My life

Author: Helen Keller
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Helen Keller, a poor girl. She lost her sight from an early age, depriving her beautiful childhood of joy. She didn’t know how wonderful the world was, didn’t know how colorful the flowers were in spring, how lush the forests were in summer, how beautiful the leaves were in autumn, or how white the snow was in winter. Helen Keller, a resilient girl. Although darkness was like a thick wall, isolating her from the outside world, she often encouraged herself with this goal: to strive for independence within her lifetime, and to avoid causing trouble for others as much as possible. It was this goal that made her strong-willed despite her disability, fearless of any difficulty, and determined to pursue it. Her body was not free, but her heart was. In a world without light, she overcame the darkness with her indomitable spirit. She also learned much knowledge through her wisdom, entered Cambridge School for Girls, and was admitted to Harvard University. She wrote two autobiographies and met Mark Twain. Her childhood was so tragic, yet she felt happy and fulfilled. She always faced everything with an optimistic attitude. Helen Keller wants to give a piece of advice to her sighted friends: Use your eyes well, as if you were going to lose your sight tomorrow. Cherish every day you have eyes! Helen Keller—a woman who lived 88 years but endured 87 years of darkness, silence, and solitude—graduated from Radcliffe College at Harvard University and devoted her entire life to establishing charitable institutions for the benefit of the disabled. She wrote 14 books in her lifetime, with The Story of My Life being her debut. This book was praised by the renowned American writer Dr. Helen as one of the two most important literary contributions of 1902. Helen Keller has been alive for 126 years since her birth; 38 years have passed since she left this beloved world. How to evaluate Helen is truly a great challenge, despite the countless opinions already existent in the world. Many brilliant figures, such as Bell, Mark Twain, Churchill, Roosevelt, Chaplin, Carnegie, Einstein, Shaw, and Kennedy, have expressed sincere respect for Helen Keller and been deeply moved by her life. “The greatest woman of the 20th century,” note that Churchill omitted the usual “among others.” “The greatest creation of humankind,” in the face of a miracle, Mark Twain could only resort to such words to approach the mysterious. “Your candid words and brave spirit gave me true strength and courage to face difficulties,” the resolute and confident President Roosevelt was also inspired by Helen. Helen Keller, “not belonging to one era, but to all centuries,” settled the matter with a single, incisive statement. The discernment of a literary mind in recognizing and understanding people is unparalleled. Helen is still alive, her words, her writings, her stories, and her spirit all live on, and they will continue to live indefinitely as long as there are people. The mystery lies here—new generations will examine Helen from different perspectives, and their evaluations and reflections will extend infinitely. Thus, there is a Helen for every era, a Helen for every person, and a thousand Helens for a thousand people. At 20, Helen wrote her autobiography. In the 88 years of her life spanning two centuries, her footsteps covered the world, her presence moved among different people, her words echoed in the ears of young and old, and her thoughts took flight to the hearts of people, but she never wrote another autobiography. In fact, does someone like her even need an autobiography? She has become a monument, a towering figure to be admired! There are many Chinese versions of Helen’s autobiography, with Three Days to See being the most representative. However, Three Days to See is not her autobiography but an article published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1933, more than 30 years after her autobiography was released. Today, with a sense of seriousness and a commitment to presenting the truth, we have published the complete, unabridged translation of Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life. The autobiography is divided into three parts: “Walking Out of the Desert of Life,” which tells in a self-narrative style how she moved from a life of silence and darkness into a beautiful world of “holding sunlight” over the past 20 years; “Letters from a Young Girl,” which allows us to see in detail how Helen transformed from a naive child into a girl who soared freely in the spiritual world; and “Helen Through Her Teacher’s Eyes,” which seems to be a supplement to her life and education, but is actually not. Helen included it in her autobiography for a reason—it was a stroke of genius that allows us to see Helen through a third eye, giving us a panoramic view of her life. When it comes to Helen, there is so much to say, but let’s stop here for now. However, we have a small suggestion: let’s play a game together. Cover your eyes and ears with your hands, try to isolate yourself completely from sunlight and sound, and see how you feel. Can you experience the same feelings as Helen? In fact, the feelings will never be the same, because we know that as long as we release our hands, we can always embrace the sunlight and kiss the music, while Helen was never so fortunate. Now, let’s step into Helen’s world. At this moment, we will surely feel—what it means to be a song of tears, what it means for every word to be a pearl.