April advanced to May. A bright serene May it was.
四月己逝，五月来临。
Days of blue sky, placid sunshine, and soft western or southern gales filled up its duration.
这是一个明媚宁静的五月，日复一日，都是蔚蓝的天空，和煦的阳光，轻柔的西风和南风。
And now vegetation matured with vigour.
现在，草木茁壮成长起来。
Lowood shook loose its tresses. It became all green, all flowers.
罗沃德抖散了它的秀发，处处叶绿，遍地开花。
Its great elm, ash, and oak skeletons were restored to majestic life.
榆树、岑树和橡树光秃秃的高大树干，恢复了生气勃勃的雄姿，
Woodland plants sprang up profusely in its recesses.
林间植物在幽深处茂密生长，无数种类的苔鲜填补了林中的空谷。
Unnumbered varieties of moss filled its hollows, and it made a strange ground-sunshine out of the wealth of its wild primrose plants.
众多的野樱草花，就像奇妙地从地上升起的阳光。
I have seen their pale gold gleam in overshadowed spots like scatterings of the sweetest lustre.
我在林荫深处曾见过它们淡谈的金色光芒，犹如点点散开的可爱光斑。

All this I enjoyed often and fully, free, unwatched, and almost alone.
这一切我常常尽情享受着，无拘无束，无人看管，而且几乎总是独自一人。
For this unwonted liberty and pleasure there was a cause, to which it now becomes my task to advert.
这种自由与乐趣所以这么不同寻常，是有其原因的、而说清楚这个原委，就成了我现在的任务。
Have I not described a pleasant site for a dwelling, when I speak of it as bosomed in hill and wood, and rising from the verge of a stream?
我在说这个地方掩映在山林之中，坐落在溪流之畔时，不是把它描绘成一个舒适的住处吗？
Assuredly, pleasant enough, but whether healthy or not is another question.
的确，舒适倒是够舒适的，但有益于健康与否，却是另一回事了。
That forest-dell, where Lowood lay, was the cradle of fog and fog-bred pestilence,
罗沃德所在的林间山谷，是大雾的摇篮，是雾气诱发的病疫的滋生地。
which, quickening with the quickening spring, crept into the Orphan Asylum, breathed typhus through its crowded schoolroom and dormitory,
时疫随着春天急速的步伐，加速潜入孤儿院，把斑疹伤寒传进了它拥挤的教室和寝室，
and, ere May arrived, transformed the seminary into an hospital.
五月未到，就己把整所学校变成了医院。
Semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of the pupils to receive infection.
学生们素来半饥半饱，得了感冒也无人过问，所以大多容易受到感染。
Forty-five out of the eighty girls lay ill at one time.
八十五个女生中四十五人一下子病倒了。
Classes were broken up, rules relaxed.
班级停课，纪律松懈。
The few who continued well were allowed almost unlimited license.
少数没有得病的，几乎已完全放任自流。
Because the medical attendant insisted on the necessity of frequent exercise to keep them in health.
因为医生认为他们必须经常参加活动，保持身体健康。
And had it been otherwise, no one had leisure to watch or restrain them.
就是不这样，也无人顾得上去看管她们了。
Miss Temple's whole attention was absorbed by the patients.
坦普尔小姐的全部注意力已被病人所吸引。
She lived in the sick-room, never quitting it except to snatch a few hours' rest at night.
她住在病房里，除了夜间抓紧几小时休息外，寸步不离病人。
The teachers were fully occupied with packing up and making other necessary preparations for the departure of those girls,
教师们全力以赴，为那些幸而有亲戚朋友，
who were fortunate enough to have friends and relations able and willing to remove them from the seat of contagion.
能够并愿意把她们从传染地带走的人，打铺盖和作好动身前的必要准备。
Many, already smitten, went home only to die.
很多已经染病的回家去等死。
some died at the school, and were buried quietly and quickly, the nature of the malady forbidding delay.
有些人死在学校里，悄悄地草草埋掉算数，这种病的特性决定了容不得半点拖延。