The Little Match Girl 卖火柴的小女孩

The Little Match Girl 卖火柴的小女孩 （节选）

It was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the old year, and the snow was falling fast.
天气非常非常冷，夜幕已降临，雪下得很大。这是旧年最后的一夜——除夕之夜。

In the cold and the darkness, a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet, roamed through the streets.
在寒冷和黑暗中，一个可怜的小女孩，光头赤脚仍在大街上徘徊。

In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and had a bundle of them in her hands. No one had bought anything of her the whole day, nor had any one given her even a penny.
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。

She dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here.
她也不敢回家，因为她还没有卖掉一根火柴，没有挣到一个铜板，她的父亲一定会因此而打她；况且她家几乎和大街上一样冷。

Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers.
她那双小手都快冻僵了。啊！如果她能从这捆火柴中取出一根，在墙上划着了就会好一些，也就可以暖手。

She drew one out-"scratch!" how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light.
于是她抽出了一根。哧！火柴燃起来了，冒出了火苗。当她双手覆在上面时，它变成了一朵光明、温暖的火焰，好像一根小蜡烛。多美的光啊。

Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire. "Some one is dying," thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star falls, a soul was going up to God.
这时，有一颗星星落下来，在它后面划出一道长长的火丝。“一定有人要死了。”小姑娘想。因为她的老祖母——一个已故去的唯一疼爱她的人，曾经告诉过她，一旦天上落下一颗星，就有一个灵魂回到上帝那里去了。

She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round her; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and loving in her appearance.
她又在墙上擦了一根火柴，火光把她四周照亮了。她的老祖母就出现在那在亮光里，清晰而又明亮。她看起来依然是那么的慈爱和温和。

"Grandmother," cried the little one, "O take me with you; I know you will go away when the match burns out; you will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and the large, glorious Christmas-tree."
“奶奶！”小家伙叫起来，“啊！把我带走吧！我知道这火柴一熄灭，你就会象温暖的炉火，香喷喷的烤鹅，美丽的大圣诞树一样不见的！”

And she made haste to light the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother there. and her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful.
她急忙把剩下的一束火柴都擦着了，因为她希望能留住祖母
祖母从来没有象现在这样显得这么高大、这么美丽。

She took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.

她把小姑娘抱起来，搂在怀里。她们俩在光明和快乐飞走了，越飞越高，飞到既没有寒冷，又没有饥饿和痛苦的地方，因为她们来到了极乐世界。

In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little one, with pale cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had been frozen to death on the last evening of the year; and the New-year's sun rose and shone upon a little corpse! The child still sat, in the stiffness of death, holding the matches in her hand, one bundle of which was burnt.
寒冷的早晨，一个可怜的双颊苍白却面带微笑的小姑娘，蜷缩在墙角里。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！她一动也不动地僵坐在那里，手中还捏着火柴，其中一捆已经完全烧光了。

"She tried to warm herself," said someone. No one imagined what beautiful things she had seen, nor into what glory she had entered with her grandmother, on New-year's day.
“她是想把自己暖一下呀！”一些人说道。然而却没有人知道，在新年里，她曾看到过多么美妙的东西，并和祖母一起去往了怎样美好的地方。