Too Long
太久
The travel editor of a newspaper called, saying she was finally using an article I had written several years earlier.
一家报纸的旅行版编辑打开电话，说她终于决定要采用一篇我几年前写的文章。
She wanted to be sure the tour information was still correct.
她想确定那旅游信息是否还可靠。
"I also wanted to make certain," she sheepishly confessed, "that you're still alive.
“我还想确定，”她怯怯地坦白道：“您是否还健在。
Whenever the writer has died, I know I've held a story too long."
每次发现作者已经不在人世了，我才知道我将文章压得太久了。”

1.too Long
在这里我们看到too的用法
副词too是一个司空见惯的词，然而，对它进行总结和分析，就会发现其非常有价值的用法。
由too构成的短语，常用的有如下一些：
1）all too实在太（很），all too soon ／quickly太早（太快）。例如：
The holidays ended all too soon．假期结束得太早了。
2）none too一点也不。例如：
We were none too early for the train．我们刚好赶上火车。
3）only too极其，非常。例如：
We shall be only too pleased to hear from you further．我们非常欢迎你再来信。（注意这里不是too．．．to．．．结构）
4）quite too简直太…例如：
It’s quite too surprising！这简直太让人吃惊了！
5）rather too稍微……了一点。例如：
The soup is rather too salty．汤稍微咸了一点。
6）too…to…太……以至不能……。例如：
The boy is too weak to lift the heavy box．这男孩太虚弱，举不起那个重箱子。

2.make certain
make certain=to make sure

3.sheepishly confess
sheep是绵羊的意思，所以这个形容词非常形象，像绵羊一样温驯的，胆怯的。
confess是忏悔的意思，用在文章中形容编辑怯怯的心情是最合适不过的了。