Nathaniel Hawthorne to His Wife
纳撒尼尔-霍桑致爱妻

I do trust, my dearest, that you have been employing this bright day for both of us; for I have spent it in my dungeon¹, and the only light that broke upon me was when I opened your letter.
　　我确信，我最亲爱的，你为我们选定了今天这个晴朗的好日子；我在城堡主楼困了一天，唯一的一线光是打开你的信时才得到的。

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!
　　我不时产生——个愿望，我多么想和你驾上一朵白云 （我们在醉人的漫步中常常这样幻想），远离世俗喧嚣；因为现在似乎世界上什么样的人都与我们在一起。亚当和夏娃曾经多么幸福啊！

There was no third person to come between them, and all the infinity² 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?
　　有第三者介入他们中间，而他们周围无限的空间似乎把他们的心贴得更紧了。我们像他们一样彼此相爱；但对我们来说，却没有静谧可爱的伊甸园。你为什么不跟我一道远航寻觅夏之岛？

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!
　　你不认为上帝从一开始就保留了这样一个岛给我们吗？既然我们已经找到了这样的伊甸园，我提出这样一个问题不是太愚蠢了吗？我们已经有了只有你我专用的伊甸园……只要我们在一起！

Men we are the Adam and Eve of a virgin³ earth.Now , good - bye ; for voices are babbling⁴ around me and I should not wonder if you were to hear the echo of them while you read this letter.
　　我们就是一块处女地上的亚当和夏娃。现在，再见了；因为我的周围一片嘈杂。不知你在读此信时，是否有这些声音的回声萦绕耳际。

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