By Helen Keller

I

All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had 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 condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.

我们所有人都曾读过些动人心弦的故事，讲述主人翁们余时不多的有限生命，或是仅余一年，或是仅余一日。其中最能引我们入胜的，往往是如此一个疑问：这些已被录入死神裁决书的人们，是如何度过他们最后的时日的？当然，我并非在说那些被严酷地限制着人身自由的犯人，这里我所要谈到的，是自由如我们这样，有着充分选择权的人们。

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 past, what regrets?

这样的故事让我们思考：如果有一天，相同的情境里代入了我们自己，我们在生命仅剩的片断中该做些什么，想些什么？当我们回首过往，看见的又会是如何的幸福，如何的遗憾？

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 often lost when time stretches 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.

有时我会想，也许最好的生活方式便是将每一天当作自己的末日。用这样的态度去生活，生命的价值方可得以彰显。我们本应当纯良知恩、满怀激情地过好每一天，然而一日循着一日，一月接着一月，一年更似一年，这些品质往往被时间冲淡。当然也有人自得其乐于伊壁鸠鲁派 “人生得意须尽欢”的生活，但死亡的迫近往往能让大多数人惶惶恐恐不可终日。

In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last 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 they do.

在故事中，主人翁通常会在命悬一刻时得到幸运女神的垂青，但他的价值观也总是因此而改变——生命的意义与其永生的精神价值将在他心中升华凝结。我们常注意到，那些过去曾经，或是如今正活在死亡阴影之下的人们，他们每做一件小事，都充盈着甜蜜的动力。

Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know 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, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

然而，我们大多数人都将生命视作天经地义、理所应当。我们知道有一天我们必将溘然长逝，但我们觉得那一天是在遥远的未来！在我们年壮身强的日子里，死亡是不可想象的。我们也很少去思考它。时间无限地向前延展，我们做着这些那些琐琐碎碎的事，根本觉察不到我们对生活的冷漠。

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. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing 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 grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.

恐怕当我们在利用自己的感官和能力之时，也是同样地懒惰。只有聋子才珍惜听觉，只有盲人才能够体会光明那无尽的美好。对于那些在成年之后才失去听觉或是视力的人们更是如此。那些从未在视觉和听觉方面感受过障碍的人们，往往很少充分利用自己这些天赐的珍贵能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地吸收着所见的事物和听到的声音，不集中注意力，也不心存感激。常言说，失去之后方知珍惜，久病卧床才知要强身健体，正是如此啊！

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 would teach him the joys of sound.

我常常会想，如果让一个刚刚成年的人盲上些日子，或是聋上些日子，这或许也是种恩赐。因为黑暗将使他更加珍惜光明，而一片死寂才更能让他体会到声音的可贵。

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 incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.

时不时地，我会询问我那些有正常视力的朋友们，问他们看见了什么。最近，一位挚友从林中散步归来，前来探访我，我便问她看到了什么。“没什么特别的呀。”她答道。其实对这样的回答我早已习惯，因为长时间以来，我已慢慢知道，视力正常的人看不见什么东西。

How was 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 feel 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 the spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter’s sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture 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 waters of a brook rush thought my open finger. 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.

我问自己，以常人的视力享受了一个小时的林中漫步而没有发现任何值得看的事物，这怎么可能？我这个看不见东西的盲人，尚能通过触摸发觉到成百上千充满趣味的事物。我曾感受叶子精巧的对称，我也曾细抚白桦柔滑的皮肤和松树粗糙不平的表皮。春日里我渴望在树干上发现一簇嫩芽，因为那预示着久经寒冬的大自然正从长眠中醒来。我感受着花瓣们令人惊喜的天鹅绒般的触感，发觉它们特别的弧线，领略大自然的鬼斧神工。偶尔，当我将双手放在小树上的时候，还能幸运地感受到高歌的鸟儿身体那愉悦的颤抖。当清凉的小溪水从我指间流过，我更是满心欢喜。苍翠的松针或柔嫩的青草铺就的郁郁葱葱的地毯，比奢美华丽的波斯地毯还要让我倾心。对我而言，一年四季壮美的变幻就是一出动人心弦、永不会落幕的戏剧，情节如小溪流的水一般，顺着我指尖缓缓流过。

At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these 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 color and action which fills the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have and to 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 conveniences rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.

有时我是如此渴望目睹这一切。仅凭触摸便能得到如此多的欢乐，若是能够亲眼望见，又将是多么地美好。然而视力正常的人们却什么也看不见，世界的五光十色、光怪陆离对他们来说只是理所应当的存在。也许人类的悲哀便在于此，拥有的东西不去珍惜，对于得不到的却永远渴望。在触得到光明的世界里，上天赋予的视力并非为已经很完美的生活锦上添花的手段，而只是一个便利，这真是太遗憾了。

If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in “How to Use Your Eyes”. The professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joy to their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dormant and sluggish faculties.

如果我是大学校长，我一定会开设必修课“如何使用你的眼睛”。教授们应该教导学生如何唤醒自己因沉睡已久而变得迟钝的感官，来抓住那些曾经无声流逝却不被重视的美好，从而使自己的生活更加幸福。

II

Perhaps I can best illustrate by imagining what I should most like to see if I were given the use of my eyes, say, for just three days. And while I am imagining, suppose you, too, set your mind to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyes if you had only three more days to see. If with the on-coming 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?

或许，让我来想象一下——这会让我说得更清楚，假如给我光明，就短短三天吧，我最想看到的是什么。当我这样想象的时候，你或许也会跟着我一起想象，假如仅剩下三天光明，你将如何利用自己的眼睛。如果第三天的长夜结束之后，你将永远不能再看见日出，这宝贵的三天你又将如何度过？你最希望凝视的，将是什么呢？

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.

当然，我最想看见的是在我多年黑暗的日子里变得弥足珍贵的东西。我想你也希望能够多看看对于自己来说最宝贵的事物，这样，你就可以将这些美好的记忆在接连而来的黑暗中永远保留下来。

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.

如果奇迹真的让我获得了三天光明，而随后我的生活又将归于黑暗，我会将这宝贵的时间分为三份。

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.

第一天，我要看看每一个善待我、陪伴我的人，感谢他们让我的生命变得有意义。首先，我想长时间凝视安妮·沙利文·梅西夫人——我可亲可爱的老师。在我的孩提时代，她来到我身边，为我打开了通向外面世界的门户。我不仅要看看她脸的轮廓，将它珍藏于记忆，还要细细研读她的面庞，在她脸上发现那份支持她克服困难教育我的动力——充满同情心的温柔与耐心。我要看她眼中流动的力量，正是这种力量使得她在艰难险阻面前依然坚定，以及她包容全人类的悲悯，这是我经常能感受得到的。

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.

我无法透过“心灵之窗”——眼睛去洞察朋友们的内心世界，就只能使用指尖的触觉去“看”面庞的轮廓。我能觉察到喜怒哀乐与其他明显的情绪波动，我能通过感受朋友们的脸去认识他们。然而，我却无法通过他们的行为举止和观点言论了解他们的性格。不过我确信，借由视力观察他们对不同事物、不同观点作出的不同反应，抓住他们眉眼间稍纵即逝的表情，我就能获得对他们深层次的理解。

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.

与我走得很近的朋友，我还是十分了解的，因为在年复一年的日子里，他们向我展示了他们的方方面面。然而与我不那么熟悉的朋友只能在我脑海中留下非常片面的印象，这些印象仅仅来自我们的握手动作、我用指尖在他们嘴唇上感受到的话语，或是他们在我掌心中比画出的片言只语。

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?

而对于你，一个视力正常的人来说，仅仅通过观察人们表情的细节、肌肉的轻颤与手掌的挥动就能立刻了解他们最根本的品质，这是何其简单而又何其令人愉悦的事啊！可是，你曾用你的视力去了解你的朋友或是熟人的内心吗？你们大多数人通常都是随意地一瞥，留意到一张脸的表象特征并以貌取人，难道不是这样吗？

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.

我们来举个例子，你能够准确描述出五位好朋友的脸吗？有些人可以，但很多人做不到。我曾做过这样的试验，询问一些男士他们可知道朝夕相处的妻子的眼睛是什么颜色，他们很多人都面露尴尬之色，承认他们不知道。顺带一提，妻子们也一直在抱怨自己的丈夫注意不到她们的新衣帽与家庭布置的变化。

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.

有正常视力的人们早已习惯了周遭的日常琐事，对他们来说，能够入眼的唯有那些令人惊讶和非常吸引眼球的事情。不过即使在他们看着这些珍奇事物的时候，他们的眼睛也充满了惰性。法庭记录证明，目击者提供的描述常常不甚准确。对于同一件事情，不同的目击者有不同的观察方式，有的人看见的东西比其他人多些，但能全面地观察到视野中所有事物的人却几乎没有。

Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for just three days!

啊，如果能得到三天光明，我将能看到多少美好的东西！

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.

第一天将会是忙忙碌碌的一天。我要召唤来所有的好朋友，久久凝视他们的脸庞，将他们的美丽心灵在脸上的投影铭刻于心。我也会细细观察婴儿的小脸，来捕捉天真无邪、充满求知欲的美，那里还没有与生活抗争留下的痕迹。

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.

我还要看看我的忠犬们充满信赖的眼神——严肃、谨慎的苏格兰犬达基和强壮、善解人意的丹麦大狗海尔格。它们温柔热情而又充满乐趣，给了我莫大的安慰。

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.

在这繁忙的第一天，我还要观察我房间里细碎繁杂的小玩意。我要看我脚下的毯子温暖的色泽、壁挂的装饰画和那些不起眼的私用小物件们，它们将房间点缀成一个家。我的眼睛将敬重地落在书架上我曾经读过的盲文书上，不过，那些拥有视力的人们阅读的印刷书籍将更加吸引我。在我度过的漫漫长夜之中，正是这些我读过的书以及别人读给我听的书，为我的生命和精神之船指明了最好的航道，一如暗夜中闪耀的灯塔。

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.

这第一天的下午，我要去森林进行一次远足，用大自然的美丽景观来让我的眼睛陶醉。我要花几小时如饥似渴地汲饮这些每日都展现在常人眼前的景色。远足归来途中，我会路过一处农庄，看一看在田间辛勤耕作的马儿（可能那儿只有一台拖拉机！）和面朝黄土、身心安然的人们。我也要祈祷能看到一场华美的日落。

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.

日暮时分，我将感受到双重的快乐。大自然宣告了黑夜的来临，而人类的天才却在暗夜中造出光明，延伸了视觉。

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.

在拥有视力的第一天，我一定会反复回味白天美好的记忆，兴奋得难以入睡。

III

The next day—the second day of sight—I should arise with the dawn and see the thrilling miracle by which night is transformed into day. I should behold with awe the magnificent panorama of light with which the sun awakens the sleeping earth.

在能够拥抱光明的第二天，我将伴着黎明的晨光起身，去看那暗夜转化为白昼的奇景。我将怀着敬畏的心情，去看太阳以自己的光辉唤醒沉睡大地的壮丽全景。

This day I should devote to a hasty glimpse of the world, past and present. I should want to see the pageant of man’s progress, the kaleidoscope of the ages. How can so much be compressed into one day? Through the museums, of course. Often I have visited the New York Museum of Natural History to touch with my hands many of the objects there exhibited, but I have longed to see with my eyes the condensed history of the earth and its inhabitants displayed there—animals and the races of men pictured in their native environment; gigantic carcasses of dinosaurs and mastodons which roamed the earth long before man appeared, with his tiny stature and powerful brain, to conquer the animal kingdom; realistic presentations of the processes of development in animals, in man, and in the implements which man has used to fashion for himself a secure home on this planet; and a thousand and one other aspects of natural history.

这一天，我将要浏览这三千世界的过去与现在。千万年的历史变幻至今，我想看看人类在这长河之中发展进步的奇观。如此多的东西，怎能将它们压缩在短短一天之内？当然是通过博物馆。我曾多次用手触摸过纽约自然历史博物馆的展品，但我一直渴望亲眼看看地球的简史和陈列在那里的地球上的居民——按照他们原有的生活环境描画的动物和人类；巨大的恐龙和乳齿象的化石，早在人类出现并以他们短小的身材和发达的头脑征服动物王国以前，它们是地球的主宰；动物进化以及人类劳动工具的实物展示，人类使用这些工具，在这个行星上为自己建造了安全牢固的家；还有自然史的其他无数方面。

I wonder how many readers of this article have viewed this panorama of the face of living things as pictured in that inspiring museum. Many, of course, have not had the opportunity, but I am sure that many who have had the opportunity have not made use of it. There, indeed, is a place to use your eyes. You who see can spend many fruitful days there, but I with my imaginary three days of sight, could only take a hasty glimpse, and pass on.

我不知道有多少本文的读者看到过那个壮观的博物馆里所描绘的那些栩栩如生的动物形形色色的样子。当然，许多人没有这个机会，但是，我相信许多有机会的人没有利用好这个机会。那里确实是使用你眼睛的好地方。有视觉的你可以在那里度过许多受益匪浅的日子，然而我，借助于想象中的能看见的三天，仅能匆匆一瞥而过。

My next stop would be the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for just as the Museum of Natural History reveals the material aspects of the world, so does the Metropolitan show the myriad facets of the human spirit. Throughout the history of humanity the urge to artistic expression has been almost as powerful as the urge for food, shelter, and procreation. And here, in the vast chambers of the Metropolitan Museum, is unfolded before me the spirit of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as expressed in their art. I know well through my hands the sculptured gods and goddesses of the ancient Nile-land. I have felt copies of Parthenon friezes, and I have sensed the rhythmic beauty of charging Athenian warriors. Apollo and Venuses and the Winged Victory of Samothrace are friends of my finger tips. The gnarled, bearded features of Homer are dear to me, for he, too, knew blindness.

我的下一站将是大都会艺术博物馆，因为正像自然史博物馆展示了世界的物质外观那样，大都会艺术博物馆展示了人类精神的无数方面。在整个人类史中，人类对于艺术表现的强烈欲望几乎像对待食物、藏身处，以及生育繁殖一样迫切。在这里，在大都会艺术博物馆巨大的展厅里，埃及、希腊和罗马的精神在它们的艺术中表现出来，展现在我面前。我通过手清楚地知道了古代尼罗河国度诸神的雕塑。我感受了帕特农神庙的檐壁，感到了雅典冲锋战士的韵律美。阿波罗、维纳斯以及双翼胜利之神萨莫色雷斯都是我指尖的朋友。荷马的那副粗糙有须的面容对我来说是极其亲切的，因为他也懂得黑暗。

My hands have lingered upon the living marble of Roman sculpture as well as that of later generations. I have passed my hands over a plaster cast of Michelangelo’s inspiring and heroic Moses; I have sensed the power of Rodin; I have been awed by the devoted spirit of Gothic wood carving. These arts which can be touched have meaning for me, but even they were meant to be seen rather than felt, and I can only guess at the beauty which remains hidden from me. I can admire the simple lines of a Greek vase, but its figured decorations are lost to me.

我的手流连在罗马及之后的时代逼真的大理石雕刻上。我的手抚摸了米开朗琪罗鼓舞人心的英勇的摩西石膏像，我感知到罗丹的力量，我敬畏哥特人对于木刻的虔诚。对我来讲，这些能够触摸的艺术品是极有意义的。然而，它们是供人观赏的，而不是供人触摸的，所以我只能猜测那种我看不见的美。我能欣赏希腊花瓶简朴的线条，但却看不到它的那些图案浮装饰。

So on this, my second day of sight, I should try to probe into the soul of man through this art. The things I knew through touch I should now see. More splendid still, the whole magnificent world of painting would be opened to me, from the Italian Primitives, with their serene religious devotion, to the Moderns, with their feverish visions. I should look deep into the canvases of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt. I should want to feast my eyes upon the warm colors of Veronese, study the mysteries of El Greco, catch a new vision of Nature from Corot. Oh, there is so much rich meaning and beauty in the art of the ages for you who have eyes to see!

因此，这一天，给我光明的第二天，我将通过艺术来探索人类的灵魂。我会看见那些我以前仅能摸到的东西。更妙的是，整个壮丽的绘画世界将向我敞开，从富有宁静宗教色彩的意大利早期艺术直至带有狂想风格的现代派艺术。我将悉心地观察拉斐尔、达·芬奇、提香、伦勃朗的油画。我要饱览韦罗内塞的温暖色彩，研究埃尔·葛雷科的奥秘，从柯罗的绘画中重新认识大自然。啊，你们有正常视力的人们竟能欣赏到历代艺术中如此丰富的意涵和美！

Upon my short visit to this temple of art I should not be able to review a fraction of that great world of art which is open to you. I should be able to get only a superficial impression. Artists tell me that for deep and true appreciation of art one must educate the eye. One must learn through experience to weigh the merits of line, of composition, of form and color. If I had eyes, how happily would I embark upon so fascinating a study! Yet I am told that, to many of you who have eyes to see, the world of art is a dark night, unexplored and unilluminated.

在我对这个艺术圣殿的短暂游览中，我无法评论展开在我面前的那个伟大的艺术世界，因为我只能得到一个肤浅的印象。艺术家们告诉我，要有深刻而真正的艺术鉴赏力，一个人必须训练眼睛。他必须通过经验学习判断线条、构图、形式和色彩的优劣。假如我有视觉，能从事如此让人着迷的研究，该是多么幸福啊！但是，我听说，对于许多有视力的人，艺术世界仍是个有待探索、有待照亮的黑暗世界。

It would be with extreme reluctance that I should leave the Metropolitan Museum, which contains the key to beauty — a beauty so neglected. Seeing persons, however, do not need a metropolitan to find this key to beauty. The same key lies waiting in smaller museums, and in books on the shelves of even small libraries. But naturally, in my limited time of imaginary sight, I should choose the place where the key unlocks the greatest treasures in the shortest time.

要离开装着美的钥匙——这种美经常被忽略——的大都会艺术博物馆，我肯定会极度不情愿。但是，看得见的人们往往并不需要到大都会艺术博物馆去寻找这把美的钥匙。在较小的博物馆中，甚或在小图书馆书架上的书本里，也能找到同样的钥匙。但是，在我假想的有视觉的有限时间里，我自然应当挑选一把能在最短时间内开启最大宝藏的钥匙。

The evening of my second day of sight I should spend at a theatre or at the movies. Even now I often attend theatrical performances of all sorts, but the action of the play must be spelled into my hand by a companion. But how I should like to see with my own eyes the fascinating figure of Hamlet, or the gusty Falstaff amid colorful Elizabethan trappings ! How I should like to follow each movement of the graceful Hamlet, each strut of the hearty Falstaff! And since I could see only one play, I should be confronted by a many-horned dilemma, for there are scores of plays I should want to see. You who have eyes can see any you like. How many of you, I wonder, when you gaze at a play, a movie, or any spectacle, realize and give thanks for the miracle of sight which enables you to enjoy its color, grace, and movement?

拥有光明的第二晚，我要在剧院或电影院里度过。虽然我现在也常常去剧场看各种类型的演出，但是，必须由一位同伴在我手上拼写出剧情。我多么想亲眼看看哈姆莱特迷人的风采，或者穿着伊丽莎白时代鲜艳服饰的精力充沛的福斯塔夫！我多么想跟随优雅的哈姆莱特的每一个动作，注视精神饱满的福斯塔夫每一个神气活现的举止！因为我只能看一场戏，所以我将陷入为难之境，因为我想要看的戏剧有好几十出。你们有视觉，能看你们喜爱的任何东西。当你们观看一出戏剧、一部电影或者任何一个场面时，我不知道，你们究竟有多少人能对使你们享受色彩、优美和动作的视觉的奇迹有所认识，并心存感激呢？

I cannot enjoy the beauty of rhythmic movement except in a sphere restricted to the touch ofmy hands. I can vision only dimly the grace of a Pavlowa, although I know something of thedelight of rhythm, for often I can sense the beat of music as it vibrates through the floor. I can wellimagine that cadenced motion must be one of the most pleasing sights in the world. I have beenable to gather something of this by tracing with my fingers the lines in sculptured marble; if this static grace can be so lovely, how much more acute must be the thrill of seeing grace in motion.

在无法依靠手的触觉的情况下，我不能享受律动的美。虽然我知道一点节奏的欢快，因为我常常能在音乐震动地板时感觉到它的节拍，但我也只能模糊地想象一下巴甫洛娃的优美。我能充分想象那有韵律的动作，它一定是世界上最令人悦目的景象。我用手指感受大理石雕像的线条时，就能够推断出几分。如果这种静态美都能那么可爱，看到的动态美一定更加令人激动。

One of my dearest memories is of the time when Joseph Jefferson allowed me to touch his face and hands as he went through some of the gestures and speeches of his beloved Rip Van Winkle. I was able to catch thus a meager glimpse of the world of drama, and I shall never forget the delight of that moment. But, oh, how much I must miss, and how much pleasure you seeing ones can derive from watching and hearing the interplay of speech and movement in the unfolding of a dramatic performance! If I could see only one play, I should know how to picture in my mind the action of a hundred plays which I have read or had transferred to me through the medium of the manual alphabet.

我最珍贵的回忆之一，就是约瑟夫·杰斐逊让我在他又说又做地表演他所爱的瑞普·凡·温克尔时去摸他的脸庞和双手。我因此能体会到一点点戏剧的世界，我永远不会忘记那一片刻的快乐。但是，我多么希望能观看和倾听戏剧表演中对白和动作的相互作用啊！而你们看得见的人该能从中得到多少快乐啊！如果我能看到仅仅一场戏，我就会知道怎样在脑海中描绘出我用盲文字母读到或了解到的近百部戏剧的情节。

So, through the evening of my second imaginary day of sight, the great fingers of dramatic literature would crowd sleep from my eyes.

所以，在我假想的拥有视力的第二晚，戏剧文学中的那些人物挤走了我的睡眠时间。

IV

The following morning, I should again greet the dawn, anxious to discover new delights, for I am sure that, for those who have eyes which really see, the dawn of each day must be a perpetually new revelation of beauty.

接下来一天的清晨，我将再次迎接黎明，渴望发现新的喜悦，因为我相信，对于那些真正会观察的人，每天的黎明永远都又是一个美的展现。

This, according to the terms of my imagined miracle, is to be my third and last day of sight. I shall have no time to waste in regrets or longings; there is too much to see. The first day I devoted to my friends, animate and inanimate. The second revealed to me the history of man and Nature.

依据我假想的奇迹的期限，这将是我有视觉的第三天，也是最后一天。我将来不及遗憾和渴望，因为有太多的东西要去看。我把第一天奉献给了我有生命和无生命的朋友。第二天我去了解了人与自然的历史。

Today I shall spend in the workaday world of the present, amid the haunts of men going about the business of life. And where can one find so many activities and conditions of men as in New York? So the city becomes my destination.

今天，我将在当前的工作世界中度过，到为生活奔忙的人们活动的地方去。而哪儿能像在纽约一样找得到人们如此多的活动和状况呢？所以，城市成了我的目的地。

I start from my home in the quiet little suburb of Forest Hills, Long Island. Here, surrounded by green lawns, trees, and flowers, are neat little houses, happy with the voices and movements of wives and children, havens of peaceful rest for men who toil in the city. I drive across the lacy structure of steel which spans the East River, and I get a new and startling vision of the power and ingenuity of the mind of man. Busy boats chug and scurry about the river—racy speed boat, stolid, snorting tugs . If I had long days of sight ahead, I should spend many of them watching the delightful activity upon the river.

我从我的家，长岛的福里斯特希尔小而安静的郊区出发。这里环绕着绿色草地、树木和鲜花，有着整洁的小房子，到处是妇女儿童快乐的声音和活动，是城里为生活奔忙的人们安静的港湾。我驱车驶过横跨东河的钢制带状桥梁，对人脑的力量和独创性有了一个深刻的新认识。忙碌的船只在河中轧轧急驶——高速行驶的快艇，还有慢悠悠、喷着鼻息的拖船。如果我能长时间拥有视力，我会用许多时光来眺望这河中令人欢快的景象。

I look ahead, and before me rise the fantastic towers of New York, a city that seems to have stepped from the pages of a fairy story. What an awe-inspiring sight, these glittering spires. These vast banks of stone and steel-structures such as the gods might build for themselves! This animated picture is a part of the lives of millions of people every day. How many, I wonder, give it so much as a seconds glance? Very few, I fear. Their eyes are blind to this magnificent sight because it is so familiar to them.

我向前远望，我的前面耸立着纽约奇异的高塔，这是一个仿佛从神话故事中走出来的城市。多么令人敬畏的景象啊！这些绚丽的尖塔，这些辽阔的石头与钢铁的堤岸——真像诸神为他们自己修建的建筑一般。这幅生动的画面是几百万人民每天生活的一部分。我不知道有多少人会回头多看它一眼，只怕寥寥无几。对这种壮丽的景色，他们视而不见，因为这一切对他们来说是太熟悉了。

I hurry to the top of one of those gigantic structures, the Empire State Building , for there, a short time ago, I “saw” the city below through the eyes of my secretary. I am anxious to compare my fancy with reality. I am sure I should not be disappointed in the panorama spread out before me, for to me it would be a vision of another world.

我匆匆赶到那些庞大建筑物之一——帝国大厦的顶部，因为不久以前，我在那里曾凭借我秘书的眼睛“俯视”过这座城市，我渴望把我的想象同现实作一比较。我相信，展现在我面前的全景一定不会令我失望，因为对我来说，它是另一个世界的景色。

Now I begin my rounds of the city. First, I stand at a busy corner, merely looking at people, trying by sight of them to understand something of their live. I see smiles, and I am happy. I see serious determination, and I am proud, I see suffering, and I am compassionate.

现在，我开始周游这座城市。首先，我站在一个繁华的街角，只看看人，试着凭借对他们的观察去了解他们的生活。看到他们的笑颜，我感到快乐；看到他们严肃的决定，我感到骄傲；看到他们的痛苦，我充满同情。

I stroll down Fifth Avenue. I throw my eyes out of focus, so that I see no particular object but only a seething kaleidoscope of colors. I am certain that the colors of women’s dresses moving in a throng must be a gorgeous spectacle of which I should never tire. But perhaps if I had sight I should be like most other women—too interested in styles and the cut of individual dresses to give much attention to the splendor of color in the mass. And I am convinced, too, that I should become an inveterate window shopper, for it must be a delight to the eye to view the myriad articles of beauty on display.

我沿着第五大道漫步。我没有将目光集中在某一点上，而只看看万花筒般热烈的色彩。我确信，那些在人群中穿梭的妇女的服装色彩一定是一幅永不会令我厌烦的华丽景象。然而如果我有视觉的话，我也许会像其他大多数妇女一样，对服装的式样和剪裁太过注重，而忽略了总体上壮丽的色彩。而且，我还确信，我将成为一位根深蒂固的橱窗爱好者，因为观赏无数精美的陈列品一定是一种眼福。

From Fifth Avenue I make a tour of the city—to Park Avenue , to the slums, to factories, to parks where children play. I take a stay-at-home trip abroad by visiting the foreign quarters. Always my eyes are open wide to all the sights of both happiness and misery so that I may probe deep and add to my understanding of how people work and live. My heart is full of the images of people and things. My eye passes lightly over no single trifle; it strives to touch and hold closely each thing its gaze rests upon. Some sights are pleasant, filling the heart with happiness; but some are miserably pathetic. To these latter I do not shut my eyes, for they, too, are part of life. To close the eye on them is to close the heart and mind.

从第五大道起，我开始环城游览——到公园大道去，到贫民窟去，到工厂去，到孩子们玩耍的公园去。我还将参观外国人居住区，进行一次不出门的海外旅行。我始终密切关注着幸福和悲惨的全部景象，以便能够深入调查，进一步了解人们是怎样工作和生活的。我的心充满了人和物的形象。我的眼睛决不轻易放过一件小事，密切关注它所看到的每一件事物。有些景象令人愉快，让心中充满幸福感；有些则是极其凄惨，令人怜悯。对于后者，我决不闭上我的双眼，因为它们也是生活的一部分。在它们面前闭上眼睛，就等于关闭了心房，关闭了思想。

My third day of sight is drawing to an end. Perhaps there are many serious pursuits to which I should devote the few remaining hours, but I am afraid that on the evening of that last day I should again run away to the theater, to a hilariously funny play, so that I might appreciate the overtones of comedy in the human spirit.

我能够看见的第三天即将结束了。也许有很多重要的事情需要我利用这剩下的几个小时去做。但是，在最后一个夜晚，我恐怕还会再次跑到剧院去，看一场热闹而有趣的戏剧，好让我领略一下人类思想中的喜剧成分。

At midnight my temporary respite from blindness would cease, and permanent night would close in on me again. Naturally in those three short days I should not have seen all I wanted to see.

到了午夜，我摆脱失明的短暂片刻就要结束了，永久的黑夜将再次向我逼近。在那短短的三天，我自然不能看到我想要看到的一切。

Only when darkness had again descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen. But my mind would be so crowded with glorious memories that I should have little time for regrets. Thereafter the touch of every object would bring a glowing memory of how that object looked.

只有在黑暗再次向我袭来时，我才感到我还有很多东西没来得及去看。然而，我的内心充满了灿烂的回忆，因此我不会有时间去懊悔。此后，我每摸到一件物品，我的记忆都将鲜明地反映出那件物品是个什么样子。

Perhaps this short outline of how I should spend three days of sight does not agree with the program you would set for yourself if you knew that you were about to be stricken blind. I am, however, sure that if you actually faced that fate your eyes would open to things you had never seen before, storing up memories for the long night ahead. You would use your eyes as never before. Everything you saw would become dear to you. Your eyes would touch and embrace every object that came within your range of vision. Then, at last, you would really see, and a new world of beauty would open itself before you.

我将怎样度过有视力的三天这个简短的描述，和假如你知道自己即将失明时为自己定下的规划也许不一致。不过我能肯定的是，如果你真的面临这样的命运，你的眼睛会看到之前你从未看见过的东西，为即将来临的漫长黑夜储存记忆。你会以从来没有过的方式使用你的眼睛。对你来说，你看见的每一样东西都会变得珍贵。你的眼睛会接触和接受每一样进入你视线的物体。这个时候，你才真正拥有了视力，一个美丽的新世界才会在你面前展现。

I who am blind can give one hint to those who see—one admonition to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel , as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense: glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides. But of all the senses, I am sure that sight must be the most delightful.

我，一个盲人，能够给有视力的人一个提醒——给将要充分利用视力这一天赐之物的人一个告诫：像明天就要失明那样去使用你的眼睛。同样的道理也适用于其他官能。倾听声音的美妙、小鸟的歌唱、管弦乐队强有力的旋律，仿佛明天你将失聪。触摸你想触摸的每一件东西，仿佛明天你会失去触觉。闻闻花香，津津有味地品尝每一小口食物，仿佛明天你将永远不再有嗅觉和味觉了。最大限度地用好每一个感官，享受世界通过大自然赋予你的几种接触方式给你带来的方方面面的快乐和美。但是在所有的感官之中，我相信视觉必定是最使人快乐的。