An Ingenious¹ Love Letter

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

harsh² and selfish and least

solicitous³ 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 refrain⁵ from

writing me a reply. Your letter is always full of

things which displease⁶ me. You have no

sincere⁴ 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 relieved⁷ 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. 

　　中文：

　　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：

　　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！

　　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。

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