When Helen Keller was 19 months old, an illness left her deaf, dump (哑巴) and blind. At the age of five, she began to realize that she was different from other people. Her family members could 1 with their mouths, but she couldn't talk with her mouth. Sometimes she stood between her parents and touched their 2 . She could not understand their words, and she could not make any meaningful sounds herself. She wanted to talk, but no matter how she tried, her family members could not understand her. This made her very angry. Finally, her parents decided to ask Dr. Bell for help.
So just before Helen's seventh birthday, with the help of Dr Bell, her parents hired a private 3 — Miss Sullivan for her. Miss Sullivan was careful to teach Helen, especially she taught Helen those subjects that she was 4 in.
One morning, Miss Sullivan carried a cup in her hand and she took Helen to the pump house (水泵房). Someone was pumping water (用泵打水) there. Miss Sullivan led Helen to the pump, put the cup in her hand, and let Helen 5 it under the spout (水泵嘴). Helen's first impulse (冲动) was to throw the cup away. But she liked the feeling when the cool water flowed down over her hand into the 6 . So she held it there, smiling a little.
Then Miss Sullivan held Helen's other hand and began to 7 the word W-A-T-E-R on it over and over again. Slowly at first, then faster. Suddenly Helen dropped the cup. She stood there quietly, hardly breathing . Inside her mind, a new idea began to spin round and round.
"W-A-T-E-R! W-A-T-E-R! This lovely, cool thing. W-A-T-E-R?" She wildly groped (忙乱地摸索) for Miss Sullivan's hand. Her trembling (颤抖的) 8 began to spell the word on Miss Sullivan's hand, W-A-T-? she didn't finish spelling the word W-A-T-E-R, then she felt that Miss Sullivan agreed with her by patting (轻拍) her on the shoulder. Helen was 9 ! That was "water"! For the first time in Helen's life, she "talked" with another person in this 10 way! Miss Sullivan's eyes were wet as she cried, "Helen, you're right! You've got it!"
