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It was Saturday night, and the widow of the Pine Cottage sat by her blazing fagots, with her five tattered children at her side,
一個周六的夜晚，一座松木搭建的小屋里，一位寡婦坐在燃燒的火堆旁，五個衣衫襤褸的孩子依偎在她的身邊。
endeavoring by listening to the artlessness of their prattle to dissipate the heavy gloom that pressed upon her mind.
她強打精神，聽著周圍咿呀吵鬧，孩子們不諳人世的純真，或許消散她內心些許沉重陰霾。
For a year, her own feeble hand had provided for her helpless family, for she had no supporter: she thought of no friend in all the wide, unfriendly world around.
一年來，她用羸弱的雙手獨自撐起這個呼告無門的家。在這個偌大寒冷的世界上，她舉目無親，無所可依。
But that mysterious Providence, the wisdom of whose ways is above human comprehension, had visited her with wasting sickness, and her little means had become exhausted.
然而，天意神秘不可知。那位超越人類認知的睿者，目睹了她的病弱之軀，她那微薄家產逐漸消耗殆盡。
It was now, too, midwinter, and the snow lay heavy and deep through all the surrounding forests, while storms still seemed gathering in the heavens,
適逢仲冬，四周森林莽野，雪下得很大，很厚，暴風雪仍在天空不斷聚集，
and the driving wind roared amid the neighboring pines, and rocked her puny mansion.
狂風在松林里呼嘯翻卷，搖撼著她和她的孩子那間可憐的木屋。
The last herring smoked upon the coals before her;
最后一條鯡魚在她面前爐火上燎起輕煙，
it was the only article of food she possessed,
那是她僅剩的最后一點食物。
and no wonder her forlorn, desolate state brought up in her lone bosom all the anxieties of a mother when she looked upon her children:
毫不奇怪，她看著玩耍的孩子們，一絲絕望情緒在她無助的內心蔓延，那是一個母親的呼救無門；
and no wonder, forlorn as she was, if she suffered the heart swellings of despair to rise,
毋庸多說，她倍感孤獨，她還是感覺到最后的絕望在她心底慢慢隆起，隆起那道徹骨的冰涼。
even though she knew that He, whose promise is to the widow and to the orphan, can not forget his word.
盡管她明白，對一戶孤兒寡母來說，上帝不會忘記它的諾言。
