liuYu

In the past few days, I have read “Three Days to See”, which was written by Helen Keller. This article impressed me a lot when I was in high school and I read it in Chinese at that time. After reading the story, we can come to realize how lucky we are and we should appreciate that we are healthy. Healthiness is riches. Whenever I read this article, compare with Helen Keller, I think we should treasure our life, god has given us sight so we can see a lot of beautiful things, so we can know how wonderful our life is.

 Helen Keller is blind and deaf from infancy. Stricken with a serious illness at the age of nineteen months, Keller survived from the illness but was left permanently unable to see and hear. In this article, three day of sight, we can see how precious it was as for Helen Keller. What would you want to look at if you had only three days of sight? Helen gives her answer in this famous essay. I always think that people can realize the importance of the sight and sound only after they have personally experienced the dark and silence life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight. Silence would teach him the joys of sound. It was merely the cover of the book, and the appealing introduction followed that resulted in my decision to buy the book named Three Days to See, containing the autobiography The Story of My Life and the essay Three Days to See, all by a deaf blind female, Helen Keller. This incident opened a window for me to see into the inner world of this celebrated and marvelous woman. When I received my copy and began to go through it, the image of this giant figure became gradually clear. The tract of her life displayed in front of me, her struggle of acquiring language moved me, and her companionship with her teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan inspired me. Through the exquisite words and the fluent statements, I saw directly into Helen's inner world, where a indomitable angle lived. What was regretful was that my copy was a Chinese edition, so, to some extent, it was a barrier between me and the author, preventing her original thoughts from being fully expressed. I have a chance again to read the book The Story of My Life, as it is an assignment of this Extensive English Reading course. The difference is that, this time I have gone through the original edition of Helen's autobiography. What impress me first is the graceful style of her writing, such as the tropes, the description of the nature, and the choice of the words which is hard to be distinguished when being translated into another language. I'd like to develop my reading report according to the chapter order, and both abstract the good sentences and express my own opinion towards the contents.
　The beginning of this autobiography is a beautiful sentence:' I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation in lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mist." It presents Helen's fear of writing the history of her life as it is a difficult task, and also implies that this chapter is about her early childhood. During this period of time, light and voice fulfills her life and a wonderful world is accessible to her. With the remote recollections, she present a series of sketches: the vine-covered house that the family lives in; the honeysuckles and climbing roses growing in the garden; the trees and fences surrounding the house; and the porch hidden from view by a screen of yellow roses. Helen also mentions that, though she was a baby then, she showed many signs of eager, self-asserting disposition. She insisted on imitating everything she saw other people did. Six-month-old as she was, she surprised others by saying “Tea, tea, tea” quite plainly. This kind of imitation and her efforts of making some sound for the world doesn't cease until acute congestion of the stomach and brain close her eyes and ears, leaving her in the endless darkness. When an idea occur to me that Helen could had been a fortunate girl and grew up as other girls did, I can't help feeling sorry for her suffering, and, however, admiring what she has achieved in her later life.
　　Helen records the rest of her childhood after her recovery of the illness, in which time she has already been deaf blind. She sits in mum's lap or clung to her dress as she goes about mum's household duties, using hands to feel every object and observed every motion. She says that she owes her mother’s loving wisdom all that was bright and good in her long night. Through Helen’s description, I can see a character who is, use my poor vocabulary, considerable and merciful. Helen’s father is an editor of a newspaper. Her earliest distinct recollection of her father is making her way through the drifts of newspapers to his side and finding him alone, holding a sheet of paper before his face. This is a scene of peace and love, filled with the sunlight of the afternoon. She regards him as a man loving and indulgent, devoted to his family, seldom leave except in the hunting season. To her great sorrow, father dies of a short illness in 1896, with a brief time of acute suffering. This is her first personal experience with death. I can feel that, though Helen has received love from parents, and has fun with her mere two companions, Martha Washington, the child of the cook, and Belle, an old dog, her childhood is full of loneliness and caprice. Until Sullivan comes to her rescue, bring her light and wisdom.
　 With the time passes, Helen’s desire to express herself grows. The few signs she used becomes less adequate, and the failures of make herself understood are invariably followed by outbursts of passion. Her parents are deeply grieved and perplexed for this, and thus start the long way of curing her sickness, which is the theme of this chapter. They lives far from any special schools for disabled children, but Dickens’s “American Notes” inspires them, which is a account of Laura Bridgman, a deaf and blind, yet have been educated. They travel from Alabama to Baltimore to call on an eminent oculist, while he indicates that he can do nothing. But the kind and warm-hearted gentleman advice Helen’s father to consult Dr. Alexander Graham Bell who would be able to give them information about schools and teachers of deaf or blind children. The family then goes to Washington and finally receives the help from Dr. Bell. A teacher is found and is convinced to arrive. The end of this chapter presents Helen’s hope and delight: “Thus I came up out of Egypt and stood before Sinai, and a power divine touched my spirit and gave it sight, so that I beheld many wonders. And from the sacred mountain I heard a voice which said,” Knowledge is love and light and vision.
　　In the March of 1887 comes the most important day of Helen, on which her teacher Sullivan comes to her. One the afternoon of that eventful day, a few hours before Sullivan's arrival, Helen has guessed something unusual will happen from mum's signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house. When hearing the approaching steps, she stretches her hands as she supposed to her mother, but some-one takes it. It's Sullivan, an angle comes to reveal all things to her, and, more than all things else, to love her. On that eventful day happens another thing: Helen starts to learn words. When Helen touches an object, Sullivan spells it in her hand, and after several tries Helen succeeds in connecting the object with a certain word. She realizes that everything in this world has its own name, and father, mother, sister teacher are among them. Words that are to make the world blossom for her, “like Aaron's rod, with flowers.”
　When the time of daisies and buttercups comes Miss Sullivan takes Helen by the hand across the fields, making friends with nature. Helen feels the kindness and the beneficence of nature by smelling the fragrant woods and feeling the heat of the sunlight. However, on the other hand, she has an experience which teaches her that nature is not always kind. One day when Helen and her teacher return from a long ramble, they have a rest under a wild cherry tree. The shade is grateful, and the tree is so easy to climb that with Sullivan's assistance she succeeds in climbing up and sitting in the branches. Sullivan goes back to home to fetch the lunch, and just during her absence the weather changes and a strange occur comes from the earth, which precedes a thunderstorm. A nameless fear clutches her heart and suddenly she feels helpless and surrounded by immense darkness. It was until she was knocked down by the wind that Sullivan comes to her rescue. The experience shapes her spirit and enriches her during the long night.
　　This story tells people how Keller takes advantage of having the privileges to see, and hear. The author, Helen Keller, is one of such person who strongly believes that people who should take life for granted. She also strongly believes people should accomplish life when they can do this today, do not leave it for tomorrow. I appreciate Helen Keller so much. Her life is a miracle. She can firmly face the difficulties which can almost destroy her living. Although her life is a tragedy, the world in her heart is full of sunshine. I believe her spirit will encourage all the young people.