海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第25期

Chapter XII

第十二章

After my first visit to Boston, I spent Almost every winter in the North. Once I went on a visit to a New England village with its frozen lakes and vast snow fields. It was then that I had opportunities such as had never been mine to enter into the treasures of the snow.

在我第一次訪問了波士頓後，幾乎每一個冬天我都在北方度過。我曾經去過新英格蘭地區的一個村莊，那裏的凍湖和廣袤的雪原令我印象深刻。如果沒有身臨其境，我是永遠也體會不到與雪融爲一體的美妙感受的。

I recall my surprise on discovering that a mysterious hand had stripped the trees and bushes, leaving only here and there a wrinkled leaf. The birds had flown, and their empty nests in the bare trees were filled with snow. Winter was on hill and field. The earth seemed benumbed by his icy touch, and the very spirits of the trees had withdrawn to their roots, and there, curled up in the dark, lay fast asleep. All life seemed to have ebbed away, and even when the sun shone the day was

我驚奇地發現，冬天的大樹和灌木會遭受一隻神祕的自然之手的摧殘，枝條上只剩下一些皺巴巴的葉子。鳥兒全都飛走了，枯枝敗葉間的鳥巢裏裝滿了雪。山頭和田野裏也是一派冬天的氣象，在冰雪的觸摸下，大地也被凍得僵硬麻木了。樹木的靈魂紛紛退縮到根部，它們蜷曲在幽暗的地下進入夢鄉。所有的生物似乎都退到幕後，甚至連白天的陽光也變得

Shrunk and cold,

短暫而寒冷，

As if her veins were sapless and old,

如同她那老邁而枯萎的血脈，

And she rose up decrepitly

她要同衰老拼死一搏，

For a last dim look at earth and sea.

爲了再看一眼她心中的大地和海洋。（這段詩句取自詹姆斯·拉塞爾·洛威爾的詩集《郎佛爾騎士顯聖》（1848），郎佛爾是亞瑟王傳奇中的圓桌騎士之一。）

The withered grass and the bushes were transformed into a forest of icicles.

乾枯的草叢和灌木也都變成了一片掛滿冰凌的森林。

Then came a day when the chill air portended a snowstorm. We rushed out-of-doors to feel the first few tiny flakes descending. Hour by hour the flakes dropped silently, softly from their airy height to the earth, and the country became more and more level. A snowy night closed upon the world, and in the morning one could scarcely recognize a feature of the landscape. All the roads were hidden, not a single landmark was visible, only a waste of snow with trees rising out of it.

隨後而來的是一股強冷空氣，這預示着暴風雪的來臨。我們衝出屋外，去迎接最先降落的小雪片。一個小時又一個小時過去了，雪片悄無聲息地墜落，廣袤的原野變得白茫茫一片。雪夜緊緊地將世界圍裹起來，第二天一早，你幾乎辨認不出眼前的景物；所有的道路都隱匿不見了，也見不到任何一個標記性的建築，只剩下一片被皚皚白雪覆蓋的森林。

In the evening a wind from the northeast sprang up, and the flakes rushed hither and thither in furious m阬閑. Around the great fire we sat and told merry tales, and frolicked, and quite forgot that we were in the midst of a desolate solitude, shut in from all communication with the outside world. But during the night the fury of the wind increased to such a degree that it thrilled us with a vague terror. The rafters creaked and strained, and the branches of the trees surrounding the house rattled and beat against the windows, as the winds rioted up and down the country.

夜晚再度降臨的時候，一股來自東北部的狂風會將雪片吹得漫天飛舞。圍坐在熊熊燃燒的爐火旁，我們一邊講逗趣的故事，一邊盡情嬉戲，全然忘記了被風雪隔絕在孤立無援的屋子裏。但是隨着風勢的加大，我們也感到了莫名的恐懼。房椽吱吱作響，圍着房子的樹枝嘩啦嘩啦地擊打着窗戶，一切都在狂風的勢力之下苟延殘喘。