She fought for women’s rights, crusaded for the causes of workers, promotedequality for minorities, and championed the underprivileged and the also earned several prestigious awards from countries as diverse as Japan,Brazil, and Lebanon. An impressive list of achievements for any human, all thiswas accomplished by a woman who was blind and deaf.
她為女權而戰、投身工人事業、促進弱勢團體平等權利、支援受苦和受壓迫的人。她還榮獲日本、巴西、黎巴嫩等國頒發的幾項榮譽獎。對任何人來說，這都是給人印象深刻的成就，然而這是由一位雙眼失明雙耳失聰的女人取得的。
Helen Keller was born a healthy child in 1880 in Alabama. Stricken byillness at the tender age of nineteen months, Helen lost her ability to see,hear, and speak. Growing up unable to comprehend the world around her, Helenbecame wild and unruly, until her parents found help.
1880年，海倫·凱勒在美國的阿拉巴馬州出生時是個健康的孩子。可在她19個月大時，她得了一場大病，海倫從此失去了視覺、聽覺和說話的能力。在成長的過程中，她無法瞭解周圍的一切，變得狂躁而難以管教，最後她的父母只好求助於他人。
They contacted Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the famous inventor and teacherof the deaf, who introduced them to an institute for the blind in Boston,Massachusetts. A student there, Annie Sullivan, was asked to help. Annie wouldlater become known as the “Miracle Worker.”
他們和著名的發明家、聾啞教師亞力山大·貝爾博士取得聯絡之後，被介紹到一家位於馬薩諸塞州波士頓的盲人機構。該機構的學生安妮·蘇利文應邀提供幫助。她就是後來那位著名的“奇蹟創造者”。
Annie Sullivan taught Helen how to connect objects with letters by spellingwords into Helen’s hands. Helen’s breakthrough came when Annie held her handunder a water pump while spelling “water” into her other hand repeatedly. Helensuddenly understood, and from then on progressed by leaps and bounds.
蘇利文在海倫手上拼字，藉此教她如何將物體和字母聯絡在一起。有一次安妮把海倫的手放在水泵出水口下，並且在她的另一支手上重複拼寫water的時候，海倫突然明白了，她的學習有了重大突破。從此她進步神速。
Having mastered both the manual and Braille alphabets, Helen becameproficient in reading and writing, and began learning how to speak in n entered Radcliffe College and, assisted by Annie Sullivan, graduated cumlaude in 1904. She was the first blind-deaf person ever to graduate fromcollege.
海倫在學會了手指拼字法和布萊耶盲人點字法後，她的閱讀和書寫能力變得熟練起來;1890年，她開始學習說話。後來海倫在蘇利文的幫助下，進入拉德克利夫Radcliffe學院就讀，1904年以優異的成績畢業，她成為第一位大學畢業的盲啞人。
Helen Keller spent the rest of her life as a writer, lecturer, and advocatefor the deaf and blind and other disadvantaged groups. She traveled to numerouscountries on behalf of the disabled, and founded the Helen Keller Endowment Fundfor the American Foundation for the Blind in 1930. She died on June 1, 1968, anoutstanding example of the unconquerable human spirit.
海倫·凱勒的餘生都致力於寫作和演講，聲援盲人、聾人和其他弱勢群體。她代表殘疾人，足跡踏遍海外各國，並且在1930年為美國盲人基金會建立了海倫·凱勒捐贈基金。海倫·凱勒於1968年6月1日與世長辭，她可以說是人類不屈不撓精神的最佳典範。
Don’t allow your troubles to get the best of you. Instead, allow thosetroubles to make the best of you.
Don’t tire yourself out fighting against the challenges. Instead, find newenergy by embracing1 those challenges and working through them to create realvalue.
Always remind yourself that discour-agement is nothing more than a responseyou’ve chosen. When you find that you’ve chosen to let it be, you can just assurely choose to let it go.
Replace discouragement with determin-ation. It is your life’s energy, andyou can point it in whatever direction you choose. Your most powerful responseis not based only on what has already happened. Your most powerful response alsotakes into account what you wish to make happen next.
Look forward, and envision in great detail the future you desire. Thengather all your energy, and step forward to make it be.
不要被煩惱擊敗,相反,要讓這些煩惱磨練出更優秀的你。
不要因與挑戰作鬥爭而身心疲憊,相反,要在接受挑戰、戰勝挑戰的過程中找到活力去創造真正的價值。
時常提醒自己,氣餒只不過是你自己的選擇。當你發現是你選擇了氣餒,你當然也可以選擇不這樣。
用決心消除氣餒,這就是你生命的活力,是放之四海而皆準的。你最有力的反應不僅僅受所發生的事情的影響,而且與你期待發生的事情有一定關聯。
向前看,詳盡地展望你所期盼的未來。然後集中你所有的精力,努力前進,讓夢想成真。
勵志小短文6：Pathway to Success
Life is not about just getting by. Life is about reaching ever higher,building one achievement on top of another, and creating real, meaningful valuein each moment.
A common stone on the ground does a great job of just getting by. You, onthe other hand, are destined1 for much more spectacular things. Yes, indeed, youwill certainly meet a number of challenges when you make the effort to raiseyour world even a little bit higher. The good thing is, you are superblyequipped to thrive on those challenges.
If life seems unsuccessful, it’s not because of the challenges orlimitations that stand in your way. It’s because you refuse to see theexceptional opportunities that those challenges represent.
This is your precious and unique life, and it is absolutely worth all thetrouble and effort you must go through to make it great. Within you at thismoment are beautiful dreams, and you can begin to live in the direction of thosedreams whenever you choose.
Let go of the false security of just getting by, and get yourself intofocus on a purpose that will bring your life gloriously to life. Your very ownpathway to success is just one quick step away.
You are where you are. Accept it and feel the power your acceptance givesyou to move forward.
This moment is as it is. Accept its uniqueness and experience the freedomof not having to fight against it.
There are difficult challenges in your life. Accept them and feel theenergy that will enable you to rise above them.
Accept that this is your starting point. Instead of placing judgements onit, see the real, positive value that’s already yours. You cannot change whereyour past priorities_ and choices have brought you. Yet you can make use of thewisdom you’ve earned to create a future that fulfils your most treasureddreams.
Lovingly and gratefully accept who you’ve been, what you’ve done, what youhave and where you are. For you can now transform it all into what you most wishto be.
你就處在這樣一個位置。接受這個事實，感受隨之而來的力量，這份力量會驅使你前進。
此刻就是這樣。接受這一刻的獨特性，體驗無需與之對抗的自由。
你的生活中充滿了艱鉅的挑戰。接受這些挑戰，鼓足勇氣去戰勝它們。
相信此刻就是你的起點。無需再判斷，看到你所具備的真正意義上的價值。你過去認為重要的事和以前做過的選擇給你帶來了什麼都是無法改變的。然而你可以充分利用你的智慧去創造未來，實現你最珍愛的夢想。
滿懷愛心和感激之情，接受現實的自己，接受你所做過的、你所擁有的以及你所處的位置。現在你可以按你的願望去改變它們。
Some years ago I took on an assignment in a southern county to work withpeople on public welfare. What I wanted to do was to show that everybody has thecapacity to be self-sufficient and all we have to do is to activate them. Iasked the county to pick a group of people who were on public welfare, peoplefrom different racial groups and different family constellations. I would thensee them as a group for three hours every Friday. I also asked for a littlepetty cash to work with as I needed it.
幾年前我在南部某郡接受了一項工作任務，與靠領取政府福利救濟金的人共事。我想做的就是向每一個人證明他們都有自給自足的能力，而我們所要做的就是激勵他們。首先，我讓郡長給我挑選了一組靠領取政府福利救濟金生活的人，他們均來自不同的種族部落、家庭群體。每週五，我與他們以小組的形式見面談話三個小時。由於工作需要，我還申請了一小筆備用金。
I asked what their dreams were. Everyone looked at me as if I were a kindof wacky. “Dreams? We don’t have any dreams.”
我問他們的夢想是什麼。大家卻都以一種古怪的表情看著我。“夢想戶我們沒有夢想。”
I said, “Well, when you were a kid, what happened? Wasn’t there somethingyou wanted to do?”
我說:“好的!那麼當你還是個孩子的時候發生過什麼?那時難道就沒有什麼你想要做的事情嗎?
One woman said to me, “I don’t know what you can do with dreams. The ratsare eating my kids. ”
一位婦女說:“我不知道你可以用夢想解決什麼問題。我只知道我的孩子正在一口一口被老鼠吃掉。”
“Oh,” I said, “that’s terrible! No. Of course you’re very much involvedwith the rats and your kids. How can that be helped?”
“噢，”我說，“真是太恐怖了。不，當然，你的確被這些老鼠和孩子所累。怎樣做才能阻止這種事情的發生呢?”
“Well, I could use a new screen door, because there are holes in my screendoor.”
“唉，我家紗門上都是洞，我需要一個新紗門。”
I asked, “Is there anybody around you who knows how to fix a screendoor?”
“在座的各位，有誰會裝紗門?”我問。
“Maybe I can have a try,” a man said.
“或許我可以試試。”一位男士說道。
The next week when the group was seated, I said to the woman, “Well, isyour screen door fixed?”
下週五，大家又坐到了一起時，我問那位女士，一新紗門裝好了嗎?”
“Oh, yes,” she said.
“噢，是的。”她答道。
“Then we can start dreaming, can’t we?”She sort of smiled at me.
“那麼，我們可以開始夢想了，對不對?”她看著我，笑得很開心。
That helped the group to begin to dream. The seemingly small successesallow the group to see that dreams were not insane. The small steps began to getpeople to see and feel that something really could happen.
這件事使整個組的人都開始尋找夢想了。表面上的小成功就讓組員們認識到夢想並不荒.唐。不斷的進步令人們逐漸意識和感覺到改變真的可能發生。
Everyone found something. The man who put in the screen door became a handyman, and another woman who took in the children became a licensed foster careperson. In twelve weeks, I had all these people off public welfare. I’ve notonly done that once. I’ve done it many times.
每個人者倒淺到一些值得重視的東西。那位裝紗門的男士後來成為一名勤雜工。另外一位帶小孩的婦女成為一名手寺證護衛廷人員。幫助所有的小組成員擺脫福利救濟總共用了12周時間。這不是一次性完成的，而是分好幾次。逐步努力實現的。
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