Three Days to See

BMA004

Three Days to See
副标题：
作者：佚名 文章来源：不详 点击数：457 更新时间：2005-5-9




Suppose you set your mind to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyes if you had three more days 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 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 in the night that loomed before you.
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 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 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.
Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for just three days!

*作者海伦·凯勒(Helen Keller, 1980—1968),美国聋哑妇作家、教育家。

THREE DAYS TO SEE

Helen Keller
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 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. [P1]
我们大家都读过一些激动人心的故事，故事中的主人公将不久于人世，余下的日子屈指可数，长不过一年，短则只有一天。我们始终很想知道，这个死到临头的人作出什么样的抉择来度过最后的命数。我说的当然不是那些活动范围受到严重限制的死囚，而是可以自由选择的人。


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? [P2]
这类故事引起我们思索和遐想：在类似情况下我们会做些什么呢？哪些事情、哪些经历、哪些联想会在临死前的最后时刻一股脑儿涌向心头呢？当我们回首往事时，又有哪些欣慰和惋惜之感呢？


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.[P3]
有时我想，把每一天都当作生命的最后一天来过，也许是一种极好的生活准则。这种态度会使生命的价值鲜明突出，使我们以优雅的风度、旺盛的经历和高度珍惜的心情度过每一天；而当我们觉得岁月延绵不断，来日方长是，往往失掉这种态度。当然有人会因而奉行享乐主义的信条，一味吃喝玩乐，但更多的人却会因行将就木而变得严肃纯洁

Most of us 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. [P4]
我们大多数人把生命示若等闲。虽然我们知道人必有一死，但通常把这一天看作遥遥无期。我们身强力壮时根本想不到死，很少去讨论它。时光一复一日，年复一年地过去，好象看不到尽头。于是我们碌碌于琐事，并不觉察自己对待生命的态度是冷漠倦怠的。


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. [P5]<![endif]>
我们大多数人把生命示若等闲。虽然我们知道人必有一死，但通常把这一天看作遥遥无期。我们身强力壮时根本想不到死，很少去讨论它。时光一复一日，年复一年地过去，好象看不到尽头。于是我们碌碌于琐事，并不觉察自己对待生命的态度是冷漠倦怠的。
我想，我们在运用自己的全部心智和官能时，又何尝不是冷漠而倦怠的呢。只有聋子才珍惜听觉，只有盲人才领悟光明所赐给人们的难以数计的幸福。成年时失明失聪的人对此尤感深切。但是视力和听力从未受过损伤的人却很少充分运用他们的天赋。他们视而不见，充耳不闻，对所见所闻漫不经心，毫无鉴赏珍惜之意。事情往往是这样，失去之物，方知珍惜；生了病才知道健康之可贵。


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. [P6]
我时常在想，倘若让每个人在刚刚成年的某个时期尝一点苦头，瞎几天，聋几天，恐怕颇有裨益。黑暗会使人更加珍惜光明，寂静会告诉人们听到声音时的欢乐。


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. [P7]
我不时地试探明眼的朋友，想了解他们看见了些什么。不久前一位好友来看我，她刚从林中散步回来，我问她看到了些什么，她说一切都平淡无奇。若不是我早就听惯了这种回答，早就确信明眼人熟视无睹，我定会大吃一惊的。


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 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 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.[P8]
我暗自思忖，这怎么可能呢？在林中散步一小时而竟然没有看到任何值得注意的东西？我这个盲人仅靠触摸就发现了成百上千种有趣的东西。我钟爱地伸手抚摸，感觉出树叶的对称十分精巧，白桦树的肌肤光滑细腻，松树皮粗糙凸凹。春天里我触摸着树枝，满怀热望地寻觅着大自然冬眠醒来的第一个征兆——嫩芽。我触感到，花瓣的质地柔软平滑，十分讨人喜爱，片片花瓣巧妙的卷绕成团；于是，大自然的神奇向我展现。有时我把手轻轻地放在小树上，运气好的时候，我能感到枝头鸟儿尽情欢唱时愉快的颤动，清凉的溪水从我张开的手指间流过，使我欣喜无比；对我来说，那铺满地面的松针，那宛如海绵的绿茵，远远胜过豪华的波斯地毯。在我来看，一年四季的绚丽景色犹如一出无尽的动人的戏剧，一幕紧接一幕地从我的指尖上缓缓流过。


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 convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life. [P9]
我的心时时在大声呐喊，渴望看见所有这一切。既然仅凭触觉我就能得到这许多欢乐，那么视觉向我展现的美景不更多得不可胜数了吗？可是，明眼人显然徒有两只眼睛，充满着大千世界的丰富多彩，千姿百态的画景，在他们看来竟是平淡无奇。有了的东西不加珍惜，没有的东西却又一味追求，这也许是人知常情。然而，在这个光明的世界上，天赋的视觉却仅仅被当作一种方便的条件，而不是用来充实生活，这毕竟是极大的憾事。


Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for three day! [P10]
哦，倘若给我光明，哪怕仅仅三天，我将能看到多少东西啊！

         ——选自《英语世界》  许明龙  译



---Excerpts from THE WORLD OF ENGLISH