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I am told that while I was still in long dresses I showed many signs of an eager, self-asserting disposition. Everything that I saw other people do I insisted upon imitating. At six months I could pipe out "How d'ye," and one day I attracted every one's attention by saying "Tea, tea, tea" quite plainly. Even after my illness I remembered one of the words I had learned in these early months. It was the word "water," and I continued to make some sound for that word after all other speech was lost. I ceased making the sound "wah-wah" only when I learned to spell the word.
我從家人口中得知，當我尚在襁褓中的時候，我就顯示出了急躁而固執的個性。我會執意模仿別人做的每一件事情。在六個月大時，我就能咿呀說出“你——好”之類的詞句。有一天，我十分清晰地說出了“茶，茶，茶”，這引起了家里每一個人的注意。即便是在我生病之后，我仍然記得在我生命最初幾個月里所學到的一個詞，這個詞就是“水”。此后，在我所有的語言功能喪失殆盡后，我就一直模糊地發出“水”這個詞的聲音，只有在學習拼讀的時候，我才會停止說“水——水”。
They tell me I walked the day I was a year old. My mother had just taken me out of the bath-tub and was holding me in her lap, when I was suddenly attracted by the flickering shadows of leaves that danced in the sunlight on the smooth floor. I slipped from my mother's lap and almost ran toward them. The impulse gone, I fell down and cried for her to take me up in her arms.
家人還對我講了我一歲時學走路的情景。那天，母親把我從澡盆里抱出來，把我放在她的膝蓋上。當時，林木婆娑，光影搖曳，我被眼前的景象吸引住了，于是，我從母親的腿上掙脫出來，試圖追逐地上的陰影。這種沖動付出了代價，我跌倒在地，哭叫著撲進母親的懷里。
These happy days did not last long. One brief spring, musical with the song of robin and mocking-bird, one summer rich in fruit and roses, one autumn of gold and crimson sped by and left their gifts at the feet of an eager, delighted child. Then, in the dreary month of February, came the illness which closed my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a new-born baby.
快樂的日子并沒有持續多久。一個短暫的春天，知更鳥和嘲鶇的啁啾余音繚繞；一個花果繁盛的夏天；一個金黃色的秋天——時光倏忽即逝，在一個如饑似渴、欣喜異常的幼兒腳下，季節留下了自己最后的禮物。隨后，在一個陰沉蕭索的二月，疾病封閉了我的眼睛和耳朵，重新將我拋進一個新生嬰兒般的無意識狀態。
