一封絕妙的情書

An Ingenious Love

　There once lived a lad who was deeply in love with a girl, but disliked by the girl’s father, who didn’t want to see any further development of their love. The lad was eager to write to the girl, yet he was quite sure that the father would read it first. So he wrote such a letter to the girl:

　　一個小伙子非常愛一位姑娘，但姑娘的父親卻不喜歡他，也不讓他們的愛情發(fā)展下去。小伙子很想給姑娘寫封情書，然而他知道姑娘的父親會先看，于是他給姑娘寫了這樣一封信：

　　My love for you I once expressed

　　我對你表達(dá)過的愛

　　no longer lasts, instead, my distaste for you

　　已經(jīng)消逝。我對你的厭惡

　　is growing with each passing day. Next time I see you,

　　與日俱增。當(dāng)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(yuǎn)不會

　　marry you. The last chat we had

　　和你結(jié)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(jié)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(xiàn)出來，但決不是

　　to you. No one else is more

　　奉獻(xiàn)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(guān)心我?guī)椭摇?/p>

　　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(jié)束我們之間的關(guān)系，別試圖

　　writing me a reply. Your letter is always full of

　　答復(fù)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(guān)心。再見，請相信

　　I don’t love you any longer. Don’t think

　　我并不喜歡你，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 his daughter with a light heart. The girl also felt quite pleased after she read it carefully, her lad still had a deep love for her. Do you know why? In fact, she felt very sad when she read the letter for the first time. But she read it for a few more times and , at last, she found the key – only every other line should be read, that is the first line, the third, the fifth … and so on to the end.

　　姑娘的父親看了這封信以后，非常高興地把信給了姑娘。姑娘看罷信也非?？鞓?，小伙子依然愛著她。你知道她為什么高興嗎？其實，她初讀時非常憂傷，但她怎么也不相信那是他的真心話，于是她又默讀了幾遍，終于，她清楚了該怎樣讀法。只能一、三、五行如此類推，直到信的結(jié)尾.。