一封巧妙的情书

 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:

　　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!

　　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.

　　参考译文

　　有一次一个小伙子深深地爱上了一个女孩，但不喜欢的女孩的父亲，谁不希望看到任何进一步发展他们的爱情。小伙子很想写信给女孩，但他是相当肯定的父亲会先阅读。于是，他给姑娘写了这样一封信：

　　我曾经表示我对你的爱

　　不再持续，相反，我对你的厌恶

　　随着日新月异。下一次，我看你，

　　我什至不喜欢你的那副样子。

　　我会做什么，但

　　看看离你而去。你永远不能指望我会

　　嫁给你。我们的最近一次谈话

　　枯燥乏味，因此，你不应该认为它

　　使我渴望再见到你。

　　如果我们结婚，我深信我会

　　生活得非常艰难，我也从来没有

　　过着幸福快乐的你，我将致力于

　　但不

　　给你。没有人更

　　苛求和自私，至少

　　比你关心体贴。

　　我衷心希望让你知道

　　我说的是真的。请你帮我一个忙

　　结束我们的关系，并避免

　　写我一个答复。你的信总是充满了

　　得罪我的事。你有没有

　　我的真诚关心。那么长！请相信

　　我不爱你了。不要以为

　　我仍然爱着你！

　　读了这封信，父亲松了一口气，并把它给了他的女儿，一盏心灯。

　　女孩也觉得很高兴，她的小伙子依然爱着她后，她仔细阅读。

　　你知道为什么吗？事实上，她感到非常难过，当她第一次读了这封信。但她读了几次，最后，她找到了钥匙 - 只有每隔一行要读，也就是第一行，第三，第五……所以到年底。