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THE DEAF-MUTE.
聾啞
Sunday, 28th.
二十八日，星期日
The month of May could not have had a better ending than my visit of this morning. We heard a jingling of the bell, and all ran to see what it meant. I heard my father say in a tone of astonishment: "You here, Giorgio?" Giorgio was our gardener in Chieri, who now has his family at Condove, and who had just arrived from Genoa, where he had disembarked on the preceding day, on his return from Greece, where he has been working on the railway for the last three years. He had a big bundle in his arms. He has grown a little older, but his face is still red and jolly.
今天早晨參觀聾啞學校，作為五月這一個月的完滿結束。今天清晨，門鈴一響，大家跑出去看是誰。父親驚異地問：“呀！不是喬趙嗎？”我們家在交利時，喬趙曾替我們做園丁，他現在扎特夫，到希臘去做了三年鐵路工人，才于昨天回國，在熱那亞上陸的。他攜著一個大包裹，年紀已大了許多了，臉色仍是紅紅的，現著微笑。
My father wished to have him enter; but he refused, and suddenly inquired, assuming a serious expression: "How is my family? How is Gigia?" "She was well a few days ago," replied my mother. Giorgio uttered a deep sigh. "Oh, God be praised! I had not the courage to present myself at the Deaf-mute Institution until I had heard about her. I will leave my bundle here, and run to get her. It is three years since I have seen my poor little daughter! Three years since I have seen any of my people!" My father said to me, "Accompany him." "Excuse me; one word more," said the gardener, from the landing. My father interrupted him, "And your affairs?" "All right," the other replied. "Thanks to God, I have brought back a few soldi. But I wanted to inquire. Tell me how the education of the little dumb girl is getting on. When I left her, she was a poor little animal, poor thing! I don't put much faith in those colleges. Has she learned how to make signs? My wife did write to me, to be sure, 'She is learning to speak; she is making progress.'But I said to myself, What is the use of her learning to talk if I don't know how to make the signs myself? How shall we manage to understand each other, poor little thing? That is well enough to enable them to understand each other, one unfortunate to comprehend another unfortunate. How is she getting on, then? How is she?"
父親叫他進室中來，他辭謝不入，突然擔心似的問：“家里不知怎樣了？奇奇阿怎樣？”“最近知道她很好?！蹦赣H說。喬趙嘆息著，說：“啊！那真難得！在沒有聽到這話以前，我實沒有勇氣到聾啞學校去呢。這包裹寄放在這里，我就去領了她來吧。已有三年不見女兒了。這三年中，不曾見到一個親人。”父親向我說：“你跟著他去吧?！薄皩Σ黄?，還有一句話要問?！眻@丁說到這里，父親攔住了他的話頭，問：“在那里生意怎樣？”“很好，托福，總算賺了些錢回來了。我所要問的就是奇奇阿。那啞女受的教育不知怎樣了？我出去的時候，可憐！她全然和獸類一樣無知無識哩！我不很相信那種學校，不知她已經把啞語手勢學會了沒有？妻曾寫信給我說那孩子的語法已大有進步。但是我自想，那孩子學了語法有什么用處呢，如果我不懂得那啞語手勢，要怎樣才能彼此了解呢？啞子對啞子能夠說話，這已經算是了不起了。究竟她是怎樣地在受教育？她現在怎樣？”
My father smiled, and replied: "I shall not tell you anything about it; you will see; go, go; don't waste another minute!" We took our departure; the institute is close by. As we went along with huge strides, the gardener talked to me, and grew sad. "Ah, my poor Gigia! To be born with such an infirmity! To think that I have never heard her call me father; that she has never heard me call her my daughter; that she has never either heard or uttered a single word since she has been in the world! And it is lucky that a charitable gentleman was found to pay the expenses of the institution. But that is all she could not enter there until she was eight years old. She has not been at home for three years. She is now going on eleven. And she has grown? Tell me, she has grown? She is in good spirits?"
“我現在且不和你說，你到了那里自會知道的。去，快去?！备赣H微笑著回答。我們就開步走。聾啞學校離我家不遠。園丁跨著大步，一邊悲傷地說：“啊。奇奇阿真可憐！生來就聾，不知是什么運命！我不曾聽到她叫過我爸爸，我叫她女兒，她也不懂。她出生以來從未說什么，也從未聽到什么呢！碰到了慈善的人代為負擔費用，給她入了聾啞學校，總算是再幸福也沒有了。八歲那年過去的，現在已十一歲了，三年中不曾回家來過，大概已長得很大了吧？不知究竟怎樣。在那里好嗎？”
