Nathaniel Hawthorne to His Wife

納撒尼爾-霍桑致愛妻

I do trust, my dearest, that you have been employing this bright day for both of us; for I have spent it in my dungeon, and the only light that broke upon me was when I opened your letter.

我確信，我最親愛的，你為我們選定了今天這個晴朗的好日子;我在城堡主樓困了一天，唯一的一線光是打開你的信時才得到的。

I am sometimes driven to wish that you and I could mount upon a cloud (as we used to fancy in those heavenly walks of ours). And be home quite out of sight and hearing of the world; for now all the people in the world seem to come between us. How happy were Adam and Eve!

我不時產生――個愿望，我多么想和你駕上一朵白云 (我們在醉人的漫步中常常這樣幻想)，遠離世俗喧囂;因為現在似乎世界上什么樣的人都與我們在一起。亞當和夏娃曾經多么幸福啊!

There was no third person to come between them, and all the infinity around them only seemed to press their hearts closer together. We love one another as well as there is no silent and love garden of Eden for us. Will you sail away with me to discover some summer island?

有第三者介入他們中間，而他們周圍無限的空間似乎把他們的心貼得更緊了。我們像他們一樣彼此相愛;但對我們來說，卻沒有靜謐可愛的伊甸園。你為什么不跟我一道遠航尋覓夏之島?

Do you not think that god has reserved one for us, ever since the beginning of the world? Foolish that I am to raise a question of it, since we have found such an Eden ... such an island sacred to us two ... whenever we have been together!

你不認為上帝從一開始就保留了這樣一個島給我們嗎?既然我們已經找到了這樣的伊甸園，我提出這樣一個問題不是太愚蠢了嗎?我們已經有了只有你我專用的伊甸園……只要我們在一起!

Men we are the Adam and Eve of a virgin earth.Now , good - bye ; for voices are babbling around me and I should not wonder if you were to hear the echo of them while you read this letter.

我們就是一塊處女地上的亞當和夏娃。現在，再見了;因為我的周圍一片嘈雜。不知你在讀此信時，是否有這些聲音的回聲縈繞耳際。