精灵鼠小弟 第72期:写信给埃姆斯小姐

 "Have you any engraved¹ stationery²?" he asked the storekeeper.

“你这里有信纸吗？”他问店主。

I'm behind on mycorrespondence.

我要写一封信。

The storekeeper helped Stuart up onto the counter and found some letter paper for him--small paper, marked with the initial "L".

店主把他放到柜台上，给他找了几张信纸——那些纸很小，每张纸的上角还印着一个字母“L ”。

Stuart whipped out his fountain pen and sat down against a five-cent candy bar and began a letter to Harriet: "MY DEAR MISS AMES," he wrote.

斯图亚特拉下钢笔帽，倚坐在一块价值五美分的硬糖上，开始给哈丽雅特写信：“我亲爱的埃姆斯小姐，”他写。

I am a young person of modest proportions.

我是一个谦虚的年轻人。

By birth I am a New Yorker, but at the moment I am traveling on business of a confidential³ nature.

我来自纽约，出来旅行是由于一个秘密的目的。

My travels have brought me to your village.

现在我来到了你们这个镇。

Yesterday the keeper of your local store, who has an honest face and an open manner, gave me a most favorable report of your character and appearance.

昨天你们的一个店主，就是有着一张诚实的面孔和开朗性格的那个男人，对我说了不少关于你的好话。

At this point in the letter Stuart's pen ran dry from the long words,

写到这里钢笔没水了，

and Stuart had to get the storekeeper to lower him head-first into a bottle of ink so that he could refill the pen.

斯图亚特只好让店主拎着他的尾巴把他顺到浅浅的墨水瓶里，这样才可以把他的钢笔灌满墨水。

Then he went back to letter writing.

然后他又坐回来接着写……

1 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stationery   

n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封

参考例句：

• She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
• There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多，心里自会觉得踏实。

3 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。