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There once lived a lad who was deeply in love with a girl, butdisliked by the girl’s father, who didn’t want to see any furtherdevelopment of their love. The lad was eager to write to the girl, yethe was quite sure that the father would read it first. So he wrote sucha letter to the girl:
一個小夥子非常愛一位姑娘,但姑娘的父親卻不喜歡他,也不讓他們的愛情發展下去。小夥子很想給姑娘寫封情書,然而他知道姑娘的父親會先看,於是他給姑娘寫了這樣一封信:
My love for you I once expressed
我對你表達過的愛
no longer lasts, instead, my distaste for you
已經消逝。我對你的厭惡
is growing with each passing day. Next time I see you,
與日俱增。當我看到你時
I even won’t like that look yours.
我甚至不喜歡你的那副樣子。
I’ll do nothing but
我想做的一件事就是
look away from you. You can never expect I’ll
把目光移往別處,我永遠不會
marry you. The last chat we had
和你結婚。我們的最近一次談話
was so dull and dry that you shouldn’t think it
made me eager to see you again.
枯燥乏味,因此無法使我渴望再與你想見。
If we get married, I firmly believe I’ll
假如我們結婚,我深信我將
live a hard life, I can never
生活得非常艱難,我也無法
live happily with you, I’ll devote myself
愉快地和你生活在一起,我要把我的心
but not
奉獻出來,但決不是
to you. No one else is more
奉獻給你。沒有人能比你更
harsh and selfish and least
苛求和自私,也沒有人比你更
solicitous and considerate than you.
關心我幫助我。
I sincerely want to let you know
我真摯地要你明白,
what I said is true. Please do me a favor by
我講的是真話,請你助我一臂之力
ending our relations and refrain from
結束我們之間的關係,別試圖
writing me a reply. Your letter is always full of
答復此信,你的信充滿著
things which displease me. You have no
使我興趣索然的事情,懷有
sincere care for me. So long! Please believe
對我的真誠關心。再見,請相信
I don’t love you any longer. Don’t think
我並不喜歡你,請你不要以為
I still have a love of you!
我仍然愛著你!
Having read the letter, the father felt relieved and gave it to hisdaughter with a light heart. The girl also felt quite pleased after sheread it carefully, her lad still had a deep love for her. Do you knowwhy? In fact, she felt very sad when she read the letter for the firsttime. But she read it for a few more times and , at last, she found thekey – only every other line should be read, that is the first line, thethird, the fifth … and so on to the end.
姑娘的父親看了這封信以後,非常高興地把信給了姑娘。姑娘看罷信也非常快樂,小夥子依然愛著她。你知道她為什麼高興嗎?其實,她初讀時非常憂傷,但她怎麼也不相信那是他的真心話,於是她又默讀了幾遍,終於,她清楚了該怎樣讀法。只能一、三、五行如此類推,直到信的結尾. |
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