John O’Hara to His Daughter約翰?奧哈拉給女兒的信

By John O’Hara

Quogue，Long Island

16 September1962，Sunday

于奎基，長(zhǎng)島，星期日

1962年9月16日

My dear：

Well，here we are——but not here.You at St.Tim’s，Sister in Princeton，and me in Quogue，and another brand new year is about to start for you.For me，too.I always seem to approach the autumn in the frame of mind that spring induces in most people.The excitement of new things;the new plays，the new books，new clothes，etc.，etc.，etc.At the same time the autumn for me is a season of a sweet melancholy that is hard to explain. I love the early evenings，the leaves burning，the lights in houses.

好了，我們到了——但不是到這兒。你在圣?蒂姆斯，西斯特在普林斯頓，而我在奎基，對(duì)你來(lái)說(shuō)嶄新的一年又開始了。對(duì)于我，也是如此。我似乎總是帶著一種春天在大多數(shù)人身上所激發(fā)的心情走近秋季。新生事物給人們帶來(lái)的興奮;新劇目、新書、新服裝，等等，等等，等等。同時(shí)，秋天對(duì)于我則是帶著美麗的憂郁的季節(jié)。這是難以用言語(yǔ)表達(dá)的。我愛(ài)黃昏，愛(ài)像火一樣燃燒著的紅艷艷的樹葉，愛(ài)房屋里的燈光。

It is the beginning of a big year for you，in many respects your biggest so far.By the time June comes around you will be 18，and graduating from school.In the past week or so I have called you“Kid” but subconsciously I have been doing that because your kid days are over，or just about.I suspect that you are going through the experience of first love，and no matter what else happens，after that experience you are never a kid again.

對(duì)你來(lái)說(shuō)，這是至關(guān)重要的一年的開始，從許多方面來(lái)說(shuō)這是你最重要的一年。到六月份你就18歲了，將中學(xué)畢業(yè)。在過(guò)去的幾周里，我稱你為“小孩子”，但在潛意識(shí)里我這樣做是因?yàn)槟愕纳倌陼r(shí)代已經(jīng)過(guò)去，或正要過(guò)去。我猜想你已在經(jīng)歷你的初戀，不管發(fā)生什么，有過(guò)初戀的經(jīng)歷之后，你再也不是小孩子了。