盲孩
Thursday, 24th.
星期四，24日。
The master is very ill, and they have sent in his stead the master of the fourth grade, who has been a teacher in the Institute for the Blind. He is the oldest of all the instructors, with hair so white that it looks like a wig made of cotton, and he speaks in a peculiar manner, as though he were chanting a melancholy song; but he does it well, and he knows a great deal. No sooner had he entered the schoolroom than, catching sight of a boy with a bandage on his eye, he approached the bench, and asked him what was the matter.
我們的先生大病，四年級的先生來代課了。這位先生以前曾經(jīng)做過盲童學校里的教師，是學校里年紀最大的先生，頭發(fā)白得像棉花做成的假發(fā)，說話的調子很妙，好像在唱悲歌?？墒?，講話很巧，并且熟悉重重世事。他一進教室，看見一個眼上縛著繃帶的小孩就走到他的身旁去問他患了什么。
"Take care of your eyes, my boy," he said to him.
“眼睛是要注意的！我的孩子??！”他這樣說。
And then Derossi asked him:--"Is it true, sir, that you have been a teacher of the blind?"
“聽說先生在盲童學校教過書，真的嗎？”于是代洛西問先生。
"Yes, for several years," he replied. And Derossi said, in a low tone, "Tell us something about it."
“噢，教過四五年?！薄翱梢詫⒛抢锏那樾沃v給我們聽聽嗎？”代洛西低聲說。
The master went and seated himself at his table.
先生回到自己的位上。
Coretti said aloud, "The Institute for the Blind is in the Via Nizza."
“盲童學校在維亞尼塞街哩?！笨扇R諦大聲說。
"You say blind--blind," said the master, "as you would say poor or ill, or I know not what. But do you thoroughly comprehend the significance of that word? Reflect a little. Blind! Never to see anything! Not to be able to distinguish the day from night; to see neither the sky, nor sun, nor your parents, nor anything of what is around you, and which you touch; to be immersed in a perpetual obscurity, and as though buried in the bowels of the earth! Make a little effort to close your eyes, and to think of being obliged to remain forever thus; you will suddenly be overwhelmed by a mental agony, by terror; it will seem to you impossible to resist, that you must burst into a scream, that you must go mad or die. But, poor boys! When you enter the Institute of the Blind for the first time, during their recreation hour, and hear them playing on violins and flutes in all directions, and talking loudly and laughing, ascending and descending the stairs at a rapid pace, and wandering freely through the corridors and dormitories, you would never pronounce these unfortunates to be the unfortunates that they are. It is necessary to observe them closely. There are lads of sixteen or eighteen, robust and cheerful, who bear their blindness with a certain ease, almost with hardihood; but you understand from a certain proud, resentful expression of countenance that they must have suffered tremendously before they became resigned to this misfortune."
先生于是靜靜地開口了：“你們說‘盲童盲童’，好像很平常。你們懂得‘盲’字的意味嗎？請想想看，盲目！什么都不見，晝夜也不能分別，天的顏色，太陽的光，自己父母的面貌，以及在自己周圍的東西，自己手所碰著的東西，一切都不能看見。說起來竟好像一出世就被埋在土里，永久住在黑暗之中。啊！你們暫時眼睛閉住了，想像終身都非這樣不可的情境看！你們就會覺得心里難過起來，可怕起來吧！覺得無論怎樣也忍耐不住，要哭泣起來，甚至發(fā)狂而死吧！雖然如此，你們初到盲童學校去的時候，在休息時間中，可看見盲童在這里那里拉提琴呀，奏笛呀，大踏步地上下樓梯呀，大聲地互相談話呀，在廊下或寢室奔跑呀，你們也許覺得他們的境遇并不怎樣不幸吧。其實，真正的情況非用心細察是不會明白的。他們在十六七歲之間，大多少年氣盛，好像不甚以自己的殘廢為苦痛。可是，看了他們那種自矜的神情，我們愈可知道到他們將來覺悟到自己的不幸會多么難過?。 ?/p>
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