Page 55 - Interchange English 4

understand what she was doing. Helen liked Miss Sullivan. She was

strict but kind. She spelt a lot of words for Helen, on her hand, day
FOR SAMPLE ONLY
and night, to make Helen understand.

One day, her teacher made Helen put
her hand into running water. Then,
she spelt W_A_T_E_R. Suddenly

Helen understood that W_A_T_E_R
meant something wet, running over
her hand. She understood that words
were the most important things in the
world. This opened up a whole new

world for her. She ran everywhere asking Anne the name of different
things and Anne would spell the words in her hand. This was the key
which unlocked the world for her. Anne was able to teach Helen to

think intelligibly and to speak. She also learned to read English, French,
German, Greek, and Latin in braille. Braille is a system of raised dots
representing letters. A blind person can read by feeling of the dots.

When she went to college, her teacher Anne went with her and tapped
out the words of the instructors into her student's hand.

Helen had an amazing memory, and she also had skills very few
people have ever been able to develop. She could put her fingers to

a person's lips and understand the words which were being spoken.
When Helen was 24 in 1904, she graduated from Radcliffe College,
probably becoming the first Braille alphabet
deaf and blind person to

graduate from a college.
With tremendous willpower
Helen went on to become a
world-famous speaker and

author. Helen Keller was
successful because of her
determination.

Interchange Communicative English 4 47