Who Was Helen Keller 海伦·凯勒 Chapter 6 Years at Perkins

From Washington, D.C., Annie and Helen made their way by train to Boston. At Perkins, Helen met the now middle-aged¹ Laura Bridgman. The meeting was a disappointment, however. Laura thought that Helen was too much of a tomboy. Helen sat on the floor. Laura did not approve of that. When Helen left, she bent² to kiss Laura good-bye and stepped on Laura’s toes. Laura cried out in pain. Helen felt like a clumsy schoolgirl.

Some people thought that Helen was too loud and laughed too much. But Annie did not agree. She knew that Helen was full of life. Annie wanted Helen to grab hold of life and not wait quietly for things to happen.

Helen spoke³ at the Perkins commencement. This was an important event. The Boston newspapers ran stories about the school and the children who graduated from it. Important and rich people came to this event. The governor of Massachusetts was there. The band played. Ten boys showed how well they could do arithmetic. Then came Helen.

Helen had been sitting patiently on the platform waiting for her turn. She smiled and glowed as she waited. She could feel the crowd’s energy. Proudly Helen spelled a poem about birds into Annie’s hand. Annie spoke the words as Helen spelled. The audience was spellbound.

When the school closed for the summer, Annie and Helen went to Cape⁴ Cod⁵. For the first time, Helen went swimming in the ocean. She loved the feel of the cold salt water on her face. Cape Cod was to become Helen’s most favorite place.

One day, when Helen was swimming, the strong waves pulled her under. She fought her way to the surface, swallowing water as she struggled. The waves tossed her onto the sand. Helen lay there in terror, not sure what had happened. Annie ran to her and hugged and comforted her.

Helen had courage. Two days later, she was back in the ocean, swimming. Helen had only one question. Who, she wanted to know, had filled the ocean with salt!

After Annie and Helen went home to Alabama, lessons and learning again filled their days.

As time passed, Annie thought about leaving Alabama. The local people stared at Annie and Helen when they went into town. Annie believed that Helen could learn more by living in the city.

So Annie asked the Kellers to let them both live at Perkins. Reluctantly, they agreed. They knew it was best for Helen.

In October, Annie and Helen returned to Perkins. Helen was not enrolled⁶ there. She was a guest. But she dove right into the schoolwork. She studied geography, botany (the study of plants), zoology⁷ (the study of animals), and arithmetic. Arithmetic was her least favorite subject.

Helen’s time at Perkins passed quickly. Poetry became her passion. One time Helen visited Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great New England writer. Later, she read his poems to the blind children at Perkins. Helen sent him a letter. She told Holmes that she was sorry he had no little children to play with, but that he seemed happy with his many books. She went on to tell him what she was learning and asked if her little sister could meet him when she visited Helen. Holmes loved her letter. He published it in an important magazine called The Atlantic Monthly. After this honor, Helen began to take her writing more seriously.

In the spring of 1890, a teacher named Mary Swift Lamson returned to Perkins from Norway. While in Norway, she had heard about a deaf-blind girl who had learned to speak. Helen seized upon the idea. Learning to speak became Helen’s dream. Annie tried to be realistic with Helen, for she did not want her to be disappointed. If a person cannot see people’s faces, it is extremely hard—almost impossible—to learn to speak. But Helen would not give up.

Annie did not stand in Helen’s way. She found a teacher for Helen. Helen had to touch her teacher’s mouth as it moved when she spoke. Helen had to learn how lips and tongue moved to make words. At the end of the first lesson, Helen could say the letters i, m, p, q, s, and t. Helen had visions of going home and talking with her family. Helen practiced continually with Annie. But her voice was never clear. It was something that would bother Helen the rest of her life. She felt that not being able to speak clearly made her different.

Now eleven, Helen wrote a story she called “The Frost King.” She gave the story to Mr. Anagnos for his birthday. It was a lovely story, full of images and color. It was published in The Mentor⁸, the Perkins alumni magazine, in January 1892. People praised the wonderful story.

However, Helen had not created the story. A newspaper printed Helen’s story side by side with a story by someone called “The Frost Fairies.” Helen’s story was exactly the same. Helen was crushed. Annie said that she had never read the story to Helen. No one ever remembered reading the story to Helen. But a copy of the book was in the house where Annie and Helen had stayed on Cape Cod. Somehow, Helen must have heard the story and forgotten it.

Helen was shattered. She hadn’t been trying to trick anyone! She went to the Perkins School to defend herself. She appeared alone before a group of eight teachers and school officers. Half of the group was blind and half was sighted. Alone in a hot, stuffy⁹ room without Annie, Helen shook with fear. It was like she was on trial for her life. Later, Helen wrote, “The blood pressed about my thumping¹⁰ heart, and I could scarcely speak. …”

The group showed no mercy. Again and again, they kept asking, “Who read you that story?”

Helen could not answer that question. She had no memory of it. In the end, most of the group believed Helen. Mr. Anagnos thought that it had all been a horrible mistake. But he felt he could no longer trust Helen or Annie. Their friendship with Mr. Anagnos ended. Helen’s time at Perkins was over. Even worse, Helen was never again sure of her writing. Was she writing from her heart and mind or repeating something that she had heard? This fear stayed with Helen every time she picked up a pen.

Helen and Annie returned to Alabama. Helen was ill most of that summer. She no longer woke up hungry to learn. Helen retreated into herself. But gradually her spirits grew stronger. Now she had to make a decision. Was her education at an end? Or could she find another school?

1 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

2 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

5 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

6 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 zoology   

n.动物学，生态

参考例句：

• I would like to brush up my zoology.我想重新温习一下动物学。
• The library didn't stock zoology textbooks.这家图书馆没有动物学教科书。

8 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

9 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

10 thumping   

adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持

参考例句：

• Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》