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Jo happened to suit Aunt March, who was lame and needed an active person to wait upon her. The childless old lady had offered to adopt one of the girls when the troubles came, and was much offended because her offer was declined. Other friends told the Marches that they had lost all chance of being remembered in the rich old lady's will, but the unworldly Marches only said . . .
喬剛好被馬奇嬸嬸看中了。馬奇嬸嬸跛了腿，需要找一個勤快的人來侍候。剛跛腿時這位無兒無女的老太太曾向馬奇夫婦提出要收一個姑娘為養(yǎng)女，卻被婉言拒絕了，心里老大不高興。一些朋友告訴馬奇夫婦說他們錯失了被列入這位闊太太遺囑繼承人的機會，但超塵脫俗的馬奇夫婦只是說--"
"We can't give up our girls for a dozen fortunes. Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another."
我們不能為錢財而放棄女兒。不論貧富，我們都要廝守一起，共享天倫之樂。”
The old lady wouldn't speak to them for a time, but happening to meet Jo at a friend's, something in her comical face and blunt manners struck the old lady's fancy, and she proposed to take her for a companion. This did not suit Jo at all, but she accepted the place since nothing better appeared and, to every one's surprise, got on remarkably well with her irascible relative. There was an occasional tempest, and once Jo marched home, declaring she couldn't bear it longer, but Aunt March always cleared up quickly, and sent for her to come back again with such urgency that she could not refuse, for in her heart she rather liked the peppery old lady.
老太太有一段時間都不愿跟他們說話，但一次在朋友家里偶然見到了喬。喬言談風趣，舉止直率，十分合老太太的心意，她便提出讓喬跟她作個伴。喬并不樂意，但她找不到更好的差事，便答應下來。出人意料的是，她跟這位性情暴躁的親戚相處得非常好。但偶爾也會遇到狂風驟雨，一次喬便氣得跑回了家，宣布自己忍無可忍；但馬奇嬸嬸總是很快收拾殘局，急匆匆地派人請她回去，令她不便拒絕。其實，她內(nèi)心對這位火辣辣的老太太也頗有好感。
I suspect that the real attraction was a large library of fine books, which was left to dust and spiders since Uncle March died. Jo remembered the kind old gentleman, who used to let her build railroads and bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever he met her in the street. The dim, dusty room, with the busts staring down from the tall bookcases, the cozy chairs, the globes, and best of all, the wilderness of books in which she could wander where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her.
我猜想真正吸引喬的是一個裝滿了漂亮圖書的大藏書室，這個房間自馬奇叔叔去世后便積滿了灰塵和蜘蛛網(wǎng)。喬記得那位和藹的老紳士常常讓她用大字典堆起鐵道橋梁，跟她講拉丁語書中那些古怪插圖的故事，在街上碰到她時給她買姜餅。藏書室光線暗淡，灰塵滿布，還有舒適的椅子、精致的地球儀，最妙的是，幾個半身人像從書架上俯視地下，書籍凌亂地堆放著，喬可以毫無顧忌地隨處走動翻閱，這一切使藏書室成了喬的天堂。
The moment Aunt March took her nap, or was busy with company, Jo hurried to this quiet place, and curling herself up in the easy chair, devoured poetry, romance, history, travels, and pictures like a regular bookworm. But, like all happiness, it did not last long, for as sure as she had just reached the heart of the story, the sweetest verse of a song, or the most perilous adventure of her traveler, a shrill voice called, "Josy-phine! Josy-phine!" and she had to leave her paradise to wind yarn, wash the poodle, or read Belsham's Essays by the hour together.
每當馬奇嬸嬸打盹兒或顧著跟人閑聊時，喬便匆匆走進這個平靜之處，像名符其實的蛀書蟲一樣大嚼詩歌、浪漫故事、游記、漫畫書等等。不過這種令人陶醉的享受卻總是不能持久；每當她看得入神，讀到精彩之處，必定會傳來一聲尖叫：“約瑟--芬！約瑟--芬！”這時她便不得不離開自己的天堂，出去繞紗線，給卷毛狗洗澡，或者朗讀波爾沙的《隨筆》，忙個不停。
