It was late on bitterly cold, snowy New Year"s Eve. A poor littlegirl was wandering i the dark, cold streets.She was bare-headed andbare-footed. She certainly had had slippers on when she left home, butthey were not much good,for they were so huge and had last been worn byher mother. And they fell off the poor little girl"s feet when she wasruning across the street to avoid two carriages that were rollingrapidly by. One of the shoes could not be found at all.And the otherwas pickde up by a boy who ran off with it, saying that it would do fora cradle when he had children of his own.
So the poor littlegirl had to go on with her little bare feet which were red and bluewith the cold. She carried a quantity of matches in her old apron, andheld a packet of them in her matches during all the long day. Nobodyhad even given her a copper.The poor little creature was hungry andperishing with cold and she looked the picture of misery.She found acorner where one house projected a little beyound the next one,andhere, she crouched. drawing up her feet under her.But she was colderthan ever.
Her little bands were almost dead with cold.One little match would do some good. Dare she pull one out of thebundle and strike it on the wall to warm her fingers? She pulled oneout.rishhh…How it splattered,how it blazed.It burnt with a bright clearflame just like a candle when she held her hand on it. It was a verycurious candle,too.The little girl fancied that she was sitting infront of a big stove with polished brass feet and handles. There was asplendid fire blazing in it and warming her so beautifuly.But whathappened? Just as she was stretching out her feet to warm them,theblaze went out.
The stove vanished and she was left sittingwith the end of a burnt-out match in her hand.Again she litanother.This time she was sitting under a lovely Christmas tree. It wasmuch bigger and more beautifully decorated than the one she had seenwhen she peeped through the glass doors at the rich merchant"s housethis very last Christmas. Thousands of lighted candles gleamed upon itsbranches and colored pictures such as she had seen in the shop windowslooked down to her. The little girl stretched out both her handstowards them, and out went the match.
All the Christmascandles rose higher and higher till she saw that they were only thetwinkling stars.One of them fell, and made a bright streak of lightacross the sky.
Someone is dying,"thought the littlegirl.For her own grandmother, the only person who had ever been kind toher, used to say,"When a star falls, a soul is going up ot God."
Now she struck another match against the wall and this time it was hergrandmother who appeared in the circle of flame. She saw her quiteclearly and distinctly, looking so gentle and happy."Grandmother!"criedthe little creature."Oh, do take me with you.I know you wil vanish whenthe match goes out. You will vanish like the warm stove, the deliciousgoose and the beautiful Christmas tree."
She hastily strucka whole bundle of matches because she did so long to keep hergrandmother with her. The light of the matches made it as bright asday. Grandmother had never before looked so big or so beautiful.Shelifted the little girl up in her arms, and they soared in a halo oflight and joy, far, far above the earth where there was no more cold,no hunger, no pain.For they were with God.
參考譯文：
賣火柴的小女孩
安徒生
這是一個寒冷的除夕之夜，天正下著雪。已經很晚了，一個衣衫襤褸的小女孩獨自漫無目的地走在冷清黑暗的街道上。她赤著腳，頭上什麼也沒戴。離開家時，她的確穿關雙拖鞋。可這雙鞋一點用也沒有。因為它們太大了，本來是媽媽穿的。在橫穿馬路時，為了躲開兩輛馬車，小女孩把鞋給跑丟了。一隻鞋怎麼也找不著。另一隻被一個小男孩撿到。他拿著鞋一邊跑，一邊說這只鞋可以給他將來的孩子們做搖籃。
因此，可憐的小女孩只好赤著腳走路。腳凍得青一塊，紫一塊。在她破舊的圍裙裏，兜著許多火柴，沒有人給過她一個銅板。可憐的小人饑寒交迫，看起來很淒慘。在一個屋頂伸出來的角落裏，小女孩縮著腳價值 了下來，可是比原先更冷了。
小女孩的手幾乎凍僵了，一根小小的火柴的也會帶來點溫暖。她敢不敢從中抽出一根，就著牆控著來暖和一下手指呢？她終於缺陷出了一根。哧……火花四濺，多麼明亮啊！小女孩用手圍攏著火柴。明亮的火焰猶如蠟燭。小女孩幻想著自己正坐在一個大火爐前。火爐的支腳和把手閃閃發亮，裏面的爐火熊熊燃燒。多麼溫暖，多麼美妙。可是怎麼了？正當小女伸出腳來取暖時，火滅了。
火爐消失了，只留下小女孩坐在地上，手裏拿著快燒完的火柴梗。她又點燒了一根火柴。這次她坐在一株可愛的對誕樹下這棵樹比她去年聖誕透過富商家的玻璃門年垤的那棵還要大，裝飾得還要美，盛行中上萬的蠟燭照亮著樹枝。一幅幅彩圖，就像她曾在櫥窗裏看到的一樣，俯視著她。小女孩伸出雙手，火柴又熄滅了。
所有的聖誕蠟燭越升越高，最後她看清那只是夜空中閃爍的星星。其中有一顆星星落了下來，在空中滑過一道亮光。有人要死了，小女孩心想。因為奶奶，那惟一待，過去常說：“天上一顆星落下業，地上就有一個靈魂上天了。”
小女孩又在牆上擦亮了一根火柴，這次亮光中奶有出現了。小女孩清清楚楚看見了慈祥、快樂的奶奶。“奶奶！”小女孩哭喊著：“帶我一起走吧。我知道火柴一滅，你就會不見的，就像那溫暖的火爐，美味的燒鵝和美麗的聖誕樹一樣。”
小女孩急忙點燒整把的火柴，因為她多麼渴望留住奶奶。火柴的亮光如同白晝。奶奶看起來從來沒有像現在這樣高大、美麗過。她把小女孩抱起來，在光明和快樂中冉冉飛翔，飛離地球，到達那不再有寒冷、饑餓和痛苦的天堂。
在寒冷的晨曦裏，可憐的小女孩坐在屋角，臉紅撲撲的，面帶微笑。她死了。 |
发表于 2007-12-27 09:02:40
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