4 Our Eden

Nathaniel Hawthorne

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.

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!

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?

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!

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.

难词释义

dungeon [ˈdʌndʒən] n. （城堡中的）地牢

infinity [ɪnˈfɪnəti] n. 无限；无穷

sacred [ˈseɪkrɪd] adj. 上帝的；神的；神圣的

babble [ˈbæbl] v. 喋喋不休

我们的伊甸园

纳撒尼尔·霍桑

我确信，我最亲爱的，你一人为我们俩度过了这明媚的一天；因为我在这地牢里困了一天，照在我身上的唯一光线是打开你的信时才得到的。

我不时产生一个愿望，我多么想和你驾上一朵白云（就像我们曾经在醉人的漫步中常常幻想的一样），远离世俗喧嚣，因为现在你我之间似乎隔着人山人海。亚当和夏娃曾经多么幸福啊！

没有第三者介入他们中间，而他们周围无限的空间似乎让他们的心贴得更紧了。我们像他们一样彼此相爱，即使没有静谧可爱的伊甸园。你会跟我一道远航去寻觅夏日之岛吗？

你不觉得上帝在这个世界一开始就为我们保留了这样一个岛屿吗？我提出这样一个问题真是太愚蠢了，因为我们已经找到了这样的伊甸园，我们已经有了你我专属的神圣岛屿……只要我们在一起！

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。不知道你在读此信时，是否也有这些声音的回声萦绕耳际。