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:
一个小伙子非常爱一位姑娘，但姑娘的父亲却不喜欢他，也不让他们的爱情发展下去。小伙子很想给姑娘写封情书，然而他知道姑娘的父亲会先看，于是他给姑娘写了这样一封信：
my love for you i once expressed
我对你表达过的爱
no longer lasts, instead, my distaste for you
已经消逝。我对你的厌恶
is growing with each passing day. next time i see you,
与日俱增。当我看到你时
i even won’t like that look yours.
我甚至不喜欢你的那副样子。
i’ll do nothing but
我想做的一件事就是
look away from you. you can never expect i’ll
把目光移往别处，我永远不会
marry you. the last chat we had
和你结婚。我们的最近一次谈话
was so dull and dry that you shouldn’t think it
made me eager to see you again.
枯燥乏味，因此无法使我渴望再与你想见。
if we get married, i firmly believe i’ll
假如我们结婚，我深信我将
live a hard life, i can never
生活得非常艰难，我也无法
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
奉献出来，但决不是
to you. no one else is more
奉献给你。没有人能比你更
harsh and selfish and least
苛求和自私，也没有人比你更
solicitous and considerate than you.
关心我帮助我。
i sincerely want to let you know
我真挚地要你明白，
what i said is true. please do me a favor by
我讲的是真话，请你助我一臂之力
ending our relations and refrain from
结束我们之间的关系，别试图
writing me a reply. your letter is always full of
答复此信，你的信充满着
things which displease me. you have no
使我兴趣索然的事情，怀有
sincere care for me. so long! please believe
对我的真诚关心。再见，请相信
i don’t love you any longer. don’t think
我并不喜欢你，请你不要以为
i still have a love of you!
我仍然爱着你!
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.
姑娘的父亲看了这封信以后，非常高兴地把信给了姑娘。姑娘看罢信也非常快乐，小伙子依然爱着她。你知道她为什么高兴吗?其实，她初读时非常忧伤，但她怎么也不相信那是他的真心话，于是她又默读了几遍，终于，她清楚了该怎样读法。只能一、三、五行如此类推，直到信的结尾.