The late Booth Tarkington always said: " I could take anything that life could force upon me except one thing: blindness. I could never endure that" .

已故的布斯·塔金顿 (Booth Tarkington) 总是说：“我可以接受生活强加于我的任何事情， 除了一件事：失明。我永远无法忍受这一点” 。

He went briskly around the block with the fatuousness of one of Tarkington's adolescents, hurrying at the blind places lest he miss Rosemary's coming out of the studio.

他像塔金顿笔下的一个少年一样， 轻快地绕着街区转了一圈， 在盲点处匆匆忙忙， 唯恐错过罗斯玛丽从工作室出来的声音。

In the hope of restoring his eyesight, Tarkington had to go through more than twelve operations within one year. With local anaesthetic! Did he rail against this? He knew it had to be done.

为了恢复视力，塔金顿不得不在一年内进行了十二次以上的手术。用局部麻醉剂！他反对这个吗？他知道必须这样做。

The average man would have been a nervous wreck if he had had to endure more than twelve operations and blindness. Yet Tarkington said: " I would not exchange this experience for a happier one" . It taught him acceptance.

如果他不得不忍受十二次以上的手术和失明，那么普通人就会精神崩溃。然而塔金顿说：“我不会用这种经历来换取更快乐的经历”。它教会了他接受。

And how did Tarkington react to this " worst of all disasters" ? Did he feel: " This is it! This is the end of my life" ? No, to his amazement, he felt quite gay. He even called upon his humour.

塔金顿是如何应对这场“最严重的灾难”的？他有没有觉得：“就是这样！这是我生命的终结”？不，令他惊讶的是，他觉得自己很快乐。他甚至呼吁他的幽默。