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你哪里懂做母亲的心思？你从来没理解过我，现在也一样！" "But don't talk so, as if it were a gone case!"" 可是你别那么吵呀，好像伊娃已经无可救药了一样。" "I can't take it as indifferently as you can, St. Clare. If _you_ don't feel when your only child is in this alarming state, I do. It's a blow too much for me, with all I was bearing before."" 我可不像你那么无动于衷呀！惟一的一个孩子，现在病成这个样子，不失魂落魄才怪呢！这个打击实在太大了，我真的无法承受啦……难道我受的那些罪还不够吗？" "It's true," said St. Clare, "that Eva is very delicate, _that_ I always knew; and that she has grown so rapidly as to exhaust her strength; and that her situation is critical. But just now she is only prostrated by the heat of the weather, and by the excitement of her cousin's visit, and the exertions she made. The physician says there is room for hope."" 伊娃的身体一向很娇弱，我很清楚这一点。现在她又在长个子，体力消耗更多了。她的健康状况的确让人担忧，但是这一次病倒可能只是因为天气太热了，再加上和恩瑞克玩得过了头。医生不是说还有希望吗？" "Well, of course, if you can look on the bright side, pray do; it's a mercy if people haven't sensitive feelings, in this world. I am sure I wish I didn't feel as I do; it only makes me completely wretched! I wish I _could_ be as easy as the rest of you!"" 你总是能发现事情光明的一面，那就盲目乐观去吧！感觉麻木的人活在这世上真有福气！我要是不那么敏感就好了，也不会这样伤心欲绝。但愿我也能像你们这些局外人一样高枕无忧！" 
他们这些"局外人"有充分的理由作同样的祈祷。玛丽以这新的痛苦为借口，对周围的人都大加折磨，在她看来，周围的人都是麻木不仁、铁石心肠之人，他们说的任何话，做的任何事都不称她的心，都证明他们冥顽不灵，视她的痛楚于不顾。可怜的伊娃听到她母亲的话，哭得泪人一般，她一方面是同情母亲，另一方面又为给母亲带来如此巨大的痛苦而感到伤心。 In a week or two, there was a great improvement of symptoms,--one of those deceitful lulls, by which her inexorable disease so often beguiles the anxious heart, even on the verge of the grave. Eva's step was again in the garden,--in the balconies; she played and laughed again,--and her father, in a transport, declared that they should soon have her as hearty as anybody. Miss Ophelia and the physician alone felt no encouragement from this illusive truce. There was one other heart, too, that felt the same certainty, and that was the little heart of Eva. What is it that sometimes speaks in the soul so calmly, so clearly, that its earthly time is short? Is it the secret instinct of decaying nature, or the soul's impulsive throb, as immortality draws on? Be it what it may, it rested in the heart of Eva, a calm, sweet, prophetic certainty that Heaven was near; calm as the light of sunset, sweet as the bright stillness of autumn, there her little heart reposed, only troubled by sorrow for those who loved her so dearly. 有一两个礼拜，伊娃的病情似乎大为好转，其实这只是暂时表现为平静的假象，即使在濒死的边缘上，回光返照的现象还经常咬噬着亲人们焦灼不安的心灵。有一阵子，伊娃又出现在花园里，走廊上，她又嬉闹着，她的父亲欣喜若狂，宣称不久将重新看到一个和别的孩子一样健康活泼的伊娃。只有奥菲利亚小姐和医生们并不乐观，此外还有一颗心灵也有相同的感觉，这就是伊娃那幼小的心灵。是对生命正在消逝的本能的体察呢，还是临近永恒时灵魂不安的骚动，那么清晰，却那么平静地告诉伊娃，她在凡尘的时间已经不多了。不管它是什么，她心里已经确定无疑：离天国的路不远了。可是，这种死亡的预感却并不可怕，反而是温馨宁静的。就像落日余晖中的那种悠远，又像秋日般的雅致素净，伊娃那稚嫩的心灵会找到它永恒的归宿，它现在的不安只是因为要离开深爱她的人而感到悲伤。 For the child, though nursed so tenderly, and though life was unfolding before her with every brightness that love and wealth could give, had no regret for herself in dying. 伊娃尽管从小娇生惯养，占尽亲情，享受富贵，前途美好，却并不对她自己即将离世而怀恨抱憾。 In that book which she and her simple old friend had read so much together, she had seen and taken to her young heart the image of one who loved the little child; and, as she gazed and mused, He had ceased to be an image and a picture of the distant past, and come to be a living, all-surrounding reality. His love enfolded her childish heart with more than mortal tenderness; and it was to Him, she said, she was going, and to his home. 伊娃和她纯朴的老朋友曾经无数次地阅读《圣经》，她把那热爱孩子的基督的形象深深铭记在心里。只要她闭目一想，脑中那邈远模糊的形象就真实清晰起来，成为活生生、无处不在的现实。基督的爱，包围着伊娃，缠绕着她的心，这种来自天国的温情没有世俗的任何情感可与之比拟。基督那里，伊娃说，正是她要去的地方，正是她的家园。 But her heart yearned with sad tenderness for all that she was to leave behind. Her father most,--for Eva, though she never distinctly thought so, had an instinctive perception that she was more in his heart than any other. She loved her mother because she was so loving a creature, and all the selfishness that she had seen in her only saddened and perplexed her; for she had a child's implicit trust that her mother could not do wrong. There was something about her that Eva never could make out; and she always smoothed it over with thinking that, after all, it was mamma, and she loved her very dearly indeed. 可是，伊娃又对即将抛开的一切恋恋不舍，特别是她的父亲。尽管她没有明确地想过，但还是本能地感觉到父亲的爱比别人的爱来得更深沉宽厚。伊娃也爱母亲，因为她自身充满爱心，但玛丽种种自私的行为却刺伤了她，让她困惑不解。因为孩子们还不能完全明辨是非的时候，总觉得母亲所做的一切都是无可厚非的，伊娃也不例外。母亲身上的某些东西让伊娃永远也猜不透，她感到迷惘，但是转念一想，她是母亲呀，也就释然了。伊娃确实是深深爱着自己的母亲的。 
伊娃同样放不下那些爱她的，把她奉为光明和太阳的忠实的仆人。孩子们都是不善归纳总结的，但伊娃却是与众不同的早熟的孩子，在她的思想的海洋里，先前所目睹的种种奴隶制的罪恶总是历历在目，一遍遍游过。她模模糊糊地意识到应该为奴隶们做点什么，不只是家里的仆人，还有所有处在相同境遇下的奴隶。这种种美好的企望与她目前日益憔悴消损下去的身子形成了鲜明可悲的对照。 "Uncle Tom," she said, one day, when she was reading to her friend, "I can understand why Jesus _wanted_ to die for us." 一天，当伊娃给她的老伙伴汤姆读《圣经》时，她说："汤姆叔叔，我明白了基督为什么愿意为我们而死。" "Why, Miss Eva?"" 为什么呢，伊娃小姐？"汤姆问道。 "Because I've felt so, too."" 因为我也有这样的愿望。" "What is it Miss Eva?--I don't understand."" 你说什么呀，伊娃小姐，我怎么一点都不明白？" 
我也说不清楚。记得你那次坐船到南边来，我看见船上的那些黑人，他们有的失去了母亲，有的失去了丈夫，有的母亲为他们可怜的孩子的命运而哭泣……还有那次听说普吕的事情，还有，还有好多次……这真可怕呀！我不止一次地想，如果我死了，而这些痛苦就能消失的话，那我很乐意去死。真的，汤姆，我愿意为他们而死，如果我能的话。"这孩子诚挚严肃地说着，把纤瘦的小手放在汤姆的手上。 Tom looked at the child with awe; and when she, hearing her father's voice, glided away, he wiped his eyes many times, as he looked after her. 汤姆满心敬畏地看着这孩子。伊娃听到她父亲的叫声跑开了。汤姆看着她单薄的背影，止不住地去擦拭眼角的泪水。 "It's jest no use tryin' to keep Miss Eva here," he said to Mammy, whom he met a moment after. "She's got the Lord's mark in her forehead." 过了片刻，他遇到了妈咪，对她说："不可能再留住伊娃了。上帝的印记已经烙在她额头上了。" "Ah, yes, yes," said Mammy, raising her hands; "I've allers said so. She wasn't never like a child that's to live--there was allers something deep in her eyes. I've told Missis so, many the time; it's a comin' true,--we all sees it,--dear, little, blessed lamb!"" 唉，谁说不是呢，"妈咪说着，举起双手，"我总是这样说，这孩子就不像个在尘世里能呆得久的孩子，她的眼睛总是很深。我跟太太说过很多次了，这次终于应验了，哎，人人都看得出来，亲爱的幸运的小羊羔啊！" Eva came tripping up the verandah steps to her father. It was late in the afternoon, and the rays of the sun formed a kind of glory behind her, as she came forward in her white dress, with her golden hair and glowing cheeks, her eyes unnaturally bright with the slow fever that burned in her veins. 伊娃蹦蹦跳跳地向她父亲走去。正值暮晚时分，夕阳的余辉在她身后形成了一道光环，伊娃身着白裙，披着一头金发，脸颊绊红，她的眼睛因为体内发热而异常明亮。 
圣克莱尔望着女儿慢慢靠近，她在夕阳中的形象让他突然有心如刀割的感觉，人世间竟然有这种美，美得如此眩目，又美得如此脆弱！他本来是让她过来看为她买的小塑像的，现在却全忘了，只顾一把将伊娃揽在怀中。 "Eva, dear, you are better now-a-days,--are you not?"" 伊娃，我亲爱的宝贝，这几天你感觉好些了，是吧？" "Papa," said Eva, with sudden firmness "I've had things I wanted to say to you, a great while. I want to say them now, before I get weaker."" 爸爸，"伊娃突然坚定地说，"我有好多事情要告诉你，现在我身体很好，就说出来吧！" St. Clare trembled as Eva seated herself in his lap. She laid her head on his bosom, and said, 伊娃在她爸爸的膝头坐了下来，圣克莱尔不禁浑身打颤。她把头靠在他胸口，缓缓地说：
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