补充阅读 Life with Miss Sullivan

Life with Miss SullivanI learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were, but I do know that mother, father, sister and teacher were among them. It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was when I lay in my bed that night and thought of the joys that day had brought me. For the first time, I was eager for a new day to come.I recall many incidents of the (summer of 1887 that followed my souls sudden awakening. I learned the name of every object that I could touch with my hands, and the more I handled things and learned their names, the closer I felt to the rest of the world.When spring came, Miss Sullivan took me by the hand across the fields, where men were preparing the earth for the seed, to the banks of the Tennessee River. Theyre sitting on the warm grass, I had my first lesson the ways of nature. I learned how the sun and rain make the plants grow, how birds build their nests, how the squirrel, the deer, the lion and every other creature finds food and shelter. As my knowledge of things grew, I felt more and more delight in the world around me. Long before I learned to do a sum in arithmetic or describe the shape of the earth, Miss Sullivan had taught me to find beauty in the sweet smell of the woods in every blade of grass and in the curves of my baby sisters hand. She made nature a part of my earliest thoughts, and made me feel that I was close to the living things around me.But about this time I had an experience that taught me that nature is not always kind. One day my teacher and I were returning from a long walk. The morning had been fine, but it was becoming quite hot by the time we started home. Two or three times we stopped to rest under a tree, and our last stop was under a fruit tree quite near our house. The cool shade felt very good, and the tree was so easy to climb that with my teachers help, I went up and found a seat among the branches. It was such a pleasant place that Miss Sullivan suggested that we have our lunch under the tree. I promised to stay still while she went to house to get it.Suddenly a change passed over the tree. All the suns warmth left the air. I knew the sky was black, because all the heat, which meant light to me, had disappeared. A strange smell came up from the earth. I knew it. It was the smell that always comes before thunderstorms. I felt terribly afraid and absolutely alone, cut off from my friends and from the firm earth. The immense and the unknown surrounded me. I waited quietly, but I was terribly afraid. I wanted my teacher to return, but more than anything else I wanted to get down out of that tree.There was a moment of awful stillness, and then all the leaves began to stir. A shiver ran through the tree, and there was a sudden strong wind that would have knocked me out of the tree if I had not held to the branch with all my strength. The tree waved wildly in the land. Small branches broke and fell around me in showers. I wanted to jump, but fright kept me where I was. I stayed in the tree. The branches moved around me. I felt a crash now and then, as if something heavy had fallen and the shock had travelled up till it reached the limb I sat on. Just as I was thinking that the tree and I would fall together, my teacher seized my hand and helped me down. I held to her, very happy to feel the earth under my feet again. I had learned a new lesson-that nature is not always smiling and kind.After this experience, it was a long time before I climbed another tree. The thought filled me with fear. A mimosa tree sweet with flowers finally overcomes my fears. One beautiful spring morning when I was alone in the garden reading, I became aware of a wonderful smell in the air. I stood up and stretched out my hands. It seemed as if the spirit of spring herself had passed by me. “What is it?” I asked, and the next minute I recognized the smell of the mimosa flowers. I felt my way to the end of the garden, knowing that the mimosa tree was near the fence where the path turned. Yes, there it was, beautiful in the warm sunshine. Its branches were so heavy with flowers that they almost touched the long grass. I made my way through the flowers to the big trunk, and stood there trying to decide what to do. Then, putting my foot into the broad space between the two main branches, I pulled myself up into the tree. It was hard for me to hold on, because the branches were big, and the bark hurt my hands. But I felt that 1 was doing something unusual and wonderful, so I kept on climbing higher and higher until I reached a littl