茵梦湖中英文版 Immensee:二九A Letter

A Letter
差不多在两年后的一天晚上，莱因哈德坐在灯前，桌上堆着许许多多的纸和书。他正等一位朋友来和他一起做功课。这时有人上楼来了。“请进！”——原来是房东太太。“有您一封信，魏尔纳先生！”说完她就走了。

莱因哈德从上次回家以后没再写信给伊莉莎白，从伊莉莎白那儿也从未收到过信。这封信也不是她来的，信上是他母亲的笔迹。莱因哈德拆开信来开始念，马上就念到下面一段：
Nearly two years later Reinhard was sitting by lamplight with his books and papers around him, expecting a friend with whom he used to study in common. Some one came upstairs. "Come in." It was the landlady. "A letter for you, Herr Werner," and she went away.

Reinhard had never written to Elisabeth since his visit home, and he had received no letter from her. Nor was this one from her; it was in his mother's handwriting.

Reinhard broke the seal and read, and ere long he came to this paragraph:

在你这样的年龄，我亲爱的孩子，真是一年跟一年都不一样，因为青年时代绝不会变得贫乏单调的。我们这里也起了些变化；要是我一向对你了解得不错，你乍一听见想必会难过的。昨天，埃利希到底还是得到了伊莉莎白的同意；近三个月来，他已两次向她求婚，两次都遭到拒绝。伊莉莎白一直下不了决心，可她现在毕竟还是这么做了。她仍然非常非常年轻啊。婚礼很快就要举行，到时候她母亲也要跟他们一块儿搬走。
"At your time of life, my dear boy, nearly every year still brings its own peculiar experience; for youth is apt to turn everything to the best account. At home, too, things have changed very much, and all this will, I fear, cause you much pain at first, if my understanding of you is at all correct.

"Yesterday Eric was at last accepted by Elisabeth, after having twice proposed in vain during the last three months. She had never been able to make up her mind to it, but now in the end she has done so. To my mind she is still far too young. The wedding is to take place soon, and her mother means to go away with them."