Helen KellerZhang Chu (09yingjiao1-35)Abstract：This passage shows about a blind deaf author and educator—Helen Keller. When she was half a year old, an unexpected disaster happened to her which made her forfeit the instinct for living. After that, this little girl became isolated to the vivid and dramatic world. However, in the darkness and a lonely world, she didn't give up and never surrendered to fate. With the help and encouragement from her teacher Anne Sullivan, she overcame all the sufferings caused by the physical defects tenaciously. She learned to speak and study, and began to communicate with others. When she was 24, she graduated from Radcliffe College, Harvard University and became a knowledgeable famous writer and educator, who got hold of five languages. Helen’s life is extraordinary and she gave us great encouragement. She taught us to cherish our health and this wonderful time.Key words: Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, love, encourage, breakthrough, success1. IntroductionThe background of Helen Keller’s family and education did a beneficial foundation for Helen Keller’s success.1.1Family BackgroundHelen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her family lived on a homestead, Ivy Green, which Helen's grandfather had built decades earlier. Helen's father, Arthur H. Keller, spent many years as an editor for the Tuscumbia North Alabamian and had served as a captain for the Confederate Army. Helen's mother, Kate Adams,was the daughter of Charles Adams. Helen's paternal grandmother was the second cousin of Robert E. Lee. In a word, hose in Helen’s family members had extraordinary position, which gave a superior foundation for Helen’s success in defeating the suff erings. Helen's father's lineage can be traced to Casper Keller, a native of Switzerland. Coincidentally, one of Helen's Swiss ancestors was the first teacher for the deaf in Zurich. It might be another helpful factor for her to overcome the troubles.(1998:1-2)1.2Education backgroundHelen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain", which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind.In 1886, her mother inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American Notes of the successful education of another deaf and blind child. After she told this news to her husband, it seemed that a silver lining he was seeing. Then he took Helen to seek out Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore, for advice. He subsequently put them in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated. Michael Anaganos, the school's director, asked former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, Sullivan evolved into governess and then eventual companion.( Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)2. Her achievementHelen devoted herself in researching in health for people and encouraging the disable to get strong, and acting as a writer.2.1Political activitiesKeller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, amid numerous other causes. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, an opponent of Woodrow Wilson, a radical socialist and a birth control supporter. In 1915 she and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920 she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union. Keller and Sullivan traveled to over 39 countries, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain.(Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)2.2 WritingsKeller wrote a total of 12 published books and several articles.One of her earliest pieces of writing, at age 11, was The Frost King (1891). At age 22, Keller published her autobiography, The Story of My Life (1903), with help from Sullivan and Sullivan's husband, John Macy. It included words that Keller wrote and the story of her life up to age 21, and was written during her time in college. Keller wrote The World I Live In in 1908 , giving readers an insight into how she felt about the world. Out of the Dark, a series of essays on socialism, was published in 1913.Her spiritual autobiography, My Religion, was published in 1927 and re-issued as Light in my Darkness. It advocates the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the controversial mystic who gives a spiritual interpretation of the Last Judgment and second coming of Jesus Christ, and the movement named after him, Swedenborgianism.3.The person influence herAs we all know, Helen could not overcome all the difficulties as an disabled and became a famous figure without the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. When Helen was a child, because of the disability to contact with surroundings, she got a bad temper. However, after Anne Sul livan’s coming, she got control of Helen’s bad behavior, though there were some troubles at the beginning. While Helen’s parents were satisfied with Helen’s poor ability to recognizing some words, Anne Sullivan thought that it was still not convenient to communicate for Helen. However, it was an extremely great challenging for a girl to say a word in the atmosphere of not any sound and light. In order to conquer this problem, Anne sent for a specialist to help her how to pronounce though the way of touching the mouth’s movement while others were talking and even the different sniff and aspirate while talking. Of course, it was not an easy job to learn speaking, but Helen indeed did it. Anne Sullivan stayed as a companion to Helen Keller long after she taught her. She guided Helen to go out of endless darkness and loneliness with her love and wisdom. The miracles that Helen made were inseparable to this outstanding educator. In Helen’s masterwork, Three days to see, she expressed deeply her love to Anne, “If god gives me three days to see, the first sight I would like to see my dear teacher.”（Translated by Hu Qingsheng, 2008）4.The people she influencedHelen Keller not only took a great breakthrough on communication, but devoted the whole life into helping those who had something in common with her. She gave lectures for the disabled all over the place, encouraging them to recognize themselves to be disabled but useful persons. The sincere love from Helen Keller not only brought the irresponsible confidence for the disabled, but stirred people from different countries to face squarely the handicapped welfare and set up all kinds of service institution to help them get a happy life.5. The things I learned from Helen KellerFrom Helen Keller’s story, I learn a lot. I realize that we must cherish what we have and we need to appreciate it, and make full use of it. We need not lose our ambition at all if we forfeit it unfortunately someday. Instead, what we should do is to toughen our will power, a stronger will power, which will help us conquer all the obstructions we confront and create great self-value. Another important lesson I learned is the power of love. Although love is invisible and you can not touch it, it remains an unlimitedly great power. The power of love is mighty. We can learn that it is the unlimited love from her family and teacher that supports her to study and grow. Indeed, it is love she had experienced that influenced her to turn into a famous figure and repaid for them by her efforts. In the process of growing, maybe we will suffer and confront quantities of difficulties. We must go forward with our persistent spirit and strong will and should never say “give up!”Bibliography谢新吾，吴兴勇编著《海伦·凯勒》沈阳：辽海出版社，1998.10 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.ora/wiki/Helen Keller[美]海伦·凯勒著/胡庆生译. 全球百大名著系列.哈尔滨出版社，2008.08.。