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汤姆一点都不怀疑，连惊诧都没有。假使伊娃说她曾光临过天堂，汤姆也会相信的。 "They come to me sometimes in my sleep, those spirits;" and Eva's eyes grew dreamy, and she hummed, in a low voice," 这群天使呀，我在梦中经常看见他们。"伊娃的眼睛渐渐变得迷离，如梦幻一般，她轻声哼唱： "They are all robed in spotless white, And conquering palms they bear." 身着纤尘不染的白袍，手拿象征胜利的芭蕉。 "Uncle Tom," said Eva, "I'm going there."" 汤姆叔叔，"伊娃说，"我要到那里去。" "Where, Miss Eva?"" 去哪里，伊娃小姐？" 
那孩子站了起来，小手指向天空。此时，晚霞照耀着她金黄色的头发和粉红的脸颊，呈现出圣洁的光辉。伊娃的目光热切地投向空中。 "I'm going _there_," she said, "to the spirits bright, Tom; _I'm going, before long_."" 我去那儿，"她说，"我去光明天使那儿。汤姆，我不久就会去。" The faithful old heart felt a sudden thrust; and Tom thought how often he had noticed, within six months, that Eva's little hands had grown thinner, and her skin more transparent, and her breath shorter; and how, when she ran or played in the garden, as she once could for hours, she became soon so tired and languid. He had heard Miss Ophelia speak often of a cough, that all her medicaments could not cure; and even now that fervent cheek and little hand were burning with hectic fever; and yet the thought that Eva's words suggested had never come to him till now. 忠心耿耿的仆人霎时觉得撕心裂肺般痛楚。他想起这半年来，小姑娘的手越来越纤瘦，皮肤越来越透明，呼吸也越来越急促。以前她在花园里嬉戏玩耍，一闹就是几个钟头，可现在没玩多久就疲乏无力了。汤姆常听奥菲利亚小姐提到伊娃的咳嗽用什么方子都不见效，就是现在，她滚烫的脸颊和小手还发着潮热呢。想到这些，汤姆似乎才领悟到伊娃话语的真正含义。 Has there ever been a child like Eva? Yes, there have been; but their names are always on grave-stones, and their sweet smiles, their heavenly eyes, their singular words and ways, are among the buried treasures of yearning hearts. In how many families do you hear the legend that all the goodness and graces of the living are nothing to the peculiar charms of one who _is not_. It is as if heaven had an especial band of angels, whose office it was to sojourn for a season here, and endear to them the wayward human heart, that they might bear it upward with them in their homeward flight. When you see that deep, spiritual light in the eye,--when the little soul reveals itself in words sweeter and wiser than the ordinary words of children,--hope not to retain that child; for the seal of heaven is on it, and the light of immortality looks out from its eyes. 世上有过伊娃这样的孩子吗？有的，可他们的名字只出现在墓碑上。这些孩子甜美的笑容，圣洁的眼眸，不凡的谈吐都已像宝藏一样，深埋在人们眷念的心里。多少家庭流传着同样的故事啊！活着的人们的全部美德和优点，同某一个去世的亲人的不同凡响的美德比起来，多么微不足道啊！仿佛有那么一群特殊的天使，他们的使命只是在尘世间逗留一段时间，让误入歧途的心靠近他们，以便升天时把他们带回天堂。你若是看到一个孩子有着与众不同深邃而有灵性的目光，有着超出一般孩子之上的温柔聪慧的话语，请别指望留住这个孩子，因为天国的印鉴已盖在这孩子身上，永恒的灵光已在这孩子眼中闪现。 Even so, beloved Eva! fair star of thy dwelling! Thou are passing away; but they that love thee dearest know it not. 亲爱的伊娃，你就要走上回家的旅程，可是你的至亲仍然蒙在鼓里。 
突然，奥菲利亚一阵急切的叫唤，打断了汤姆与伊娃的谈话。 "Eva--Eva!--why, child, the dew is falling; you mustn't be out there!"" 伊娃，伊娃！你这孩子，下露水了，不能再呆在花园了。" Eva and Tom hastened in. 伊娃和汤姆急忙往屋子里跑去。 Miss Ophelia was old, and skilled in the tactics of nursing. She was from New England, and knew well the first guileful footsteps of that soft, insidious disease, which sweeps away so many of the fairest and loveliest, and, before one fibre of life seems broken, seals them irrevocably for death. 奥菲利亚是一个富有经验的护理能手，她从小在新英格兰长大，对于缓慢而可怕的疾病的侵袭最熟悉不过，这疾病曾夺走了人世间最美丽可爱的生命。当你还没来得及发现有一根生命线已经断裂时，死亡的印记已无可挽回地盖在了他们身上。 She had noted the slight, dry cough, the daily brightening cheek; nor could the lustre of the eye, and the airy buoyancy born of fever, deceive her. 奥菲利亚小姐早就注意到了伊娃轻微的干咳，日渐明亮起来的脸颊。即使伊娃眼睛里光芒闪烁，可那由发烧而引起的虚飘的兴奋劲却逃不过奥菲利亚小姐的眼睛。 
她把这忧虑告诉了圣克莱尔，可他却急躁不安地把她的疑虑给顶了回去，和他平常那种满不在乎或和颜悦色的态度不大相同。 "Don't be croaking, Cousin,--I hate it!" he would say; "don't you see that the child is only growing. Children always lose strength when they grow fast."" 别再说这种不吉利的话了，姐姐，我讨厌这个。"他总是说，"你不是说孩子在长身体吗？孩子长个的时候，总会瘦一些的。" "But she has that cough!"" 可是她老干咳呀！" "O! nonsense of that cough!--it is not anything. She has taken a little cold, perhaps."" 噢，干咳？就算有一点，也没什么大不了的，也许是着了凉了。" "Well, that was just the way Eliza Jane was taken, and Ellen and Maria Sanders."" 可是，伊莉查·简，还有埃伦，玛丽亚·桑德思都因为这个送了命呀！" 
噢，别再提那些护理人员谣传的恐怖事件了。你们这些护理老手啊，就是过于敏感自负了。孩子们不能咳嗽，打喷嚏，一有点事儿就惶惶不安。我想你只要好好照顾孩子，不让她接触夜晚的冷空气，不准她玩得太累，就不会有事的。" So St. Clare said; but he grew nervous and restless. He watched Eva feverishly day by day, as might be told by the frequency with which he repeated over that "the child was quite well"--that there wasn't anything in that cough,--it was only some little stomach affection, such as children often had. But he kept by her more than before, took her oftener to ride with him, brought home every few days some receipt or strengthening mixture,--"not," he said, "that the child _needed_ it, but then it would not do her any harm." 可是圣克莱尔虽嘴上这么说，心里却越来越紧张和不安了。他每天都反复强调："这孩子好得很呢。""这点咳嗽不算什么。""她只是肚子有点小毛病，孩子们都是这样。"单就这一点，就可以看出他内心的焦虑。他陪伴孩子的时间长了，带她出去兜风的次数也增多了。隔不了几天，他总是带回个药方或补药，嘴上却说："这孩子并不需要这个，可吃吃总没坏处。" If it must be told, the thing that struck a deeper pang to his heart than anything else was the daily increasing maturity of the child's mind and feelings. While still retaining all a child's fanciful graces, yet she often dropped, unconsciously, words of such a reach of thought, and strange unworldly wisdom, that they seemed to be an inspiration. At such times, St. Clare would feel a sudden thrill, and clasp her in his arms, as if that fond clasp could save her; and his heart rose up with wild determination to keep her, never to let her go. 说起来，最让圣克莱尔感到痛心的是孩子的思想和感情一天天成熟起来。一方面，伊娃还保留着孩子耽于幻想的天性；一方面，她又时不时冒出一些让人诧异的，超凡脱俗的智慧的话语，听上去就像是圣谕一般。每当这种时候，圣克莱尔总是悚然若惊地一把揽住伊娃，仿佛这样无限的疼爱就能挽救她一样。他内心里涌出一股强烈的愿望，一定要保住这孩子，不让她离去。 The child's whole heart and soul seemed absorbed in works of love and kindness. Impulsively generous she had always been; but there was a touching and womanly thoughtfulness about her now, that every one noticed. She still loved to play with Topsy, and the various colored children; but she now seemed rather a spectator than an actor of their plays, and she would sit for half an hour at a time, laughing at the odd tricks of Topsy,--and then a shadow would seem to pass across her face, her eyes grew misty, and her thoughts were afar. 伊娃的心思全部放在了做善事上。她一贯慷慨宽容，近来又增添了一种女性特有的体贴温柔，让人感动。她还是和托普西及其他黑孩子们一起玩耍，只是现在更多的是站在一边看他们玩，并不亲自参加游戏。伊娃通常一坐就是半个钟头，先是含笑看着伙伴们奇特的恶作剧，后来脸上就蒙上了一层阴影，她的目光逐渐迷离，思绪也飘远了。 "Mamma," she said, suddenly, to her mother, one day, "why don't we teach our servants to read?"" 妈妈，"有一天她突然对她妈妈说，"为什么我们不教仆人们看书呢？" 
什么话！你这孩子，可从来没有人这样干过呢！" "Why don't they?" said Eva." 为什么？"伊娃问道。 "Because it is no use for them to read. It don't help them to work any better, and they are not made for anything else."" 因为读书对他们毫无用处，一点儿也不能让他们把活儿干得更出色。要知道，他们生来只是干活的。" "But they ought to read the Bible, mamma, to learn God's will."" 可是，妈妈，他们应该懂得《圣经》，了解上帝的旨意。" "O! they can get that read to them all _they_ need."" 有别人跟他们念就足够了。" 
妈妈，可是我觉得每个人都要能自己弄懂《圣经》，即使没人读给他们听，他们也非常需要的。"
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