见信如晤Letters Live 第23期:'露易丝·布瑞莉&索菲·亨特'读信:亲爱的朋友(2)

 　　April 14th

　　4月14号

　　Dear Friend,

　　亲爱的朋友，

　　How clever and capricious you are, cloaking yourself in anonymity¹, and I must confess I cannot for the life of me guess which of my many friends you can be.

　　你是多么聪明和任性，匿名写信。我承认我真的猜不出你到底是我哪一个朋友。

　　You have sent my head spinning and my imagination whirling.

　　你让我头晕目眩，想象力高速运转。

　　Could you be found among my dear friends, intimate friends, close friends, childhood friends, pen friends, family friends, friends of a friend, friends in distress², friends who are closer than a brother, friends in need, or school friends?

　　你可能是我的亲密朋友，亲近朋友，发小，笔友，家人朋友，朋友的朋友，落难的朋友，好哥们，需要帮助的朋友还是学校朋友？

　　Your letter quite clearly shows that you are not illiterate³, and therefore we can rule out my school friends.

　　你的信显然说明你不是文盲，所以可以排除你是我学校的朋友。

　　Your masterly command of the language banishes⁵ the thought that you could be found among my friends from overseas.

　　你熟练的语言运用可以排除你是我国外的朋友。

　　Your witty⁶ criticism of my performance makes me think that I might find you among my nearest and dearest “bosom friends,” that is if you did not choose to address me as “Dear Madam”--a clever move this, and one that reduces my last thought to mere⁷ stupidity and you to a casual acquaintance, and yet I must banish⁴ the thought “casual acquaintance.”

　　你对我表演幽默的批评让我觉得你可能是我的密友，如果你不称我为“尊敬对女士”的话。你用这个称呼很聪明，但这也让我觉得我那个想法很愚蠢，我和你应该是点头之交，但我又必须排除这点。

1 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

2 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

3 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

4 banish   

vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除

参考例句：

• The doctor advised her to banish fear and anxiety.医生劝她消除恐惧和忧虑。
• He tried to banish gloom from his thought.他试图驱除心中的忧愁。

5 banishes   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice, and poverty.(Voltaire, French philosopher) 工作撵跑三个魔鬼：无聊、堕落和贫穷。（法国哲学家伏尔基泰） 来自互联网
• The Consumer: It Banishes Uterine Fibroids, but for How Long? 消费者：它驱逐子宫的纤维瘤，但是为多久？ 来自互联网

6 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。