[原文呈现]
Three Days to See①
[1]I have often thought it would be a blessing② if each human being were stricken③ blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.Darkness would make him more appreciative④ of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
[1]have thought之后的宾语从句是复合句，使用了虚拟语气。表示与现在事实相反的假设，if从句谓语用过去式(be只能用were)，主句谓语使用“would/could/should/might＋动词原形”。
Now and then I have tested my seeing friends⑤ to discover what they see.[2]Recently, I asked a friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods⑥ what she had observed.“Nothing in particular，” she replied.
[2]who引导定语从句修饰间接宾语a friend；what引导的宾语从句作直接宾语。
How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy⑦ of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere⑧ touch.If I can get so much pleasure from touch, how much more beauty must be revealed⑨ 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 gentleness⑩ 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.[3]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.
[3]本句是复合句，两个which引导的并列的定语从句修饰先行词the books。
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.[4]Only when darkness had again descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen.
[4]“Only＋状语从句”置于句首时，后面主句为部分倒装，即把助动词或情态动词提前。
I who am blind can give one hint to those who see：[5]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.
[5]本句使用了虚拟语气。当as if从句内容表示对将来的一种假设时，从句谓语用“would/could/might＋动词原形”。
(Excerpts from “Three Days to See” by Helen Keller)
