现代大学英语精读第二版（第一册）学习笔记（原文及全文翻译）——10B - 识字之路（识字之路）

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Unit 10B - The Road to Literacy

The Road to Literacy

Frederic Douglass

My new mistress Mrs. Auld proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door, a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She was entirely unlike any other white woman I had ever seen. I could not approach her as I was used to approaching other white ladies. My early instructions were all out of place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave, disturbed her. She did not consider it unmannerly for a slave to look her in the face. Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music.

Soon after I went to live with the Aulds, she very kindly started to teach me the A, B, C, and then help me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade her to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger," he said.

"Now, if you teach that nigger how to read, he would be forever unfit for being a slave and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy".

These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up my sentiments, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—namely the white man's power to enslave the black man. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. While I was saddened by the thought of losing the help of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by mere accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read.

Mrs. Auld, who had kindly started teaching me, had, now, not only stopped her instructions, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else. She would be angry when seeing me with a newspaper or a book, and would rush at me and snatch it. She would be uneasy if I was in a separate room for long and would call me to give an account of myself. All this, however, was too late. The first step had been taken. But I was forced to resort to various tactics.

I made friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I turned into my reading teachers. When I was sent on errands, I always took my book with me. By going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome. This bread I offered to the poor, hungry white children in the neighborhood, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge.

My first attempt in learning to write was copying the letters marked on pieces of timber in a shipyard. After I was able to make four letters, I would tell any boy who could write that I could write as well as he did. The next word would be, "I don't believe you. Let me see you try it." I would then write the letters and ask him to beat that. In this way I got a good many lessons in writing. During this time, my copybook was the board fence, brick wall, and the pavement; my pen and ink was a lump of chalk. I then started and continued copying the Italics in Webster's Spelling Book, until I could make them all without looking at the book. By this time, my little Master Thomas had learned how to write and had written over a number of copybooks. When Mrs. Auld was away from the house every Monday afternoon, leaving me to take care of the house, I used to spend the time in writing in the spaces left in Thomas's copybook, copying what he had written. I continued to do this until I could write a hand very similar to that of his. Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write.

参考译文——识字之路

识字之路

弗雷德里克·道格拉斯

结果表明，我的新主人奥尔德太太的表现如我首次在门口遇到她时一样——善良而仁慈。她与我以前见过的其他白人女性完全不同。我不能用已习惯的与其他白人女性交往的方式与她打交道。我以往的做法都无济于事。卑躬屈膝是人们认为奴隶该具有的品质，但这却让她感到不安。她认为，奴隶直视她并不是不礼貌。她的笑容无比甜蜜，声音犹如恬静的音乐。

我与奥尔德一家生活在了一起，不久之后，她开始非常友善地教我字母，随后又教我拼写有三四个字母的单词。正在我取得进步的时候，奥尔德先生发现了此事。他立刻禁止她继续教我，并告诉她，教一个奴隶读书是不合法的，也是不安全的。他说：“如果你给奴隶一寸，他就会要一尺。一个奴隶什么都不应该知道，除了服从主人、照主人说的去做。最好的奴隶也会被学习给毁掉。”

“现在，如果你教会奴隶如何阅读，他就永远不再适合当一个奴隶，对他的主人也就没有价值了。而且，对他自己，除了极大的伤害，什么好处也没有。这会让他心生不满，感到不快乐。”

这些话深深地沉入我心中，令我伤心，因此我萌生出一连串新的想法。这给了我一种全新而奇特的启发，也明白了一些黑暗而神秘的事情。年少时的认识与此进行了激烈的抗争，但却徒劳无功。我现在明白了那时令我感到非常混乱的困难所在，那就是白人拥有的奴役黑人的权力。从那一刻起，我明白了从当奴隶到获得自由的途径。那正是我想要的，而且是在我最意想不到的时候获得的。尽管我因失去热心女主人的帮助而感到伤心，但是从男主人那儿偶然获得的这种无比珍贵的教育却令我感到高兴。尽管知道自学的困难，我仍满怀希望地决心要学会阅读，无论面临多大的困难。

现在，最开始友善地教我读书的奥尔德夫人不仅不再指导我，而且坚决反对其他任何人给我指导。当看到我拿着报纸或书时，她就会非常生气，朝我冲来，把它夺走。如果我单独在房间待长了，她会感到不安，要求我做出解释。但是，这一切已经太晚了。第一步已经迈出去了。而我不得不采取多种策略。

我和在街上遇见的所有白人小男孩交朋友。我尽可能多地让他们成为我的阅读老师。当我被派出去跑腿时，我往往会带上书。在快速办完差事后，我会在返回前抽空去上一次课。我也会随身携带面包。奥尔德家里总有很多的面包，而且是足够我用的。我会把这些面包送给附近贫穷、饥饿的白人小孩。作为回报，他们会给我送来更有价值的知识面包。

我首次尝试写字是抄写刻在造船厂碎木片上的字母。在能够写出四个字母后，我便告诉任何一个会写字的男孩，说我能写得和他一样好。回答必定是：“我不相信你。你试试，让我看看。”随后，我写下字母，要求他们胜过我。这样，我学到了许多写字方面的知识。那时候，木栅栏、砖墙、路面就是我的抄写本，粉笔就是我的钢笔和墨水。后来，我开始抄写《韦伯拼写教程》上的斜体字，一直抄到我不用看书就能全部写出来。此时，我的小主人托马斯已经学会如何写字，抄写了几本字帖了。每个周一下午，当奥尔德夫人外出让我来照看家时，我经常在小主人托马斯用过的抄写本的空白处抄写他写过的东西。我一直这样做，直到我写得跟他非常类似。这样，在经过多年长时间枯燥乏味的努力后，我终于成功地学会了如何写字。

Key Words:

instruct [in'strʌkt]

v. 教，命令，指导

[计算机] 指示

unlawful ['ʌn'lɔ:ful]

adj. 非法的，私生的

tranquil ['træŋkwil]

adj. 安静的，宁静的，稳定的，不变的

spoil [spɔil]

n. 战利品，奖品

v. 宠坏，溺爱，破坏，腐

approach [ə'prəutʃ]