Three Days to See
I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently, I asked a friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods what she had observed. “Nothing in particular,” she replied.
How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. If I can get so much pleasure from touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. And I have imagined what I should most like to see if I were given the use of my eyes, say for just three days.
On the first day, I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. I do not know what it is to see into the heart of a friend through that “window of the soul”, the eye. I can only “see” through my fingertips the outline of a face. I should like to see the books which have been read to me, and which have revealed to me the deepest channels of human life and the human spirit. In the afternoon I should take a long walk in the woods and intoxicate my eyes on the beauties of the world of nature. That night, I should not be able to sleep.
On my second day, I should like to see the pageant of man's progress, and I should go to the museums. I should try to probe into the soul of man through his art. The things I knew through touch I should now see. The evening of my second day I should spend at a theater or at the movies.
The following morning, I should again greet the dawn, anxious to discover new delights, new revelations of beauty. Today I shall spend in the workaday world, amid the haunts of men going about the business of life.
At midnight permanent night would close in on me again. Only when darkness had again descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen.
I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. But of all the senses, I am sure that sight must be the most delightful.
(Excerpts from “Three Days to See” by Helen Keller)
1. How did Helen feel when her friend told her she observed nothing after a long walk?| A．Unbelievable. | B．Pleased. |
| C．Understanding. | D．Interested. |
| A．To stay up throughout the night. |
| B．To take a long walk in the woods. |
| C．To see the people who have helped her a lot. |
| D．To see books which have revealed much to her. |
| A．Helen loves darkness and silence. |
| B．Helen is only stricken with blindness. |
| C．Helen wishes people to suffer from diseases. |
| D．Helen thinks healthy people ignore too much. |
| A．It turns out that people with disabilities are more imaginative. |
| B．The author looks forward to only three days of normal vision. |
| C．We should take what we have for granted, not cherish too much. |
| D．It is not lack of beauty in the world, just the eyes finding beauty. |
