37. The Firm Helen Keller

37. 坚强的海伦·凯勒

At the age of five Helen began to realize she was different from other people. She noticed that her family did not use signs like she did but talked with their mouths Sometimes she stood between two people and touched their lips. She could not understand what they said and she could not make any meaningful sounds herself. She wanted to talk but no matter how she tried she could not make herself understood. This makes her so angry that she used to hurl herself around the room, kicking and screaming in frustration.

海伦五岁时开始意识到她与别人不同。她发现家里的其他人不用像她那样做手势而是用嘴交谈。有时她站在两人中间触摸他们的嘴唇。她不知道他们在说什么，而她自己不能发出带有含义的声音。她想、讲话，可无论费多大的劲儿也无法使别人明白自己。这使她异常懊恼以至于常常在屋子里乱跑乱撞，灰心地又踢又喊。

As she got older her frustration grew and her rages became worse and worse. She became wild and unruly. If she didn't get what she wanted she would throw tantrums until her family gave in. Her favorite tricks included grabbing other people's food from their plates and hurling fragile objects to the floor. Once she even managed to lock her mother into the pantry. Eventually it became clear that something had to be done. So, just before her seventh birthday, the family hired a private tutor -Anne Sullivan.

随着年龄的增长她的怒气越来越大。她变得狂野不驯。倘若她得不到想要的东西就会大发脾气直到家人顺从。她惯用的手段包括抓别人盘里的食物以及将易碎的东西猛扔在地。有一次她甚至将母亲锁在厨房里。这样一来就得想个办法了。于是，在她，快到七岁生日时，家里使雇了一名家庭教师——安妮·萨利文。

Anne was careful to teach Helen especially those subjects in which she was interested. As a result Helen became gentler and she soon learnt to read and write in Braille. She also learnt to read people's lips by pressing her finger-tips against them and feeling the movement and vibrations. This method is called Tadoma and it is a skill that very, very few people manage to acquire. She also learnt to speak, a major achievement for someone who could not hear at all.

安妮悉心地教授海伦，特别是她感兴趣的东西。这样海伦变得温和了而且很快学会了用布菜叶盲文朗读和写作。靠用手指接触说话人的嘴唇去感受运动和震动，她又学会了触唇意识。这种方法被称作泰德马，是一种很少有人掌握的技能。她也学会了讲话，这对失聪的人来说是个巨大的成就。