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，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。

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

　　原文：

　　My love for you I once expressed

　　no longer lasts, instead, my distaste for you

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

　　I even won’t like that look yours。

　　I’ll do nothing but

　　look away from you. You can never expect I’ll

　　marry you. The last chat we had

　　was so dull and dry that you shouldn’t think it

　　made me eager to see you again。

　　If we get married, I firmly believe I’ll

　　live a hard life, I can never

　　live happily with you, I’ll devote myself

　　but not

　　to you. No one else is more

　　harsh and selfish and least

　　solicitous and considerate than you。

　　I sincerely want to let you know

　　what I said is true. Please do me a favor by

　　ending our relations and refrain from

　　writing me a reply. Your letter is always full of

　　things which displease me. You have no

　　sincere care for me. So long! Please believe

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

　　I still have a love of you!

　　译文：

　　我对你表达过的爱

　　已经消逝。我对你的厌恶

　　与日俱增。当我看到你时

　　我甚至不喜欢你的那副样子。

　　我想做的一件事就是

　　把目光移往别处，我永远不会

　　和你结婚。我们的最近一次谈话

　　枯燥乏味，因此无法使我渴望再与你想见。

　　假如我们结婚，我深信我将

　　生活得非常艰难，我也无法

　　愉快地和你生活在一起，我要把我的心

　　奉献出来，但决不是

　　奉献给你。没有人能比你更

　　苛求和自私，也没有人比你更

　　关心我帮助我。

　　我真挚地要你明白，我讲的是真话，请你助我一臂之力

　　结束我们之间的关系，别试图

　　答复此信，你的信充满着

　　使我兴趣索然的事情，怀有

　　对我的真诚关心。再见，请相信

　　我并不喜欢你，请你不要以为

　　我仍然爱着你！