Who Was Helen Keller 海伦·凯勒 Chapter 4 A Ray of Hope

Accompanied by the Captain and her Aunt Evelyn, Helen went to see Dr. Bell. Her mother carefully curled Helen’s hair before she left. Helen looked like an angel. She was about six years old now.

Helen walked into Bell’s office, and the two became friends right away. Helen got on Bell’s lap. The young child and the inventor felt at home with each other. Helen later wrote in her autobiography¹, “He understood my signs, and I knew it and loved him at once.” Bell felt that Helen could learn. He thought she was a smart and sensible girl. He wanted to see her succeed. Maybe, just maybe, Helen Keller could lead a more normal life.

Bell gave Helen his watch to play with as he talked to Captain. He told Captain to write to the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts (later called Perkins School). Dr. Bell told Captain that forty years earlier a deaf-blind child, Laura Bridgman, had been taught to read, write, and talk with hand signals. He was sure that the Kellers could find a teacher for Helen there.

Once back at home, Captain wrote to the head of the Perkins School. Captain Keller wrote that he needed a teacher for his daughter. The Kellers waited anxiously for his reply.

Michael Anagnos, the head of Perkins, wrote back that he did have a teacher in mind. Her name was Anne Sullivan. The Kellers were thrilled. What they did not know was that Anne Sullivan still needed to be convinced to take the job.

Who was Anne Sullivan? Anne, or Annie as she was called, was an orphan² who had had a very hard and lonely life. As a child, she had been partially³ blind.

She was sent to the Perkins School and later on, operations restored her sight. Annie graduated first in her class at Perkins. Like Helen Keller, she was very bright and also very stubborn.

At twenty, Annie had never been a teacher. She was not sure she could do the job, or even that she wanted it. Mr. Anagnos kept encouraging her. He felt that this lonely, intelligent young woman would be right for the job. And Annie did not have many other choices open to her. It was either the teaching job or a job in a factory. Annie decided⁴ to take the job with the Kellers.

Annie took two months to prepare for her new job. She had met Laura Bridgman. She learned the manual alphabet. She talked to Laura by spelling into her hand. Now she studied the different ways to teach the manual alphabet. Annie prepared the best that she could. But really she had no idea what lay before her or how her new job would change her life.

1 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

2 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

3 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。