Jo never left her for an hour since Beth had said “I feel stronger when you are here.” She slept on a couch in the room, waking often to renew the fire, to feed and lift. Precious and helpful hours to Jo, for now her heart received the teaching that it needed. Lessons in patience were so sweetly taught her that she could not fail to learn them, charity for all, the lovely spirit that can forgive and truly forget unkindness, the loyalty to duty that makes the hardest easy, and the sincere faith that fears nothing, but trusts undoubtingly.
有一次贝思对乔说：“你在这里我感到有力些。”从此，乔离开她的时间再也没有超过一小时。她睡在屋里的长沙发上，夜里常醒来添柴火，喂她食物，扶她坐起来。这些时光对乔来说既宝贵又有益。现在她真诚地接受了她所需要的教导：忍耐，这一人生课程以这样美好的方式教给了她，她不可能学不会；博爱，这种可贵的精神能宽恕别人并真正地忘却不善良的行为；尽职，它化艰难为平易；以及那无所畏惧且毫不怀疑的真诚信念。
Often when she woke, Jo found Beth reading in her well-worn little book, heard her singing softly, to 15)beguile the sleepless night, or saw her lean her face upon her hands, while slow tears dropped through the fingers, and Jo would lie watching her.
乔夜里醒来时，常发现贝思在读着她那本翻得很旧了的小书，听到她低低地唱着，以打发不眠之夜，或者看到贝思手捧着脸，眼泪慢慢地顺着指间滴下来。这时，乔总是躺着注视她。
Seeing this did more for Jo than the wisest sermons, the saintliest hymns, the most 16)fervent prayers that any voice could utter. For with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister’s life—uneventful, 17)unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which “smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.”
最有智慧的说教、最圣洁的赞美诗，以及世界上最虔诚的祷告，都不及这景象对乔的影响那么巨大。泪水涤净眼睛，最易揪心的痛苦软化心灵，因此她看到了妹妹的生命之美—平淡无奇、抱负不大，却充满真正的美德，“散发着芬芳，在尘埃中怒放”。
“Oh, Beth, so much, so much!” And Jo’s head went down upon the pillow beside her sister's.
“哦，贝思，你给我的太多，太多了！”乔的头落到了妹妹旁边的枕头上。
“Then I don't feel as if I'd wasted my life. I have tried to do right. And now, when it's too late to begin even to do better, it's such a comfort to know that someone loves me so much, and feels as if I’d helped them.”
“那么我就不会感到自己浪费了生命。我只想去做正确的事情。现在，想开始做得更好也已经晚了。可是知道了有个人这么爱我，感到自己帮助过她们，这让我觉得很安慰。”
“More than any one in the world, Beth. I used to think I couldn’t let you go, but I’m learning to feel that I don’t lose you, that you’ll be more to me than ever, and death can’t part us, though it seems to.”
“我爱你胜过世上任何人，贝思。我过去认为我不能放你走，可是我现在学着体会我并没有失去你，将来你对我的意义会更大，尽管死亡好像会把我们分开，但其实是分不开的。”
“I know it cannot, and I don’t fear it any longer, for I’m sure I shall be your Beth still, to love and help you more than ever. You must take my place, Jo, and be everything to Father and Mother when I’m gone. They will turn to you, don’t fail them, and if it’s hard to work alone, remember that I don’t forget you, and that you’ll be happier in doing that than writing splendid books or seeing all the world, for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the go easy.”
“我知道分不开的，我不再害怕死亡了。我确信我仍然是你的贝思，我会比以前更爱你，更多地帮助你。乔，我走后你得代替我，做爸爸妈妈的贴心人。他们会依赖你的，别让他们失望。要是独力承担一切很难忍受，就想想我没有忘记你吧，想想做这件事，你会感到比写伟大著作或者周游世界更加快乐。因为爱是我们离开人世时唯一能带着的东西，它使生命的结束变得轻松。”
“I’ll try, Beth.” And then and there Jo 18)renounced her old ambition, pledged herself to a new and better one, acknowledging the poverty of other desires, and feeling the blessed 19)solace of a belief in the immortality of love.
“我会试着去做的，贝思。”乔当即放弃了她以前的抱负，发誓实现这一新的、更好的抱负。她承认了其他愿望的空泛。对不朽之爱的信念，使她感受到蒙受神宠一般的慰藉。
So the spring days came and went, the sky grew clearer, the earth greener, the flowers were up fairly early, and the birds came back in time to say goodbye to Beth.
就这样，春天一天天过去了，天空变得更加晴朗，地上的草愈发青翠，百花早早盛开，候鸟及时飞回来向贝思道别。
Seldom except in books do the dying utter memorable words, see visions, or depart with 20)beatified 21)coun-tenances, and those who have sped many parting souls know that to most the end comes as naturally and simply as sleep. As Beth had hoped, the “tide went out easily”, and in the dark hour before dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh.
书里描写的垂死之人会说出难忘的话语，看到幻象，或带着极为幸福的神态辞世，这些在生活中都极少发生。那些多次送终的人知道，对大多数人来说，生命的结束如同睡眠一般自然、简单。正如贝思所希望的那样，“潮汐轻易地退去了”，黎明前的黑暗时刻，她偎依在来到人世第一次呼吸时所依的那个胸膛上，静静地咽了气，没有道别，只深情地望了一眼，低微地叹了一声。
When morning came, for the first time in many months the fire was out, Jo’s place was empty, and the room was very still. But a bird sang 22)blithely on a 23)budding 24)bough, close by, the 25)snowdrops blossomed freshly at the window, and the spring sunshine streamed in like a 26)benediction over the 27)placid face upon the pillow, a face so full of painless peace that those who loved it best smiled through their tears.
早晨来临时，这许多个月以来的第一次，炉火熄灭了，乔的位置空了，屋子里寂静无声。然而，附近一只鸟栖息在新叶初发的树枝上欢快地唱着，窗边的雪花莲刚刚绽开。春日的阳光泻进屋里，照在枕头上那宁静的脸庞上，像是为她祝福—那张脸浮现着没有疼痛的安详，于是深爱她的人泪眼婆娑地笑了。
