An extract from Little Women

《小妇人》节选

"Mother, do you have `plans', as Mrs. Moffat said?" asked Meg bashfully（害羞地）.

"Yes, my dear, I have a great many, all mothers do, but mine differ somewhat from Mrs. Moffat's, I suspect. I will tell you some of them, for the time has come when a word may set this romantic little head and heart of yours right, on a very serious subject. You are young, Meg, but not too young to understand me, and mothers' lips are the fittest to speak of such things to girls like you. Jo, your turn will come in time, perhaps, so listen to my `plans' and help me carry them out, if they are good."

Jo went and sat on one arm of the chair, looking as if she thought they were about to join in some very solemn（神圣的） affair. Holding a hand of each, and watching the two young faces wistfully, Mrs. March said, in her serious yet cheery way...

"I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished（有教养的）, and good. To be admired, loved, and respected. To have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send. To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience. It is natural to think of it, Meg, right to hope and wait for it, and wise to prepare for it, so that when the happy time comes, you may feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy. My dear girls, I am ambitious（有野心的） for you, but not to have you make a dash（急冲） in the world, marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting. Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive（争取） for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace."

"Poor girls don't stand any chance（有希望）, Belle says, unless they put themselves forward," sighed Meg.

"Then we'll be old maids," said Jo stoutly. "Right, Jo. Better be happy old maids than unhappy wives, or unmaidenly girls, running about to find husbands," said Mrs. March decidedly. "Don't be troubled, Meg, poverty seldom daunts（使气馁） a sincere lover. Some of the best and most honored women I know were poor girls, but so love-worthy that they were not allowed to be old maids. Leave these things to time. Make this home happy, so that you may be fit for homes of your own, if they are offered you, and contented here if they are not. One thing remember, my girls. Mother is always ready to be your confidante（知心密友）, Father to be your friend, and both of hope and trust that our daughters, whether married or single, will be the pride and comfort of out lives."

"We will, Marmee, we will!" cried both, with all their hearts, as she bade them good night.

About the Author

Louisa May Alcott is an American author, known for her children' books, especially Little Women (1868). Unknown to her family and the public, Alcott begun writing 'rubbish novels', sometimes anonymously, sometimes as 'A.N. Barnard', to contribute to the family income.

Alcott's first novel, Moods, was published in 1867. In the same year she became editor of a children's magazine, Merry Museum. With the publication of Little Women, which started under the pressure of financial need, Alcott gained enormous fame as a writer. Responding to her publisher's request, she drew her material from her own family and from the New England milieu（社会环境） where she had grown up. The novel was followed by several other popular works, among them Good Wives (1869), Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), and Little Men (1871). Alcott's last years were shadowed by the deaths of her mother and her sister May, who left behind a little daughter. Alcott died in Boston on March 6, 1888.