当她母亲哭泣着呼喊：“啊，英格！你给你母亲带来了多大的悲痛啊” 时，她会说：“哦，我真不该出生！我母亲的眼泪现在也没用了。”

when her mother wept and exclaimed, “Ah, Inge! what grief thou hast caused thy mother” she would say, “oh that I had never been born! my mother’s tears are useless now.”

然后她听到收养她的那些善良的人们所说的话，他们说：“英格是个有罪的女孩，她不珍视上帝的恩赐，反而把它们踩在脚下。”

And then the words of the kind people who had adopted her came to her ears, when they said, “Inge was a sinful girl, who did not value the gifts of God, but trampled them under her feet.”

“啊，” 英格想，“他们本应该惩罚我，把我所有的坏脾气都改掉的。”

“Ah,” thought Inge, “they should have punished me, and driven all my naughty tempers out of me.”

有一首关于 “那个为了不让鞋子弄脏而踩面包的姑娘” 的歌被创作出来了，这首歌到处被传唱。

A song was made about “the girl who trod on a loaf to keep her shoes from being soiled,” and this song was sung everywhere.

她的罪恶故事也被讲给小孩子们听，他们称她为 “邪恶的英格”，还说她非常淘气，应该受到惩罚。

the story of her sin was also told to the little children, and they called her “wicked Inge,” and said she was so naughty that she ought to be punished.

英格听到了这一切，她的心变得冷酷，充满了怨恨。

Inge heard all this, and her heart became hardened and full of bitterness.

但是有一天，当饥饿和悲痛在她空虚的身躯里啃噬的时候，她听到一个天真无邪的小孩子在听关于虚荣、傲慢的英格的故事时突然哭了起来，并大声说：“但是她永远不会再上来了吗？”

but one day, while hunger and grief were gnawing in her hollow frame, she heard a little, innocent child, while listening to the tale of the vain, haughty Inge, burst into tears and exclaim, “but will she never e up again?”

她听到回答说：“不，她永远不会再上来了。”

And she heard the reply, “No, she will never e up again.”

“但是如果她表示后悔，请求原谅，并且保证再也不这样做了呢？” 小孩子问道。

“but if she were to say she was sorry, and ask pardon, and promise never to do so again?” asked the little one.

“是的，那样的话她也许可以上来；但是她不会请求原谅的。” 这就是回答。

“Yes, then she might e; but she will not beg pardon,” was the answer.

“哦，我希望她会请求原谅！” 孩子说，他为此非常难过。“我会很高兴的。如果她能再到这里来，我愿意放弃我的洋娃娃和我所有的玩具。可怜的英格！这对她来说太可怕了。”

“oh, I wish she would!” said the child, who was quite unhappy about it. “I should be so glad. I would give up my doll and all my playthings, if she could only e here again. poor Inge! it is so dreadful for her.”

这些充满同情的话深深触动了英格的内心深处，似乎对她有好处。这是第一次有人说 “可怜的英格！” 而没有提及她的过错。

these pitying words penetrated to Inge’s inmost heart, and seemed to do her good. It was the first time any one had said, “poor Inge!” without saying something about her faults.

一个天真无邪的小孩子在哭泣，在为她祈求怜悯。

A little innocent child was weeping, and praying for mercy for her.

这让她感觉很奇怪，她自己也很想哭，但却发现自己哭不出来，这让她更加痛苦。

It made her feel quite strange, and she would gladly have wept herself, and it added to her torment to find she could not do so.

当她在这个一成不变的地方遭受痛苦的时候，地球上的岁月流逝，她听到自己的名字被提及的频率也降低了。

And while she thus suffered in a place where nothing changed, years passed away on earth, and she heard her name less frequently mentioned.

但是有一天，她听到一声叹息传进耳朵，还有这样的话：“英格！英格！你给我带来了多大的悲痛啊！我早就说过会这样的。” 这是她垂死母亲的最后一声叹息。

but one day a sigh reached her ear, and the words, “Inge! Inge! what a grief thou hast been to me! I said it would be so.” It was the last sigh of her dying mother.

在这之后，英格听到她善良的女主人说：“啊，可怜的英格！我还能再见到你吗？也许我能，因为我们不知道将来会发生什么。” 但是英格很清楚她的女主人永远不会来到那个可怕的地方。

After this, Inge heard her kind mistress say, “Ah, poor Inge! shall I ever see thee again? perhaps I may, for we know not what may happen in the future.” but Inge knew right well that her mistress would never e to that dreadful place.

时间过去了 —— 一段漫长而痛苦的时间 —— 然后英格又一次听到她的名字被念起，并且看到有两颗似乎很明亮的星星在她头顶上方闪耀。那是在人间即将闭上的两只温柔的眼睛。

time - passed — a long bitter time — then Inge heard her name pronounced once more, and saw what seemed two bright stars shining above her. they were two gentle eyes closing on earth.

自从那个小女孩为 “可怜的英格” 哀伤哭泣以来，已经过去了很多年。那个孩子现在已经是一位老妇人了，上帝即将把她带走。

many years had passed since the little girl had lamented and wept about “poor Inge.” that child was now an old woman, whom God was taking to himself.

在生命的最后时刻，一生的经历常常会浮现在我们眼前；在这个时刻，这位老妇人想起了当她还是个孩子的时候，她是如何为英格的故事而流泪的，现在她为英格祈祷。

In the last hour of existence the events of a whole life often appear before us; and this hour the old woman remembered how, when a child, she had shed tears over the story of Inge, and she prayed for her now.

当这位老妇人的眼睛在人间闭上时，灵魂之眼却睁开看到了永恒的隐秘之事，然后，在她最后的思绪中英格如此清晰地浮现的她，看到了这个可怜的女孩已经沉沦得多么深。

As the eyes of the old woman closed to earth, the eyes of the soul opened upon the hidden things of eternity, and then she, in whose last thoughts Inge had been so vividly present, saw how deeply the poor girl had sunk.

看到这一幕，她突然哭了起来，在天堂里，就像她在人间还是个小孩子的时候一样，她为可怜的英格哭泣并祈祷。

She burst into tears at the sight, and in heaven, as she had done when a little child on earth, she wept and prayed for poor Inge.

她的眼泪和她的祈祷在围绕着那个饱受折磨的被囚禁灵魂的黑暗虚空中回响，通过一位天使（这里指老妇人如同天使）的眼泪，意想不到的怜悯降临到这个灵魂身上。

her tears and her prayers echoed through the dark void that surrounded the tormented captive soul, and the unexpected mercy was obtained for it through an angel’s tears.

当英格在思绪中仿佛重新经历她在世上所犯的每一桩罪孽时，她颤抖起来，她从未能够流出的眼泪涌进了眼眶。

As in thought Inge seemed to act over again every sin she had mitted on earth, she trembled, and tears she had never yet been able to weep rushed to her eyes.

似乎仁慈之门永远不可能为她打开；但是当她怀着深深的忏悔承认这一点时，一道耀眼的光线突然射进她所在的深处。

It seemed impossible that the gates of mercy could ever be opened to her; but while she acknowledged this in deep penitence, a beam of radiant light shot suddenly into the depths upon her.

比那融化孩子们堆起的雪人的阳光更有力量，比雪花在孩子温暖的嘴唇上融化成一滴水还要迅速，英格那石头般的身形发生了变化，她像一只小鸟，以闪电般的速度向上飞向人间。

more powerful than the sunbeam that dissolves the man of snow which the children have raised, more quickly than the snowflake melts and bees a drop of water on the warm lips of a child, was the stony form of Inge changed, and as a little bird she soared, with the speed of lightning, upward to the world of mortals.

这是一只对周围一切事物都感到胆怯和羞怯的鸟，它似乎因羞于见到任何生物而退缩，急忙寻找地方把自己隐藏在一堵古老残墙的黑暗角落里；它在那里畏缩地坐着，不能发出一点声音，因为它没有声音。

A bird that felt timid and shy to all things around it, that seemed to shrink with shame from meeting any living creature, and hurriedly sought to conceal itself in a dark corner of an old ruined wall; there it sat cowering and unable to utter a sound, for it was voiceless.

然而这只小鸟多么快就发现了周围一切事物的美。

Yet how quickly the little bird discovered the beauty of everything around it.

那甜美、清新的空气；月亮柔和的光辉，当它的光照耀大地的时候；从灌木丛和树木散发出来的芬芳，当它穿着鲜亮崭新的羽毛坐在那里时，这一切都让它感到快乐。

the sweet, fresh air; the soft radiance of the moon, as its light spread over the earth; the fragrance which exhaled from bush and tree, made it feel happy as it sat there clothed in its fresh, bright plumage.

万物似乎都在诉说着仁慈与爱。这只鸟想要像春天的布谷鸟和夜莺那样表达在它心中涌动的想法，但是它做不到。

All creation seemed to speak of beneficence and love. the bird wanted to give utterance to thoughts that stirred in his breast, as the cuckoo and the nightingale in the spring, but it could not.

然而在天堂里，即使是一条虫子的赞美之歌也能被听到；这只鸟胸中颤抖的音符在天堂里是能被听到的，就像大卫的诗篇在形成文字和歌曲之前一样。

Yet in heaven can be heard the song of praise, even from a worm; and the notes trembling in the breast of the bird were as audible to heaven even as the psalms of david before they had fashioned themselves into words and song.

圣诞节快到了，一个住在旧墙附近的农民竖起一根杆子，在杆子顶部绑了一些谷穗，好让天上的鸟儿们能享用盛宴，在这欢乐、幸福的时刻欢庆。

christmas - time drew near, and a peasant who dwelt close by the old wall stuck up a pole with some ears of corn fastened to the top, that the birds of heaven might have feast, and rejoice in the happy, blessed time.

圣诞节早晨太阳升起，阳光照在谷穗上，很快就有许多叽叽喳喳的鸟儿围在谷穗周围。

And on christmas morning the sun arose and shone upon the ears of corn, which were quickly surrounded by a number of twittering birds.

然后，从墙洞里，当这只鸟从它的藏身之处出来在世上做它的第一件善事时，它满溢的思绪化作歌声喷涌而出 —— 在天堂里，大家都知道这只鸟是谁。

then, from a hole in the wall, gushed forth in song the swelling thoughts of the bird as he issued from his hiding place to perform his first good deed on earth, — and in heaven it was well known who that bird was.

冬天非常寒冷；池塘都被冰覆盖着，田野里的野兽和空中的鸟儿都几乎没有食物。

the winter was very hard; the ponds were covered with ice, and there was very little food for either the beasts of the field or the birds of the air.

我们的小鸟飞到大路上，在雪橇的车辙里这儿那儿地找到一粒谷物，在歇脚的地方找到一些面包屑。

our little bird flew away into the public roads, and found here and there, in the ruts of the sledges, a grain of corn, and at the halting places some crumbs.

这些食物它只吃了一点，但是它把其他鸟儿和饥饿的麻雀都叫到身边来，这样它们也能有食物。它飞进城镇，四处张望，无论在哪里看到有善良的人在窗台上为鸟儿撒下面包屑，它自己只吃一小点，把其余的都给了其他鸟儿。

of these he ate only a few, but he called around him the other birds and the hungry sparrows, that they too might have food. he flew into the towns, and looked about, and wherever a kind hand had strewed bread on the window - sill for the birds, he only ate a single crumb himself, and gave all the rest to the rest of the other birds.

在整个冬季，这只鸟就这样收集了许多面包屑并分给其他鸟儿，直到这些面包屑的重量等于英格为了不让鞋子弄脏而踩的那个面包的重量；当最后一粒面包屑被找到并分出去后，这只鸟灰色的翅膀变成了白色，并且展开翅膀准备飞翔。

In the course of the winter the bird had in this way collected many crumbs and given them to other birds, till they equalled the weight of the loaf on which Inge had trod to keep her shoes clean; and when the last bread - crumb had been found and given, the gray wings of the bird became white, and spread themselves out for flight.

“看，那边有一只海鸥！” 当孩子们看到这只白色的鸟俯冲入海，又再次飞到晴朗的阳光中，洁白而闪亮时，他们喊道。

“See, yonder is a sea - gull!” cried the children, when they saw the white bird, as it dived into the sea, and rose again into the clear sunlight, white and glittering.

但是没有人能说出它后来飞到哪里去了，尽管有些人宣称它径直飞向了太阳。

but no one could tell whither it went then although some declared it flew straight to the sun.