The First Day
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for just three days!
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.
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.
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.
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 9perhaps 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.
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.
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.
第一天
第一天，我想看到這些人，他們的善良、溫柔和友情使我的生命值得活下去。首先我想仔細長久地觀看我那親愛的老師安妮·薩利文·梅西夫人的麵容。當我還是一個孩子的時候，她來到我麵前，並向我打開了外部世界。我不僅要看她臉部的輪廓，以便我能把它珍藏在我的記憶中，而且我還要研究這張臉龐，在那裏找到富有同情心、溫柔和耐心的活證據，她就是以這種溫柔和耐心完成了教育我的艱難的任務。我要看她眼睛裏包藏的那種性格力量，它使得她在困難麵前那麽堅定。我要看那對所有人的同情心，她如此經常地對我顯露出來。
我不知道通過“心靈的窗口”－－－眼睛，看透一個朋友的內心是怎麽一回事。我隻能通過我的指尖“看”到一張麵孔的輪廓。我能察覺歡笑、悲傷和其它許多明顯的感情。我從他們麵部的感觸知道我的朋友，但我不能正確地憑觸摸描繪出他們的品格。我當然通過其它方式知道他們的品格，通過他們對我表達的思想，通過他們對我表露的任何行為，但我不曾對他們有更深刻的了解。那更深刻的了解我相信通過看到他們，通過觀察他們對各種表達出來的思想和情況的反應、通過注意他們眼睛和相貌的直接和短暫的反應可以達到。
在我身邊的朋友，我熟知他們，因為長年累月他們在各方麵都對我表露了他們自己。而對那些偶然的朋友我隻有一個不完全的印象，一種我從下麵方式中得到的印象：一次握手，我的指尖從他們的雙唇上感觸到的他們所說的話，或者是他們在我兩手掌上輕輕地拍撫。
對你來說，一個能看見的人，通過觀察微妙的表情－－－一條肌肉的顫抖、一隻手的擺動，很快地了解另一個人的本質，是多麽容易又多麽令人滿足的事情。但是你曾經有過用你的視覺去看透一個朋友或相識的內在本質的時候嗎？你們能看見事物的大多數人不是偶然地抓住一張臉孔的外部特征並不再去想了嗎？
例如，你能精確地描敘５個好朋友的麵貌嗎？有些人能夠，但許多人不能。作為一個實驗，我曾問過那些多年相處的丈夫們，他們妻子的眼睛是什麽顏色。他們常常顯得窘迫含糊，承認他們不知道。而且，順便說一句，妻子們經常抱怨，他們的丈夫不注意新衣服、新帽子和家庭擺設的變化。
能看見的人的眼睛很快就習慣了他們周圍的日常事務。他們實際上僅僅看到令人吃驚的事和引人注意的壯觀之事，而即使是那些最壯觀的景象，他們的眼睛也是懶洋洋的。法庭記錄每天都顯露出“見證人”看得多不準確。一個特定的事件，要被盡可能多的人從幾個不同的方麵去“看到”，有些人看得比另一些人要多些，而沒有幾個人看到了在他們的視線範圍內的所有事情。
啊，如果我要有哪怕３天的視力，多少事我該看啊！
第一天會是很忙碌的，我要把我所有的親愛的朋友們都叫到我這裏來，長久地注視著他們的麵容，把他們的內在美的外部證據深深地印在我的腦海中。我也該讓我的目光停留在一個嬰兒的臉上，以便我能獲得一個熱切渴望的純美的視覺，這是那個人在意識到生活帶來的衝突之前的美麗的視覺。
而且，我也要看看我的狗那忠誠、信任的眼睛－－－那嚴肅、機靈的小斯洛蒂·達基和那高大、健壯、善解人意的大達英·赫爾加，它們熱情溫柔和頑皮的友誼對我是個巨大的安慰。
在這繁忙的第一天，我也該看看我家的那些簡單的小事情。我想看著我腳下地毯上、牆壁上圖畫的明朗愉快的色彩，那些使這間屋子成為一個家的親切的瑣碎物件。我的目光也要敬重地停留在那些我讀過的陽文書籍上，但應更熱切地對那些能看見的人所能讀的出版物感興趣，因為在我生命的漫漫長夜裏，我讀過的書和別人對我讀過的書已築成一座巨大的閃光的燈塔，對我顯示了人類生活和人類精神的最深的航道。
那能看見的第一天的下午，我要在樹林裏長久地散步，讓我的目光陶醉在大自然世界的美景之中。在幾個小時中，試圖拚命地吸收那無窮的壯麗，這對那些能看見的人卻是一條小路，這樣我便能看到那馴良的馬匹在犁田（或許，我該看見唯一的一台拖拉機！）看到貼近泥土生活的人們那安詳的滿足。而且，我該為豔麗的落日光輝而祈禱。
黃昏降臨時，我該感受到雙倍的愉快，因為能看到人造的光芒，這是人類的天才創造出來的，當大自然黑暗降臨之時，以延展他的視力。
在那能看見的第一天晚間，我是不能入睡的，我腦海中充滿了白天的記憶。
