海伦·凯勒(Hellen keller，1880—1968年)，美国盲聋女作家兼演讲家。生于美国阿拉巴马州的塔斯堪比亚小城，19个月时因为丧失了听力和视力。后来在莎莉文老师的帮助下克服了沟通障碍，并在两所聋哑学校完成了一段教育。她终生致力于盲聋人的公共救助事业，为残疾人造福。美国费城大学和格拉斯哥大学曾经先后授予她“荣誉博士”学位。海伦‘凯勒一生共创作了14部作品，其中1902年的处女作《我的人生故事》在美国引起强烈反响。她的比较著名的作品还有《中流》、《假如给我三天光明》等。
Meanwhile the desire to express myself grew．The few signs I used became less and less adequate，and my failures to make myself unde~stood were invariably followed by outbursts of passion．I felt as if invisi—ble hands were holding me．and I made frantic efforts to free myself．I struggled—not that struggling helped matters，but the spirit of resistance was strong within me；I generally broke down in tears and physical ex-haustion．If my mother happened to be near I crept into her alms，too mis-i erable even to remember the cause of the tempest．After a while the needof some means of communication became SO urgent that these outburstsoccurred daily，sometimes hourly．
My parents were deeply grieved and perplexed．We lived a long wayfrom any school for the blind or the deaf，and it seemed unlikely that anyone would come to such an out——of——the——way place as Tuscumbia toteach a child who was both deaf and blind．
Indeed．my friends and relatives someumes doubted whether I couldbe taught．My mother’S only ray of hope canle from Dickens’S“Ameri—can Notes．”She had read his account of Laura Bridgman，and remem—bered vaguely that she was deaf and blind，yet had been educated．But shealso remembe~d with a hopeless pang that Dr．Howe，who had discov—ered the way to teach the deaf and blind，had been dead many years．Hismethods had probably died with him；and if they had not，how was a lit—tie girl in a far——off town in Alabama to receive the benefit of them？
When 1 was about six years old，my father heard of an eminent OCU—list in Baltimore，who had been successful in many cases that had seemedhopeless．My parents at once determined to take me to Baltimore to see ifanything could be done for my eyes．
The journey，which I remember well，was very pleasant．I madefriends with many people on the train．One lady gave me a box of shells．My father made holes in these SO that I could string them，and for a longtime they kept me happy and contented．The conductor，too，was kind．Often when he went his rounds I clung t0 his coat tails while he collectedand punched the tickets．His punch，with which he let me play，was a de—lightful toy．Curled up in a comer of the seat I amused myself for hoursmaking funny little holes in bits of cardboard．
My aunt made me a big doll out of towels．It was the most comicalshapeless thing，this improvised doll，with no nose，mouth，ears or eyes—nothing that even the imagination of a child could convert into a face．Cu—riously enough，the absence of eyes struck me more than all the other de—fects put together．I pointed this out to everybody with provoking persist—but no one seemed equal tO the task of providing the doll witll。eyes．A bright idea，however，shot into my mind，and the problem was solved．I tumbled off the seat and searched under it until I found my aunt’S cape，which was trimmed with large beads．I pulled two beads off and indicated to her that 1 wanted her to sew them on my doll．She raised my hand tO her eyes in a questioning way，and I nodded energetically．The beads were sewed in the right place and I could not contain myself for joy；but immediately I lost all interest in the doll．During the whole trip I did not have one fit of temper，there were SO many things to ke印my mind and fingers busy．