这篇小品首先发表在1866年哥本哈根出版的《新的童话和故事集》第二卷第四部。安徒生在他的手记中说：“‘姑妈’这个人物是我从好几个人中认识的。这些人现在都在坟墓中安息。”“姑妈”这种人物不仅在“好几个人中”存在，而且在无数的人中存在，在古代和当代人中，在资本主义和社会主义制度中都存在，不过表现方式不同罢了。这种人生活有一定的保障，还有点儿文化，可能还是某种“才子”，能发表一点儿对国家大事和文化艺术的看法，在“姑妈”那个时代是“戏迷”——这还是有点儿文化的表现，但在当代则是“麻将迷”或“吃喝迷”——毫无文化。
Our Aunt姑妈
You ought to have known our aunt； she was charming！ That is to say，she was not charming at all as the word is usually understood，but she was good and kind，amusing in her way，and was just as any one ought to be whom people are to talk about and to laugh at. She might have been put into a play，and wholly and solelysolely adv.独自地，单独地 on account of the fact that she only lived for the theatre and for what was done there. She was an honorable matronmatron n.护土长，女舍监，保姆，主妇； but Agent Fabs，whom she used to call “Flabs”，declared that our aunt was stagestruck.
你应该认识姑妈！她这个人才可爱呢！这也就是说，她的可爱并不如我们一般所说的那种可爱。她温和可亲，有自己的一种滑稽味儿。如果一个人想聊聊闲天、开开什么人的玩笑，那么她就能成为谈笑的对象。她可以成为戏里的角色，这是因为她只是为戏院和与戏院有关的一切而活着的缘故。她是一个很有身份的人。可经纪人法布——姑妈把他叫做佛拉布——却说她是一个“戏迷”。
“The theatre is my school，” said she，“the source of my knowledge. From thence I have resuscitatedresuscitate v.（使）复苏，（使）复兴 BiblicalBiblical adj.圣经的 history. Now，‘Moses’ and ‘Joseph in Egypt’—there are operas for you！ I get my universal history from the theatre，my geography，and my knowledge of men. Out of the French pieces I get to know life in Paris—slippery，but exceedingly interesting. How I have cried over ‘La Famille Roquebourg’—that the man must drink himself to death，so that she may marry the young fellow！ Yes，how many tears I have wept in the fifty years I have subscribedsubscribe v.捐款，订阅，签署（文件），赞成，预订 to the theatre！”
“戏院就是我的学校，”她说，“是我的知识的来源。我在这儿重新温习《圣经》的历史：摩西啦，约瑟和他的弟兄们啦，都成了歌剧！我在剧院里学习到世界史、地理和关于人类的知识；我从法国戏中了解了巴黎的生活——很不正经，但是非常有趣！我为《李格堡家庭》这出戏流了不知多少眼泪：想想吧，一个丈夫为了使他的老婆得到她的年轻的爱人，竟然喝酒喝得醉死了！是的，这五十年来我成了戏院的一个老主顾，在这期间，我不知道哭了多少回！”
Our aunt knew every acting play，every bit of scenery，every character，every one who appeared or had appeared. She seemed really only to live during the nine months the theatre was open. Summertime without a summer theatre seemed to be only a time that made her old. while，on the other hand，a theatrical evening that lasted till midnight was a lengthening of her life. She did not say，as other people do，“Now we shall have spring，the stork is here，” or，“Theyve advertised the first strawberries in the papers.” She，on the contrary，used to announce the coming of autumn，with “Have you heard theyre selling boxes for the theatre？ Now the performancesperformance n.履行，执行，成绩，性能，表演，演奏 will begin.”
姑妈知道每出戏、每一场情节、每一个要出场或已经出过场的人物。她只不过是为那演戏的九个月而活着。夏天是没有戏上演的——这段时间使她变得衰弱。晚上的戏如果可以演到半夜以后，那就等于是把她的生命延长。她不像别人那样说：“春天来了，鹳鸟来了！”或者：“报上说草莓已经开始卖了！”相反，关于秋天的到来，她老欢喜说：“你没看到戏院开始卖票了吗？戏快要上演了呀！”
She used to value a lodging entirely according to its proximityproximity n.接近，亲近 to the theatre. It was a real sorrow to her when she had to leave the little lane behind the playhouse，and move into the great street that lay a little farther off，and live there in a house where she had no opposite neighbors.
在她看来，一幢房子是否有价值，完全要看它离戏院的远近而定。当她被迫从戏院后边的一个小巷子迁到一条较远一点儿的大街上，住进距离一幢对面没有街坊的房子里去的时候，她真是伤心极了。
“At home，” said she，“my windows must be my operabox. One cannot sit and look into ones self till ones tired，one must see people. But now I live just as if Id go into the country. If I want to see human beings，I must go into my kitchen，and sit down on the sink，for there only I have opposite neighbors. No，when I lived in my dear little lane，I could look straight down into the ironmongersironmonger n.铁器商，五金商 shop，and had only three hundred paces to the theatre； and now Ive three thousand paces to go，militarymilitary adj.军事的，军用的 measurement.”
“我的窗子就应该是我的包厢！你不能老是在家里待着想自己的事情呀。你应当看看人。不过我现在的生活就仿佛我是住在老远的乡下似的。如果我要想看看人，我就得进入厨房，爬到洗碗槽上去。只有这样我才可以看到对面的邻居。当我还住在我那个小巷子里的时候，我可以直接望见那个卖麻商人的店里的情景，而且只要走三百步路就能到戏院。现在我可得走三千步了。” Our aunt was sometimes ill，but however unwell she might feel，she never missed the play. The doctor prescribedprescribe v.指示，规定，处（方），开（药） one day that she should put her feet in a bran bath，and she followed his advice； but she drove to the theatre all the same，and sat with her feet in bran there. If she had died there，she would have been very glad. Thorwaldsen died in the theatre，and she called that a happy death.
姑妈有时也生病，可不管她怎样不舒服，她决不会不看戏的。她的医生开了一个单子，让她晚上在脚上敷些药。她按照医生的话办了，但是她却叫车子到戏院去，带着她脚上敷的药坐在那儿看戏。假如她坐在那儿死去了，那对她说倒是很幸福的呢！多瓦尔生就是在戏院里去世的——她把这称为“幸福之死”。
She could not imagine but that in heaven there must be a theatre too. It had not，indeed，been promised us，but we might very well imagine it. The many distinguished actors and actresses who had passed away must surely have a field for their talent.
天国里假如没有戏院，对她说来是不可想像的。我们当然是不会走进天国的。但是我们可以想像得到，过去去世了的著名男演员和女演员，肯定还是在那里继续他们的工作的。
Our aunt had an electric wire from the theatre to her room. A telegram used to be dispatcheddispatch vt.分派，派遣n.派遣，急件 to her at coffeetime，and it used to consist of the words，“Herr Sivertsen is at the machinery；” for it was he who gave the signal for drawing the curtain up and down and for changing the scenes.
姑妈在她的房间里安了一条私人电线，直通戏院。她在每天喝咖啡的时候就接到一个“电报”。她的助手就是舞台装置部的西凡尔生先生。全部布景或撤销布景，幕启或幕落，都是此人来发号施令的。
From him she used to receive a short and concise description of every piece. His opinion of Shakspeares “Tempest，” was，“Mad nonsense！ Theres so much to put up，and the first scene begins with ‘Water to the front of the wings.’” That is to say，the water had to come forward so far. But when，on the other hand，the same interior scene remained through five acts，he used to pronounce it a sensible，wellwritten play，a resting play，which performed itself，without putting up scenes.