卖火柴的小女孩 It was dreadfully cold, it was snowing fast, and almost dark; the evening----the last evening of the old year was drawing in. But, cold and dark as it was, a poor little girl, with bare head and feet, was still wandering about the streets. When she left her home she had slippers on, but they were much too large for her; indeed, properly, they belonged to her mother, and had dropped off her feet whilst1 she was running very fast across the road, to get out of the way of two carriages. One of the slippers was not to be found, the other had been snatched up by a little boy, who ran off with it thinking it might serve him as a doll‘s cradle.
The snow-flakes fell on her long, fair hair, which curled in such pretty ringlets over her shoulders; but she thought not of her own beauty, or of the cold. Lights were glimmering through every window, and the savoir of roast goose reached her from several houses; it was New Year‘s eve, and it was of this that she thought. 现在这小女孩只好光着脚在街上行走,一双脚步冻得又红又青。她那破旧的围裙兜着许多火柴,手里还拿着一小捆。可整整一天谁也没有向她买过一根——谁也没有给她一个铜板。她又饿又冷,哆哆嗦嗦地向前走着,这是一幅非常凄惨的景象:可怜的小姑娘! 雪花落在她那金黄色的头发上——长长的卷发披散在肩上,看起来十分美丽,可她想不到自己的漂亮。从每扇窗子透出的亮光和飘出的烤鹅肉香味,使她想起的只是今天是除夕之夜。 In a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected beyond the other. She sat down, drawing her little feet close under her, but in vain, she could not warm them. She dared not go home, she had sold no matches, earned not a single penny, and perhaps her father would beat her, besides her home was almost as cold as the street, it was an attic; and although the larger of the many chinks in the roof were stopped up with straw and rags. the wind and snow often penetrated through. Her hands were nearly dead with cold; one little match from her bundle would warm them. Perhaps, if she dared light it, she drew one out, and struck it against the wall, bravo! it was a bright, warm flame, and she held her hands over it. It was quite an illumination for that poor little girl; nay,1 call it rather a magic taper, for it seemed to her as though she was sitting before a large iron-stove with brass ornaments, so beautifully blazed the fire within! The child stretched out her feet to warm them also; alas, in an instant the flame had died away, the stove vanished, the little girl sat cold and comfortless, with the burnt match in her hand.
She kindled a third match. Again shot up the flame; and now she was sitting under a most beautiful Christmas tree ,far larger, and far more prettily decked out, than the one she had seen last Christmas eve through the glass doors of the rich merchant‘s house. Hundreds of wax-tapers lighted up the green branches, and tiny painted figures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down from the tree upon her. The child stretched out her hands towards them in delight, and in that moment the lights of the match warm quenched; still, however, the Christmas candles burned higher and higher, she beheld them beaming like stars in heaven; one of them fell, the lights streaming behind it like a long, fiery tail.
She struck yet another match against the wall; it flamed up, and surrounded by its light, appeared before her that same dear grandmother, gentle and loving as always, but bright and happy as she had never looked during her lifetime. “现在又有一个什么人死了。”小姑娘说。因为她的老祖母——一个唯一待她好的人,现在已经死了,曾经告诉过她,天上落下一颗星,地上就有一个灵魂回到曾赋于他生命的上帝那里去。
她在墙上又擦了一根火柴,火光把四周照亮了。在亮光里,亲爱的和生前一样的祖母出现了。她依然是那么的慈爱和温和,然而那快活和幸福的样子却是她生前从未有过的。 She kindled a third match. Again shot up the flame; and now she was sitting under a most beautiful Christmas tree ,far larger, and far more prettily decked out, than the one she had seen last Christmas eve through the glass doors of the rich merchant‘s house. Hundreds of wax-tapers lighted up the green branches, and tiny painted figures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down from the tree upon her. The child stretched out her hands towards them in delight, and in that moment the lights of the match warm quenched; still, however, the Christmas candles burned higher and higher, she beheld them beaming like stars in heaven; one of them fell, the lights streaming behind it like a long, fiery tail.
“She has been trying to warm herself, poor thing!” the people said, but no one knew of the sweet visions she had beheld, or how gloriously she and her grandmother were celebrating their New Year‘s festival.
直到寒冷的早晨,人们发现一个可怜的小姑娘蜷缩在墙角里,她双颊通红,嘴唇上带着微笑,她已经在旧年的除夕冻死了。新年的太阳升起来了,照在她那小小的身体上!她一动也不动地坐在那里,手中还捏着火柴,其中一捆已经完全烧光了。 |
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