031 三年之后

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Meg and John had a long engagement — three years to be exact —

梅格和约翰的婚约很长——确切地说是三年——

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since her parents, though they accepted John as their future son-in-law, wished the couple to wait until Meg turned twenty before they married

因为她的父母虽然接受了约翰作为未来的女婿，却希望这对年轻人等到梅格满二十岁再结婚。

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Now Meg was old enough, and the happy but eager couple were free to take their vows

如今梅格年龄够了，这对幸福又急切的恋人终于可以自由地许下婚姻誓言了。

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" Can you believe that in one month I shall be Mrs. John Brookes?"

"你能相信再过一个月我就要成为约翰·布鲁克斯太太了吗？"

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Meg gushed to her fiance one glorious spring day as they took a walk around the Laurence garden

在一个明媚的春日，梅格和她的未婚夫在劳伦斯家的花园散步时，兴奋地对他说。

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" I wish it were today, this moment," John said tenderly as he wrapped his arm around her waist

"我希望就是今天，此时此刻，"约翰用手臂搂着她的腰，温柔地说。

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During the three years of their engagement, Meg had grown from a sweet, mild-mannered girl into a capable, beautiful, young woman

在订婚的三年里，梅格已从一个甜美温顺的女孩成长为一位能干、美丽的年轻女子。

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" Well, I don't," Meg said very unromantically

"嗯，我可不这么想，"梅格毫无浪漫情调地说，

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" because there is so much to do, I don't have a moment to spare if I am going to get everything ready before we get married."

"因为有太多事情要做，要想在结婚前把一切都准备好，我连一丁点空闲时间都没有。"

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So John patiently listened as his soon-to-be bride told him about the countless number of things that needed to be done before their wedding day

于是约翰耐心地听着他未来的新娘细数婚礼前需要完成的无数琐事。

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One person who still prayed that the wedding day would never come was Jo who, despite the past three years

有一个人仍然祈祷婚礼那天永远不要到来，那就是乔，哪怕三年过去了，

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refused to accept that Meg would become a wife very soon

她仍不肯接受梅格很快就要嫁作人妇。

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" Look at those two! It's rather disgusting, it is," Jo mumbled miserably as she spied on her sister and Brookes from the safety of the March home

“瞧瞧那两个人！真让人倒胃口。”乔躲在马奇家，一边偷看姐姐和布鲁克斯，一边可怜巴巴地咕哝着。

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Jabbing more of the air than the potato she was supposed to be peeling

手里的刀一下下戳向空气，而不是她该削的土豆，

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Jo carelessly tossed the vegetable into a basket of half-peeled other ones

乔漫不经心地把土豆扔进篮子，和那些削得半半拉拉的堆在一起。

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that she had butchered while watching Meg and Brookes wander through the Laurences' garden

这些土豆都是她一边看梅格和布鲁克斯在劳伦斯家花园漫步，一边草草削烂的。

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" Jo? Are you done with the potatoes yet?" Beth asked as she and Amy walked into the kitchen wearing aprons

“乔？土豆削好了没？”贝丝和艾美系着围裙走进厨房，贝丝问道。

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It was clear that the other girls had also changed in the past three years

看得出来，其他女孩在这三年里也变了。

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Jo, who had long thick hair again, had pulled it into a neat, ladylike bun

乔又蓄起了一头浓密的长发，整整齐齐地绾成一个淑女的发髻。

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Her face had softened, and she seemed calmer, more comfortable with herself and her body

她的面庞变得柔和，整个人也平静了许多，对自身和身体都更自在了。

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Beth was a little taller, though very thin and without the glow of health that her sisters had

贝丝长高了一点，虽然非常瘦，而且没有姐姐们那种健康的光彩。

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Still, she always wore a smile on her face and never held back from saying a kind word or performing a good deed for others

不过，她脸上总是挂着微笑，从不对他人吝惜一句好话或一件善行。

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But the most remarkable change was in Amy

但变化最显著的是艾米。

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She had always been pretty, but now she had turned into the kind of stunning beauty that artists dream about painting

她本来就很漂亮，但现在已出落成那种让画家梦寐以求想画的绝色美人，

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poets are inspired to create poems for, and singers are moved to write songs about

让诗人灵感迸发为她作诗，让歌手感动到为她写歌。

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All traces of the old Amy, including her tantrums and whining, were replaced by a sophisticated, polished, well-mannered young woman

从前的艾米的所有痕迹，包括她的发脾气和牢骚，都已消失，取而代之的是一位老练、优雅、举止得体的年轻女子。

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" Jo! You've stripped half the peel off this innocent vegetable and turned it into some modern art sculpture!"

“乔！你把这无辜的蔬菜削掉了一半皮，还把它变成了一件现代艺术雕塑！”

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Amy picked up a battered potato, part of its peel dangling loosely, as Beth giggled and picked up some others in similar shape

艾米捡起一个被削得坑坑洼洼的土豆，一片皮松垮垮地挂着，贝丝咯咯笑着，捡起其他几个形状相似的。

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" Huh?" Jo tore her eyes away from the window to see what Amy was talking about

“啊？”乔把目光从窗口扯回来，看艾米在说什么。

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" We'd better decide upon an alternative for the potato pancakes then," sighed Amy, wrinkling her perfect forehead at her sister

“那我们最好决定做点别的，代替土豆饼，”艾米叹了口气，对姐姐皱起她那完美的额头。

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" It's all their fault!" Jo pointed accusingly at Meg and John far off in the distance, unaware that they were being blamed for the state of the potatoes

“全是他们的错！”乔指着远处几乎看不见的梅格和约翰，愤愤地指责起来，压根儿没意识到人家压根不知道自己成了土豆的替罪羊。

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" Oh, Jo," Amy remarked, shaking her head as she left the kitchen

“唉，乔，”艾米无奈地摇摇头，走出了厨房。

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Beth stood for a moment with Jo, wishing she could erase the pain on her sister's face and the deeper one in her heart

贝丝在乔身边站了一会儿，多希望能抹去姐姐脸上的难过，还有她心里那份更深的痛楚。

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" As much as we'd like it, nothing stays the same, Jo," she said softly

“虽然我们都很希望，但没什么能一成不变，乔，”她温柔地说。

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" Letting go of something doesn't mean you're going to lose it

“对一件事放手，不代表你就会失去它。”

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It means you are allowing it to find another home," she added with wisdom beyond her years

“而是意味着你在让它找到另一个归宿，”她以一种超越年龄的成熟口吻补充道。

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For Jo, Beth's words rang true in so many ways, not only concerning Meg

对乔来说，贝丝的话在很多方面都说得太对了，特别是关于梅格的事。

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Aunt March had taken such a fancy to Amy during the brief time she stayed with her while Beth was sick

之前贝丝生病时，艾米去马奇姑妈家暂住了一段日子，讨得了老太太的欢心。

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that the old lady had replaced Jo with Amy as her companion

结果老太太就让艾米取代了乔，做了她的伴儿。

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At first Jo was upset, but then she decided to view the matter positively and chose to use her time wisely by focusing on her writing

乔一开始很难过，但后来决定积极看待这件事，选择明智地利用时间，专注于写作。

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" Is Laurie coming home this weekend?" asked Amy, tying her wavy blonde hair back in a green ribbon that matched her dress

“劳里这个周末会回家吗？”艾米一边问，一边用一条和裙子相配的绿色丝带把她金色的波浪长发扎起来，

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as she got ready to go to Aunt March's the next morning

准备着第二天早上去马奇姑妈家。

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" I hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised," Jo answered

“我倒希望他不回来，不过就算回来我也不会吃惊。”乔回答。

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She knew that although Laurie was away now at college, he insisted on coming home every week to, as he said," get away from those horrid books."

她知道，虽然劳里现在上大学了，但他坚持每星期都回家，按他的话说，是为了“摆脱那些讨厌的书本”。

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" Well, he's promised to escort me and Aunt March to the theater and she's hoping it will be this Saturday," said Amy

“嗯，他答应过要陪我和马奇姑妈去剧院，姑妈希望就在这个星期六。”艾米说。

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Yawning, uninterested in the trivial worries of Aunt March's life, Jo flipped through her book and replied sarcastically

乔打了个哈欠，对马奇姑妈生活中的琐碎烦恼不感兴趣，她翻了翻自己的书，语带讽刺地回答：

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" I'm certain that Laurie will be thrilled to oblige Aunt March's every wish."

“我敢肯定劳里会非常乐意满足马奇姑妈的每一个愿望。”

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Thankfully some things hadn't changed, such as Jo's passion for writing and her favorite spot to do it in

庆幸的是有些事从未改变，比如乔对写作的热情，以及她最爱的写作地点。

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Armed with her pen, Jo sat upstairs in her sanctuary

乔拿着她的笔，坐在楼上她的小天地里，

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her hand flying over the paper as she tried to finish another chapter in the novel she was currently working on

她的手在纸上飞快地移动，努力写完她目前正在创作的小说的另一章。

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With the confidence she gained from selling some of her short stories, Jo decided to move on to longer pieces of writing

从卖出几篇短篇小说中获得了信心，乔决定开始尝试更长篇幅的写作。

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She was about to complete the last page when someone knocked at her door

她正要写完最后一页时，有人敲了她的门。

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" Whoever it is had better go away," Jo called out threateningly, as she refused to get up to see who it was

“不管是谁，最好走开。”乔威胁地喊道，因为她不想起身去看是谁。

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The knocker persisted, this time with a series of short taps in the rhythm of a well-known children's song

敲门的人锲而不舍，这次用一首大家熟知的儿歌节奏敲了一连串短促的声音。

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" Argh!" Jo threw her pen across the room and stomped over to unlock the door and unleash her fury

“啊！”乔把笔扔到房间另一头，跺着脚走过去打开门锁，准备发泄她的怒火。

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" Surprise!" Laurie shoved his face in as soon as the door was unlocked and tackled Jo with such a hug that she didn't have a chance to react

“惊喜！”门锁一开，劳里就把脸探了进来，然后一把抱住乔，抱得那么紧，让她根本没机会反应。

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Laurie, now twenty, the same age as Meg, had indeed blossomed into a handsome young man

劳里现年二十岁，和梅格同龄，确实已经长成了一个英俊的年轻人。

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He was very tall with broad shoulders and wavy dark hair that constantly fell over his left eye, giving him a very romantic look

他身材高大，肩膀宽阔，深色的卷发老是滑下来遮住他的左眼，给他平添一种很浪漫的气质。

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Many girls at his college worshiped him as if he were a Roman god, and Laurie did not discourage their attention

他大学里的许多女孩像崇拜罗马神一样崇拜他，而劳里也并不拒绝她们的关注。

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However, to Jo and the girls, he was still silly Laurie, which he did not mind, because he could comfortably be himself around them

然而，对乔和姐妹们来说，他依然是那个傻乎乎的劳里，而他对此并不介意，因为在她们身边，他可以自在地做自己。

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" Do they not teach you to read in college?" Jo asked, pointing to the sign she had hung on the door that read: Interrupt At Own Risk

“难道大学里没教你认字吗？”乔指着她挂在门上的牌子问，上面写着：打扰者后果自负。

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Shrugging his shoulders, Laurie swung a brown bag in front of Jo's face

劳里耸了耸肩，把一个棕色的纸袋在乔面前晃了晃。

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" You don't want to be interrupted even for this?" he teased

“就算是为了这个，你也不想被打扰吗？”他逗她。

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" Oh, Laurie! Thank you!" Jo snatched the bag from his hand

“哦，劳里！谢谢你！”乔一把从他手里抢过袋子。

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Like a hungry lion, she nearly ripped the bag open and shoved two candies into her mouth

像只饥饿的狮子，她几乎要把袋子撕开，然后塞了两颗糖到嘴里，

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sucking one in each cheek, making her look like an overgrown chipmunk

两边脸颊各含一颗，让她看起来像只长大了的花栗鼠。

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Meg had put all the girls on a diet before the wedding, forbidding any sweets in the house

梅格在婚礼前让所有女孩都节食，禁止在家里吃任何甜食。

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Jo seldom had cravings, but candies were something she could not live without

乔很少嘴馋，但糖果却是她生活中离不开的东西。

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Thanking Laurie for sharing the forbidden treats, Jo was glad to have him to rely on when things got tough

乔感谢劳里分享这些被禁的零食，很高兴在日子艰难时有他可以依靠。