends him to sleep in the glow of a beatitude that is an end in itself... 热词天地 1.turf [tɜ:f] 草皮；泥炭 2.glee [gli:] 快乐，欢喜；重唱的歌曲 3.astringently [əst'rɪndʒəntlɪ] 收敛性地；压缩地 4.coop [ku:p] 把……关在笼子（或栏舍等）中；把……拘禁起来 5.weed [wi:d] 给……除杂草；除（草） 喜悦的能力 【英】查理斯.爱德华.蒙太古 在人的心理能力中，有一种能力对许多孩子和艺术家来说是天生的，并且一旦获得，就终生不会失去。这种能力就是从某一事物，甚至每个事物中感受快乐的能力。之所以感到快乐，并非因为那件事是达到其他目的的手段。只因那件事物自身，正如一个情人觉得他所爱的对象十分完美一样。一个心智健全的孩子可能会把手平放在夏天的草地上，抚摸它，他觉得坚实的大地也好像有些弹性，从而发自内心地感到欢喜。他并不会考虑，这草地多么适合做某个游戏或者它可以用来喂羊。若是那样的话，那就成为贪图钱财的求婚者的恶行了。但孩子的感情却是一种纯粹的喜爱，是对这件事物本身发自内心的喜欢。无论这些事物是什么，也无论它们有用或无用，它们自然而然地存在，有着自身动人的神情与韵味，如同一张面孔；油漆之下冰凉的钢铁，温暖可亲的颜色木料，拿在手里一揉便碎的迷人的土块，微微带有日晒与荨麻的干燥味道；每个普通的事物都有着各种可爱的区别，这显示了其独特的个性。 初到伊甸园的亚当四处张望，满怀欣喜，这是一个正常的孩子在做或者看什么的时候，所感受到的一种喜悦。假如让他拿起人们用的真正的铲子去做些普通的劳动，那他定会感到一种神秘的欣喜。当他历经一番辛劳，帮园丁把花园的杂草除去，像法国人说的那样，两只脚如缩进身体里似的走了回来，他会在一片愉悦之光的照耀下安然入睡—这事情本身便是他的目的…… 絮语点滴 愿我们保持儿童般纯真的情感，对周围的一切事物都能产生纯粹的喜悦！ Dance Like No One's Watching Anonymous We always convince1 ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they have grown up. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We always tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse2 gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, and are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin—real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned onto me that these obstacles were my life." Yes, there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. And remember that time waits for no one. So stop waiting until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy... Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So, work like you don't need money! Love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching! 热词天地 1.convince [kən'vɪns] 使确信；说服 2.spouse [spaʊs] 配偶 纵情起舞 佚名 我们总是在说服自己，在我们结婚生子后，生活会更美好。然而接下来，我们又会为孩子太小而困扰，同时又以为等孩子长大些，我们的生活会更令人满意。但等到孩子进入青春期，我们还是很苦恼。这时我们又会想，等孩子过了青春期，我们一定会幸福。 我们一直不停地对自己说，等夫妻消除分歧，等我们有一辆更美观耐用的汽车，并且能有一个美好的假期，等我们退休了，生活肯定会幸福圆满。 我很欣赏阿尔弗雷德·苏泽的一则名言：“长久以来，我总是觉得，一种真正的生活就要开始，但一直某种阻碍，比如：急于完成的事务、没有干完的工作、要奉献的一些时间、未偿还的债务。这些都要先解决，然后真正的生活才会开始。我终于明白了，这些障碍本身就是我的生活。”是的，没有通往幸福的道路，幸福本身就是一条路。记住时不我待。所以不要等你有幸再来世上走一遭时才明白此时此刻最应快乐…… 幸福是一段旅程，而不是终点。所以，尽心工作吧，就像你根本不需要钱一样；尽情去爱吧，就像你未曾被伤害过；纵情起舞吧，就像根本无人观望。 絮语点滴 生活其实很简单，不要把幸福一直往后推。是的，没有什么途径可以通往幸福，幸福本身就是道路。 The Pleasure of Study American│Helen Keller The next important step in my education was learning to read. As soon as I could spell a few words my teacher gave me slips of cardboard on which were printed words in raised letters. I quickly learned that each printed word stood for an object, an act, or a quality. I had a frame in which I could arrange the words in little sentences; but before I ever put sentences in the frame I used to make them in objects. I found the slips of paper which represented, for example, "doll" "is" "on" "bed" and placed each name on its object; then I put my doll on the bed with the words "is" "on" "bed" arranged1 beside the "doll", thus making a sentence of the words, and at the same time carrying out the idea of the sentence with the things themselves. One day, Miss Sullivan tells me, I pinned the word "girl" on my pinafore and stood in the wardrobe. On the shelf I arranged the words, "is" "in" "wardrobe". Nothing delighted me so much as this game. My teacher and I played it for hours at a time. Often everything in the room was arranged in object sentences. From the printed slip it was but a step to the printed book. I took my Reader for Beginners and hunted for the words I knew; when I found them my joy was like that of a game of hide-and-seek. Thus I began to read. Of the time when I began to read connected stories I shall speak later. For a long time I had no regular2 lessons. Even when I studied most earnestly it seemed more like play than work. Everything Miss Sullivan taught me she illustrated by a beautiful story or a poem. Whenever anything delighted or interested me she talked it over with me just as if she were a little girl herself. What many children think of with dread, as a painful plodding through grammar, hard sums and harder definitions, is today one of my most precious memories. I cannot explain the peculiar sympathy Miss Sullivan had with my pleasures and desires. Perhaps it was the result of long association with the blind. Added to this she had a wonderful faculty for description. She went quickly over uninteresting details, and never nagged me with questions to see if I remembered the day-before-yesterday’s lesson. She introduced dry technicalities of science little by little, making every subject so real that I could not help remembering what she taught. We read and studied out of doors, preferring the sunlit woods to the house. All my early lessons have in them the breath of the woods—the fine, resinous odour of pine needles, blended with the perfume of wild grapes. Seated in the gracious3 shade of a wild tulip tree, I learned to think that everything has a lesson and a suggestion. "The loveliness of things taught me all their use." Indeed, everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom had a part in my education—noisy-throaty frogs, katydids and crickets held in my hand until forgetting their embarrassment, they trilled their reedy note, little downy chickens and wildflowers, the dogwood blossoms, meadow-violets and budding fruit trees. I felt the bursting cotton-bolls and fingered their soft fiber and fuzzy seeds; I felt the low soughing of the wind through the cornstalks, the silky rustling of the long leaves, and the indignant snort of my pony, as we caught him in the pasture and put the bit in his mouth—ah me! How well I remember the spicy, clover smell of his breath!试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]