《小妇人》的故事，似乎父亲一直在缺席。故事里安排的背景是去打仗了。偶尔妈妈和孩子们提起，都是满满的思念与热切地等待。
今天读到第13章，一封电报：
Mrs. March. Your husband is very ill. Come at once. S.Hale, Washington Hospital.
竟还是医院发来的：马奇太太，您丈夫病重，速来。
电报按字算钱，大多都是紧急之事才会发电报。提到医院，似乎都是病危。
虽然父亲一直在缺席，但如若真地不在了... 满怀信心等待其归来的妻子与女儿们，觉得天都要塌了。我们课上读的是学生读本，只一句话带过：
Suddenly, the family's whole world had changed. 忽然，这家人的整个世界都变了。
可不是天都要塌了吗？回看原版，此处有非常细腻的描述：
How still the room was as they listened breathlessly, how strangely the day darkened outside, and how suddenly the whole world seemed to change, as the girls gathered about their mother, feeling as if all the happiness and support of their lives was about to be taken from them.
当她们屏住呼吸聆听的时候，房间多么安静啊，外面的天空忽然暗了下来，暗得多么奇怪。这世界似乎一下子就变了，变得如此突然！女孩们围在妈妈身边，觉得似乎所有的快乐与支撑都在离她们远去。。。
你永远不知道，明天和意外，哪个会先来。但意外来临，也总要去面对，总要想办法活下去。
一番手忙脚乱，妈妈准备搭最早的一班火车过去。劳里一家尽心竭力地伸出援手，连Mr Brooke也被请来陪马奇太太一起去医院。
Jo知道连车票钱也要去问马奇姑妈借，忽然觉得一阵特别地无助。她急切地想做点什么，想让自己在这种时候能帮上一点忙。于是，她不声不响地跑出去，剪掉了一头美丽的长发，换回25美元钱。
Jo ...felt terribly helpless knowing that the money for the train trip would have to be borrowed from Aunt March. She wished that she could add something of her own.
这一天无比的漫长，好不容易挨过一个下午，挨到晚上，最后一个一个睡去过。妈妈却睡不着，悄悄地走到孩子们的床边，一个一个走过，拉一拉被子，理一理枕头，然后停下来长时间地凝望她们睡梦中无知无觉地脸，无声地亲吻，默默地做着一位母亲才懂的最虔诚的祷告。
The clocks were striking midnight and the rooms were very still as a figure glided quietly from bed to bed, smoothing a coverlet here, settling a pillow there, and pausing to look long and tenderly at each unconscious face, to kiss each with lips that mutely blessed, and to pray the fervent prayers which only mothers utter.
但这个故事，最打动人心的，永远是马奇一家于困境中体现出来的乐观与坚韧。最后的最后，马奇太太拉开窗帘望向沉沉遥夜，却看到月亮从云层后面露出来，像一张明亮而慈悲的脸，仿佛对她说，不用害怕，乌云背后，总会有光！
As she lifted the curtain to look out into the dreary night, the moon broke suddenly from behind the cloud and shone upon her like a bright, benignant face, which seemed to whisper in the silence, “Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.”
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