学文网It was terriblycold; it snowed and was already almost dark, and evening came on the last evening of the year. In the cold and gloom a poor little girl, bareheaded and barefoot, was walking through the streets. When she left her own house she certainly had had slippers on; but of what use were they? They were very big slippers, and her mother had used them till then, so big were they. The little maid lost them as she slipped across the road, where two carriages were rattling by terribly fast. One slipper was not to be found again, and a boy had seized the other, and run away with it. He said he could use it very well as a cradle, some day when he had children of his own. So now the little girl went with her little naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold. In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and a bundle of them in her hand. No one had bought anything of her all day, and no one had given her a farthing.
Shivering with cold and hunger she crept along, a picture of misery, poor little girl! The snowflakes covered her long fair hair, which fell in pretty curls over her neck; but she did not think of that now. In all the windows lights were shining, and there was a glorious smell of roast goose, for it was New Year's Eve. Yes, she thought of that!
In a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sat down, cowering. She had drawn up her little feet, but she was still colder, and she did not
dare to go home, for she had sold no matches, and did not bring a farthing of money. From her father she would certainly receive a beating, and besides, it was cold at home, for they had nothing over them but a roof through which the wind whistled, though the largest rents had been stopped with straw and rags.
Her little hands were almost benumbed, with the cold. Ah! a match might do her good, if she could only draw one from the bundle, and rub it against the wall, and warm her hands at it. She drew one out. R-r-atch! How it sputtered and burned! It was a warm, bright flame, like a little candle, when she held her hands over it; it was a wonderful little light! It really seemed to the little girl as if she sat before a great polished stove, with bright brass feet and a brass cover. How the fire burned! How comfortable it was! But the little flame went out, the stove vanished when her feet were just reaching out for a little warmth, and she had only the remains of the burned match in her hand.
A second was rubbed against the wall. It burned up, and when the light fell upon the wall became transparent like a thin veil, and she could see through it into the room. On the table a snowwhite cloth was spread; upon it stood a shining dinner service; the roast goose smoked gloriously, stuffed with apples and dried plums. And what was still more splendid to behold, the goose hopped down from the dish, and waddled along the floor, with a knife and fork in its breast, to the little girl. Then the match went out, and only the thick, damp, cold wall was before her. She lighted another match. Then she was sitting under a beautiful Christmas tree; it was greater and more ornamented than the one she had seen through the glass door last Christmas at the rich merchant's. Thousands of candles burned upon the green branches, and coloured pictures like those in the print shops looked down upon them. The little girl stretched forth her hand towards them; then the match went out. The Christmas lights mounted higher. She saw them now as stars in the sky: one of them fell down, forming a long line of fire.
"Now some one is dying," thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her and who was now dead, had told her that when a star fell down a soul mounted up to God.
She rubbed another match against the wall; it became bright again and in the brightness the old grandmother stood clear and shining mild and lovely.
"Grandmother!" cried the child. "Oh! take me with your I know you will go when the match is burned out. You will vanish like the warm fire, the beautiful roast goose, and the great glorious Christmas tree!"
And she hastily rubbed the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to hold her grandmother fast. And the matches burned with such a glow that it became brighter than in the middle of the day; grandmother had never been so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and both flew in brightness and joy above the earth, very, very high, and up there was neither cold, nor hunger, nor care-they were with God!
But in the corner, leaning against the wall, sat in the cold morning hours the poor girl with red cheeks and smiling mouth, frozen to death on the last evening of the Old Year. The New Year's sun rose upon a little corpse! The child sat there, stiff and cold, with the matches of which one bundle was burned. "She wanted to warm herself," the people said. No one imagined what a beautiful thing she had seen, and in what glory she had gone in with her grandmother to the New Year's joy.
天气好冷好冷。空中飘着雪花，天已经快黑了，一年中最后的夜晚正在来临。在这寒冷阴沉的天气里，一个可怜的小女孩，光头赤脚，正在穿过一条大街。在她离开家的时候，她是穿着一双拖鞋的，但那又有什么用呢?那是双很大的拖鞋，是她妈妈一直穿的，真是太大了。在小女孩横穿马路的时候，有两辆马车飞驰而过，她在慌忙中把鞋跑丢了。其中一只怎么也找不着，另一只被一个小男孩捡到了，拿起就跑。他说以后他自己有孩子的时候，可以用那只鞋做个摇篮。所以，小女孩现在只能赤着脚走路，小脚被冻得紫一块、青一块的。她装了一些火柴，在一条旧围裙里，手里也拿了一捆。一整天都没有人来买，没有人给她一分钱。
在饥寒交迫中，她浑身发抖，蹒跚着向前走。多么悲惨的景象，多么可怜的小女孩！雪花落在她长长的头发上，美丽的小发卷儿披落在脖子上。但她现在根本顾不上想这些。在所有的窗户里，灯都亮着，烤鹅扑鼻的香味飘了出来，因为今天是年夜呀。是的，她想到了这事。
那儿有两座房子，一座比另一座凸出来一些，形成了一个角落。她坐在那里，瑟瑟发抖。她把小脚缩了回来，但感觉更冷了。她不敢回家，因为她没有卖掉火柴，没有带回家一分钱，她肯定会挨父亲的一顿打。再说家里也很冷，因为他们的头上除了屋顶外，再也没有什么东西了。虽然最大的裂口已经用稻草和破布堵住了，但风还是透过屋顶，呼呼地吹进来。
她的小手已经快要冻僵了。啊！一根火柴会让她舒服一些。只要她从一捆里抽出一根，朝墙上一划，就可以用来暖手了。她抽出了一根。嚓！它响了一声，燃烧了起来！那是一团温暖、明亮的火焰，像一支小蜡烛一样，她把手拢在上面。这真是一团小小的神奇的火光呀！对小女孩来说，她真觉得自己是坐在一个明净的大炉子前，炉子铜脚铜身。瞧那团燃烧的火焰！多么舒服呀！当她的脚刚伸出一些，想暖和一下的时候，那团小小的火焰熄灭了，炉子也消失了。她的手里只剩下烧过的火柴杆。
她又在墙上划了一支。火焰蹿起来，火光照在墙上，墙体变得透明了，像一层薄薄的面纱。她可以透过去，看见屋里的一切。桌上铺着一块雪白的布，上面摆着闪闪发光的餐具。烤鹅热气腾腾的，肚里塞满了苹果和梅子干。还有更好的可看呢：烤鹅从盘子里蹦了出来，在地上摇摇摆摆地走着，胸前还插着刀叉，朝小女孩走过来了。这时火柴又灭了，她的面前只剩下厚厚的、潮湿而冰冷的墙。她又点着一根火柴，这次她坐在了一棵美丽的圣诞树下。它比上个圣诞节她透过玻璃门看到的富有商人家的那棵圣诞树还要大，装饰得还要漂亮。碧绿的枝条上，数不清的蜡烛在燃烧。树上彩色的***画，就像在画店里挂的***画一样好看，正俯视着那些蜡烛。小女孩朝它们伸出双手，但火柴又一次熄灭了。圣诞节的烛光飞高了，她看见它们都变成了天上的星星。其中一颗落了下来，划出了一道闪亮的长线。
“有一个人正在死去，”小女孩想。因为她的老祖母告诉过她，当一颗星星划落的时候，一个灵魂就升到了上帝那里。祖母是世上唯一爱她的人，她已经死了。
她又在墙上划了一根火柴。它点亮了。在亮光中，老祖母站在那里，那么清晰，那么温柔，那么慈爱。
“奶奶！”小女孩大叫一声， “啊！把我带走吧！我知道火柴一灭，您就走了。您会像温暖的火光、像美丽的烤鹅、像漂亮的大圣诞树一样，消失得无影无踪的！”
她急忙把一捆火柴全划着了，因为她想紧紧抓住自己的祖母。火柴燃烧得那么耀眼，照得比中午时分还要亮。祖母从没有显得那么高大，那么美丽。她抱起小女孩，两个人在光明和快乐中飞离人间。她们飞得好高好高，那里没有寒冷，没有饥饿，没有忧愁――她们和上帝在一起！
在那个角落里，在冰冷的清晨，可怜的小女孩倚墙坐着，面颊红润，嘴角含着微笑。她已经在去年的最后一个夜晚冻死了。新年的太阳升起来，照在小小的尸体上！女孩坐在那里，冻得僵硬，手里拿着火柴，其中一捆已经烧灭了。 “她想暖暖身子，”人们说。没有人能想像得到，她曾经看到了多么美丽的景象，她跟着祖母在辉煌中离开，去迎接新年的快乐。