见信如晤Letters Live 第19期:'露易丝布瑞莉'读信:像一棵果实累累的大树被连根砍断

 　　December 25th, 1848.

　　1848年12月25日

　　My dear Sir,

　　尊敬的先生，

　　I will write to you at more length when my heart can find a little rest— now I can only thank you very briefly¹ for your letter.

　　待我心绪稍宁后，我再写信与你详叙；现在我只能十分简短地谢谢你的来信。

　　Emily is nowhere here now, her wasted mortal remains² are taken out of the house.

　　艾米莉现在已经不在了，她那憔悴的遗体已被抬出家门。

　　We have laid her cherished head under the church aisle³ beside my mother's, my two sisters'—dead long ago—and my poor, hapless brother's.

　　我们已将亲爱的艾米莉安葬在教堂耳堂下的墓地里，让她依傍着我的母亲，两个早已去世的姐姐，和我那不幸的弟弟。

　　Some sad comfort I take, as I hear the wind blow and feel the cutting keenness of the frost, in knowing that the elements bring her no more suffering.

　　当我听到风声呼呼，感到严寒刺骨时，深知自然力不会再给她带来什么痛苦了，我在悲痛之余总算得到了些安慰。

　　Her deep, hollow cough is hushed forever.

　　她剧烈沉重的干咳声永远沉寂了；

　　We do not hear it in the night nor listen for it in the morning.

　　现在我们晚上已经听不到她的咳嗽声，早上也不会留神去听。

　　My father says to me almost hourly, “Charlotte, you must bear up, I shall sink if you fail me.”

　　我父亲几乎时时刻刻都在对我说：“夏洛蒂，你一定要挺住，如果你挺不住，我也就倒下了。”

　　So I will not now ask why Emily was torn from us in the fulness of our attachment⁴, rooted up in the prime of her own days, in the promise of her powers.

　　因此我现在不会再追问为什么在我们相依为命的时候，艾米莉被夺走了生命；为什么正当她年轻有为，才华初露的时候，英年早逝；

　　Why her existence now lies like a tree in full bearing struck at the root.

　　为什么她此刻的境遇就像是一棵果实累累的大树被连根砍断。

　　I will only say, sweet is rest after labour and calm after tempest, and repeat again and again that Emily knows that now.

　　我只能说，劳动后的休息，暴风雨后的宁静是甜美怡人的；而我要反复地说，艾米莉现在能懂得这一点。

　　Yours sincerely,

　　谨启，

　　C. Bront

　　夏洛蒂·勃朗特

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

4 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。