Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening-- the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast.

天寒地冻，下雪了。天色已暗，——这是一年中的最后一个晚上。在这寒冷和黑暗中，街上走着一个可怜的小女孩，光着头，赤脚。她离家时穿了拖鞋，这是真的，但那有什么用呢？这是她母亲迄今为止穿破的一双非常大的拖鞋，实在太大了。那可怜的小东西在街上乱跑的时候拖鞋弄丢了，因为有两辆马车飞驰而过。

One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day or other should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold.

她的一只拖鞋不见踪影；另一只被一个顽童抢走了，他拿着它跑掉了；他认为，当他自己有朝一日要孩子的时候，这只拖鞋可以作为一个摇篮。于是小姑娘光着小脚继续往前行，那双小脚冻得又红又紫。

She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one had given her a single farthing.

她用一条旧围裙兜着许多火柴，手里还拿着一捆。一整天没人从她这儿买过东西，也没人给她一个铜板。

She crept along trembling with cold and hunger--a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!

她又冷又饿，浑身发抖，蹑手蹑脚地走着——这是一幅悲伤的图景，可怜的小东西！

The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautiful curls around her neck; but of that, of course, she never once now thought. From all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously of roast goose, for you know it was New Year's Eve; yes, of that she thought.

雪花覆盖着她长长的金发，她的脖子上卷曲着美丽的卷发，当然，她现在从来没有留意过这些。从眼前的窗户望去，蜡烛闪着光，烤鹅的香味飘来，因为你知道那是除夕夜；是的，她想到了这一点。

In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than the other, she seated herself down and cowered together. Her little feet she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and could not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would certainly get blows, and at home it was cold too, for above her she had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw and rags.

这儿的房子一栋比一栋考究。在一个由两栋房子组成的角落里，她坐下来，蜷缩在一起。她那双小脚紧紧地缩在身边，但她越来越冷了，她不敢回家，因为她没有卖掉火柴，一分钱也没赚到。她从她父亲那里肯定会受到训斥，呆在家里也会很冷，因为她们的房子只有屋顶，风呼啸而过，房子大大的裂缝都被稻草和破布堵住了。

Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! a match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. She drew one out. "Rischt!" how it blazed, how it burnt! It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she held her hands over it: it was a wonderful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though she were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed influence; it warmed so delightfully. The little girl had already stretched out her feet to warm them too; but--the small flame went out, the stove vanished: she had only the remains of the burnt-out match in her hand.

她的小手冻得几乎麻木了。哦！一根火柴也许能给她一个舒适的世界，只要她敢从包袱里拿出一根火柴，把它在墙上点燃，她就可以用它温暖她的手指。她抽出一根火柴，”噗嗤！”火柴的光亮多么耀眼，它燃烧得多么炽烈！那是一束温暖明亮的火焰。当她把手放在上面的时候，就像一支蜡烛：那是一束美妙的光。在这个小姑娘看来，她真的像坐在一个大铁炉前，铁炉有着光亮的铜脚和黄铜装饰物。火烧得很旺，烧得很美。小女孩已经把脚伸出来给它们取暖了，但是——小火苗熄灭了，炉子也不见了：她手里只有燃烧过的火柴的残骸。

She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and where the light fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like a veil, so that she could see into the room. On the table was spread a snow-white tablecloth; upon it was a splendid porcelain service, and the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and dried plums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the goose hopped down from the dish, reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl;when--the match went out and nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall was left behind. She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich merchant's house.

她又在墙上擦了一根：火烧得很亮，光线落在墙上的地方，墙壁就变得晶莹剔透，像一层面纱，这样她就可以看到房间里的东西了：桌上铺着一块雪白的桌布，上面摆着一道精美的瓷器，烤鹅以其苹果和干李子馅而闻名于世。更令人惊奇的是，那只鹅从盘子里跳了下来，胸前插着刀叉，在地上绕来绕去，一直走到可怜的小女孩跟前；当——火柴熄灭了，只剩下那堵又厚又冷又潮湿的墙。她点燃了另一根火柴。现在她坐在最华丽的圣诞树下，那棵圣诞树比她从富商家的玻璃门看到的那棵还要大，装饰得更精美华丽。

Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down upon her.

绿色的树枝上燃着几千盏灯，她在商店橱窗里看到的那些色彩鲜艳的画，俯视着她。

The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when--the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down and formed a long trail of fire.

火柴熄灭时，小姑娘向它们伸出双手。圣诞树上的灯越升越高，她现在把它们看作天上的星星；一颗掉下来，形成了一条长长的光的轨迹。

"Someone is just dead!" said the little girl; for her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now no more, had told her, that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God.

“有人死了！”小女孩说，因为她的老祖母，唯一爱她的人，现在已经不在了，她告诉她，当一颗星星落下，一个灵魂就会升入上帝。

She drew another match against the wall: it was again light, and in the lustre there stood the old grandmother, so bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression of love.

她又在墙上划了一根火柴：又是一道亮光，那老祖母站在那里，光彩照人，神采奕奕，温文尔雅，带着一种爱的表情。

"Grandmother!" cried the little one. "Oh, take me with you! You go away when the match burns out; you vanish like the warm stove, like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!" And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother near her. And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety--they were with God.

“奶奶！”小家伙叫道哦，”带我一起去！火柴烧光了，你就走了；你像温暖的炉子，像美味的烤鹅，又像华丽的圣诞树一样消失了！”她很快就把整捆火柴在墙上擦燃，因为她很想让祖母离她近一点。火柴发出的亮光，比正午的阳光还亮，从前祖母从来没有这么漂亮，那么高大。她挽着小姑娘，两人都飞得那么高兴，飞得那么高，然后到达了天堂，那儿既没有寒冷，也没有饥饿，也没有焦虑——她们和上帝在一起了。

But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall--frozen to death on the last evening of the old year. Stiff and stark sat the child there with her matches, of which one bundle had been burnt. "She wanted to warm herself," people said. No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the joys of a new year.

但是，在黎明的寒冷时刻，那个可怜的女孩坐在角落里，面颊红润，嘴角微笑，靠在墙上，在旧年的最后一个晚上冻死了。孩子僵硬而呆板地坐在那儿，手里拿着火柴，其中一捆火柴已经被点燃过。”她想温暖自己，”人们说。人们一点也不会想到她所看到的是多么美丽的东西；甚至没有人想到她和祖母一起欢度的辉煌的新年。