When the first bitterness was over, the family accepted the inevitable, and tried to bear it cheerfully, helping one another by the increased affection which comes to bind households tenderly together in times of trouble. —
当第一阵苦楚过去时，家人接受了不可避免的事实，并试图愉快地忍受，通过在困难时期增加的亲情彼此帮助，使家庭更加紧密地联系在一起。 —

They put away their grief, and each did his or her part toward making that last year a happy one.
他们收起悲伤，每个人都尽自己的一份力量，让最后一年变得愉快。

The pleasantest room in the house was set apart for Beth, and in it was gathered everything that she most loved, flowers, pictures, her piano, the little worktable, and the beloved pussies. —
房子里最舒适的房间被留给了贝丝，里面放满了她最喜欢的一切：鲜花、图片、她的钢琴、小工作桌以及可爱的猫咪。 —

Father’s best books found their way there, Mother’s easy chair, Jo’s desk, Amy’s finest sketches, and every day Meg brought her babies on a loving pilgrimage, to make sunshine for Aunty Beth. John quietly set apart a little sum, that he might enjoy the pleasure of keeping the invalid supplied with the fruit she loved and longed for. —
爸爸最好的书籍都找到了那里，妈妈最舒适的椅子，乔的写字台，艾米最好的素描。每天，梅格带着她的孩子们来朝圣，为贝丝带来阳光。约翰悄悄地留出一小笔钱，以便能够给贝丝提供她喜欢并渴望的水果。 —

Old Hannah never wearied of concocting dainty dishes to tempt a capricious appetite, dropping tears as she worked, and from across the sea came little gifts and cheerful letters, seeming to bring breaths of warmth and fragrance from lands that know no winter.
老汉娜从不厌倦地烹制精巧美食来满足变幻莫测的胃口，一边工作一边流眼泪，而那些从海外送来的小礼物和充满欢快的信件仿佛带来了寒冷无处不在的土地上的温暖气息和芬芳味道。

Here, cherished like a household saint in its shrine, sat Beth, tranquil and busy as ever, for nothing could change the sweet, unselfish nature, and even while preparing to leave life, she tried to make it happier for those who should remain behind. —
在这里，贝丝就像家庭圣人一样珍藏在她的小神龛里，宁静而忙碌，因为没有什么可以改变她那甜蜜无私的天性，即便是在准备离开生命之际，她还在努力让那些留下来的人过得更幸福。 —

The feeble fingers were never idle, and one of her pleasures was to make little things for the school children daily passing to and fro, to drop a pair of mittens from her window for a pair of purple hands, a needlebook for some small mother of many dolls, penwipers for young penmen toiling through forests of pothooks, scrapbooks for picture-loving eyes, and all manner of pleasant devices, till the reluctant climbers of the ladder of learning found their way strewn with flowers, as it were, and came to regard the gentle giver as a sort of fairy godmother, who sat above there, and showered down gifts miraculously suited to their tastes and needs. —
那双虚弱的手从未闲着，她的乐趣之一就是每天为来往的小学生制作一些小东西，从窗户里丢下一双手套给一双紫色的手，给一个玩娃娃的小妈妈做一个针线盒，给那些艰难地涂写着波浪文字的年轻人做一个擦笔布，给爱看图片的眼睛做一个剪贴簿，以及各种愉快的小物件，直到那些不情愿攀爬学习阶梯的人们发现他们的路上都散布着花朵，就像是有一位温柔的赐予者坐在上面，神奇地为他们的品味和需求洒下礼物。 —

If Beth had wanted any reward, she found it in the bright little faces always turned up to her window, with nods and smiles, and the droll little letters which came to her, full of blots and gratitude.
如果贝丝想要任何回报，她总能在那些灿烂的小脸庞上找到——它们总是向她的窗户仰视，带着点头和微笑，还有那些满是污迹和感激的俏皮小信件。

The first few months were very happy ones, and Beth often used to look round, and say “How beautiful this is!” as they all sat together in her sunny room, the babies kicking and crowing on the floor, mother and sisters working near, and father reading, in his pleasant voice, from the wise old books which seemed rich in good and comfortable words, as applicable now as when written centuries ago, a little chapel, where a paternal priest taught his flock the hard lessons all must learn, trying to show them that hope can comfort love, and faith make resignation possible. —
最初的几个月非常快乐，贝丝经常环顾四周，说道：“这多美啊！”在她阳光明媚的房间里，他们都坐在一起，婴儿在地板上踢踏和叫唤着，母亲和姐妹们在附近工作，父亲以宜人的声音从那些智慧的古老书籍中朗读，这些书籍的好言辞在几个世纪前写下时和现在一样适用，正如现在一样富有善意和舒适的话语，一个小小的教堂里，一个亲切的牧师教导着他的羊民必须学会的艰难课程，试图向他们展示希望能够抚慰爱情，信仰能够使人接受命运。 —

Simple sermons, that went straight to the souls of those who listened, for the father’s heart was in the minister’s religion, and the frequent falter in the voice gave a double eloquence to the words he spoke or read.
简单的讲道直达那些倾听者的灵魂，因为父亲的心在牧师的宗教中，声音时常颤抖的让他所说或朗读的话语倍添雄辩。

It was well for all that this peaceful time was given them as preparation for the sad hours to come, for by-and-by, Beth said the needle was ‘so heavy’, and put it down forever. —
幸好他们有这段宁静的时光来为即将到来的悲伤时刻做准备，不久之后，贝丝说针“好重”，并永远放下了它。 —

Talking wearied her, faces troubled her, pain claimed her for its own, and her tranquil spirit was sorrowfully perturbed by the ills that vexed her feeble flesh. —
说话使她感到厌倦，面孔使她感到不安，疼痛使她痛苦不堪，她平静的精神被困扰着她虚弱的肉体所带来的病痛。 —

Ah me! Such heavy days, such long, long nights, such aching hearts and imploring prayers, when those who loved her best were forced to see the thin hands stretched out to them beseechingly, to hear the bitter cry, “Help me, help me!” and to feel that there was no help. —
啊，我哪！那样沉重的日子，那样漫长的夜晚，那样痛苦的心灵和恳求的祈祷，当她所爱的人被迫看着那细弱的双手向他们伸出乞求地，听着苦涩的呼喊，“救我，救我！”感到无助。 —

A sad eclipse of the serene soul, a sharp struggle of the young life with death, but both were mercifully brief, and then the natural rebellion over, the old peace returned more beautiful than ever. —
一颗平静的灵魂遭受了悲伤的失落，一生的力量与死亡进行了尖锐的抗争，但两者都是仁慈的短暂，然后自然的反抗结束，古老的宁静回到了她身上，比以往更美丽。 —

With the wreck of her frail body, Beth’s soul grew strong, and though she said little, those about her felt that she was ready, saw that the first pilgrim called was likewise the fittest, and waited with her on the shore, trying to see the Shining Ones coming to receive her when she crossed the river.
随着她脆弱的身体的毁坏，贝丝的灵魂变得坚强，虽然她说的很少，但她周围的人感到她已经准备好了，看到第一个朝圣者被召唤，同样也是最合适的，他们在岸边等待着她，试图看见那光辉的人们在她过河时来接她。

Jo never left her for an hour since Beth had said “I feel stronger when you are here.” She slept on a couch in the room, waking often to renew the fire, to feed, lift, or wait upon the patient creature who seldom asked for anything, and ‘tried not to be a trouble’. —
自从贝丝说“当你在这里的时候，我感觉更强大”以后，乔从未离开她一个小时。她睡在房间的一张沙发上，经常醒来重新燃起火，喂养、搀扶或等待病人，而那只病人几乎不会有任何要求，总是试图不给别人添麻烦。 —

All day she haunted the room, jealous of any other nurse, and prouder of being chosen then than of any honor her life ever brought her. —
她整天在房间里逛来逛去，对其他护士嫉妒，因为能被选中照顾病人比她生命中的任何荣誉都更让她自豪。 —

Precious and helpful hours to Jo, for now her heart received the teaching that it needed. —
对乔来说，这些时光是宝贵而有帮助的，因为此时她的内心接受了所需的教导。 —

Lessons in patience were so sweetly taught her that she could not fail to learn them, charity for all, the lovely spirit that can forgive and truly forget unkindness, the loyalty to duty that makes the hardest easy, and the sincere faith that fears nothing, but trusts undoubtingly.
患得患失的教训如此甜美地被教给她，以至于她无法不学习，她学会了对所有人的宽容，那种可爱的精神可以原谅并真正忘记不友善的事情，对职责的忠诚使最艰难的事情变得容易，以及那种无所畏惧、坚定信念的真诚信仰。

Often when she woke Jo found Beth reading in her well-worn little book, heard her singing softly, to beguile the sleepless night, or saw her lean her face upon her hands, while slow tears dropped through the transparent fingers, and Jo would lie watching her with thoughts too deep for tears, feeling that Beth, in her simple, unselfish way, was trying to wean herself from the dear old life, and fit herself for the life to come, by sacred words of comfort, quiet prayers, and the music she loved so well.
经常有时，当她醒来时，乔发现贝丝正在她摸索破旧的小书中阅读，听到她轻声唱歌，以消磨失眠的夜晚，或看到她把脸埋在双手中，透明的手指间滴下缓慢的泪水，乔静静地看着她，心中涌起太深沉的感慨以至于无法流泪，感觉到贝丝以她简单而无私的方式，正试图使自己从心爱的旧生活中解脱出来，以适应即将来临的生活，通过神圣的安慰之词、平静的祈祷和她如此热爱的音乐。

Seeing this did more for Jo than the wisest sermons, the saintliest hymns, the most fervent prayers that any voice could utter. —
看到这一切对乔来说比最智慧的布道、最圣洁的赞美诗、任何声音所能表达的最热诚的祈祷更有帮助。 —

For with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister’s life–uneventful, unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which ‘smell sweet, and blossom in the dust’, the self-forgetfulness that makes the humblest on earth remembered soonest in heaven, the true success which is possible to all.
她用泪水洗净了目光，用最温柔的悲伤软化了心灵，她认识到了她姐姐生活中的美丽——平淡、没有野心，但却充满了真正的美德：“芳香四溢，绽放尘埃中”的无私自忘，那种让世上最卑微的人最快地在天堂受到记忆的真正成功，这对所有人都是可能的。

One night when Beth looked among the books upon her table, to find something to make her forget the mortal weariness that was almost as hard to bear as pain, as she turned the leaves of her old favorite, Pilgrims’s Progress, she found a little paper, scribbled over in Jo’s hand. —
有一天晚上，贝丝在书桌上的书堆中寻找一些东西来忘却那几乎和疼痛一样难以忍受的疲劳。她翻阅着自己的最爱《天路历程》时，发现了一张乔用手写的小纸条。 —

The name caught her eye and the blurred look of the lines made her sure that tears had fallen on it.
她的眼睛定格在名字上，而模糊的字迹让她确信上面沾满了泪水。

“Poor Jo! She’s fast asleep, so I won’t wake her to ask leave. —
“可怜的乔！她已经熟睡了，所以我不会叫醒她询问。” —

She shows me all her things, and I don’t think she’ll mind if I look at this”, thought Beth, with a glance at her sister, who lay on the rug, with the tongs beside her, ready to wake up the minute the log fell apart.
“她给我看她的所有东西，我想她不会介意我看这个。”贝丝想着，一眼看向躺在地毯上，准备一旦木头掉散就醒来的妹妹。

MY BETH
我的贝丝

Sitting patient in the shadow Till the blessed light shall come, A serene and saintly presence Sanctifies our troubled home. —
坐在阴影中耐心等待，直到祝福的光明来临，一种宁静和圣洁的存在使我们烦恼的家得到了神圣的涵洞。 —

Earthly joys and hopes and sorrows Break like ripples on the strand Of the deep and solemn river Where her willing feet now stand.
尘世的欢乐、希望和悲伤在那深沉而庄严的河岸上如涟漪般泛起，而她愿意的双脚如今站立之地。

O my sister, passing from me, Out of human care and strife, Leave me, as a gift, those virtues Which have beautified your life. —
哦，我的姐妹，离开我，远离人世的烦恼和斗争，把你生命中美丽的品质作为一份礼物留给我。 —

Dear, bequeath me that great patience Which has power to sustain A cheerful, uncomplaining spirit In its prison-house of pain.
亲爱的，把那种能够支撑着在痛苦的牢狱之中保持快乐和无怨无悔的精神的伟大耐心传承给我。

Give me, for I need it sorely, Of that courage, wise and sweet, Which has made the path of duty Green beneath your willing feet. —
给我吧，因为我非常需要它，那种勇气，睿智而甜美的勇气，让你甘心踏在义务的道路上，使其常绿。 —

Give me that unselfish nature, That with charity devine Can pardon wrong for love’s dear sake– Meek heart, forgive me mine!
给我那种无私的天性，它带有神圣的仁爱，可以因爱而原谅错误——温顺的心啊，请原谅我吧！

Thus our parting daily loseth Something of its bitter pain, And while learning this hard lesson, My great loss becomes my gain. —
因此我们每天分别都会失去一些苦涩的痛苦，而在学习这个艰难的教训时，我的巨大损失变成了我的收获。 —

For the touch of grief will render My wild nature more serene, Give to life new aspirations, A new trust in the unseen.
因为悲伤的触摸会使我的野性更加宁静，给生活带来新的愿望，对看不见的事物产生新的信任。

Henceforth, safe across the river, I shall see forever more A beloved, household spirit Waiting for me on the shore. —
此后，安全地越过河流，我将永远看到一位心爱的家庭精神在岸上等待着我。 —

Hope and faith, born of my sorrow, Guardian angels shall become, And the sister gone before me By their hands shall lead me home.
希望和信仰，从我的悲伤中诞生，将成为守护天使，姐姐在他们的引导下将带领我回家。

Blurred and blotted, faulty and feeble as the lines were, they brought a look of inexpressible comfort to Beth’s face, for her one regret had been that she had done so little, and this seemed to assure her that her life had not been useless, that her death would not bring the despair she feared. —
模糊而可怜，这些行字给贝丝的脸上带来了一种难以言喻的安慰，因为她唯一的遗憾是自己所做的太少了，而这似乎向她保证了她的生命不会是无用的，她的死亡也不会带来她所担心的绝望。 —

As she sat with the paper folded between her hands, the charred log fell asunder. —
当她手里捧着那张纸时，烧焦的木块散开了。 —

Jo started up, revived the blaze, and crept to the bedside, hoping Beth slept.
乔站起来，重新点亮篝火，并蹑手蹑脚地走到床边，希望贝丝睡着了。

“Not asleep, but so happy, dear. See, I found this and read it. —
“我没有入睡，但是很开心，亲爱的。看，我找到了这个并且读了它。 —

I knew you wouldn’t care. —
我知道你不会在意。” —

Have I been all that to you, Jo?” she asked, with wistful, humble earnestness.
“我对你来说一直都是那么重要吗，乔？”她问道，带着渴望和谦卑的认真态度。

“Oh, Beth, so much, so much!” and Jo’s head went down upon the pillow beside her sister’s.
“噢，贝丝，是的，非常，非常重要！”乔的头垂在了她姐姐的枕头上。

“Then I don’t feel as if I’d wasted my life. —
“那我就觉得自己的生命没有白白浪费。 —

I’m not so good as you make me, but I have tried to do right. —
虽然我没有你说得那么好，但是我一直试着做对的事情。 —

And now, when it’s too late to begin even to do better, it’s such a comfort to know that someone loves me so much, and feels as if I’d helped them.”
而现在，当已经太晚开始改变的时候，知道有人这么爱我，觉得我对他们有所帮助，真的让我很安慰。”

“More than any one in the world, Beth. I used to think I couldn’t let you go, but I’m learning to feel that I don’t lose you, that you’ll be more to me than ever, and death can’t part us, though it seems to.”
“比任何人都要多，贝丝。以前我以为我不能让你离开，但是我正在学着觉得我不会失去你，你会对我来说比以往更重要，死亡无法将我们分开，尽管它看起来能够做到。”

“I know it cannot, and I don’t fear it any longer, for I’m sure I shall be your Beth still, to love and help you more than ever. —
“我知道它无法分开我们，我不再害怕了，因为我确信，我还是你的贝丝，会比以往更加爱你和帮助你。” —

You must take my place, Jo, and be everything to Father and Mother when I’m gone. —
“当我离开的时候，你必须替我去照顾爸爸和妈妈，成为他们的一切。 —

They will turn to you, don’t fail them, and if it’s hard to work alone, remember that I don’t forget you, and that you’ll be happier in doing that than writing splendid books or seeing all the world, for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
他们会求助于你，请不要辜负他们。即使一个人工作很难，也要记住我不会忘记你，你会因此而更快乐，比写出杰出的书籍或见识整个世界更快乐，因为爱是我们离开时唯一能带走的东西，它使结束变得如此容易。

“I’ll try, Beth.” and then and there Jo renounced her old ambition, pledged herself to a new and better one, acknowledging the poverty of other desires, and feeling the blessed solace of a belief in the immortality of love.
“我会努力的，贝丝。”于是，乔放弃了自己过去的抱负，承诺了一个新的、更好的抱负，承认了其他欲望的贫乏，并感受到了对爱永生的信仰所带来的幸福安慰。

So the spring days came and went, the sky grew clearer, the earth greener, the flowers were up fairly early, and the birds came back in time to say goodbye to Beth, who, like a tired but trustful child, clung to the hands that had led her all her life, as Father and Mother guided her tenderly through the Valley of the Shadow, and gave her up to God.
于是，春天来了又走，天空变得更清朗，大地变得更绿，花朵很早就绽放，鸟儿及时回来向贝丝告别。贝丝像一个疲惫但信任的孩子一样紧紧抓住一生中一直引领她的双手，父亲和母亲慈祥地引领她穿越阴影的山谷，将她交托给上帝。

Seldom except in books do the dying utter memorable words, see visions, or depart with beatified countenances, and those who have sped many parting souls know that to most the end comes as naturally and simply as sleep. —
除了书籍中的情节外，临终的人很少说出令人铭记的话，看到异像或者带着神圣的面容离开。那些陪伴过许多人走完最后一程的人都知道，对大多数人来说，生命的终点就像入睡一样自然简单。 —

As Beth had hoped, the ‘tide went out easily’, and in the dark hour before dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh.
正如贝丝所希望的那样，潮水平缓地退去，黎明前的黑暗时刻，贝丝平静地结束了她的生命。没有任何告别，只有一个深情的眼神，一个小小的叹息。

With tears and prayers and tender hands, Mother and sisters made her ready for the long sleep that pain would never mar again, seeing with grateful eyes the beautiful serenity that soon replaced the pathetic patience that had wrung their hearts so long, and feeling with reverent joy that to their darling death was a benignant angel, not a phantom full of dread.
母亲和姐妹们含着眼泪，合着祈祷，用温柔的双手为贝丝做好准备，她将进入长眠，不再被痛苦所折磨。她们用感激的目光注视着那美丽的宁静，它很快取代了那令人心痛的耐心，他们充满敬畏的喜悦中，感受到亲爱的贝丝，死神如天使般仁慈，而非充满恐怖的幽灵。

When morning came, for the first time in many months the fire was out, Jo’s place was empty, and the room was very still. —
当清晨来临时，几个月以来，房间里的火熄灭了，乔的位置空了，房间变得异常安静。 —

But a bird sang blithely on a budding bough, close by, the snowdrops blossomed freshly at the window, and the spring sunshine streamed in like a benediction over the placid face upon the pillow, a face so full of painless peace that those who loved it best smiled through their tears, and thanked God that Beth was well at last.
然而，一只鸟在绽放的树枝上欢快地唱着歌，就在窗前鲜艳的雪花绽放，春日的阳光如同祝福般倾泻而下，落在枕边的安详面容上。这张脸充满了无比平静的痛苦，那些最爱她的人们含着泪笑了起来，感谢上帝贝丝终于康复了。