Forster, with his usual affection for us, comes down to bring you this letter and to bring you home.
come down to：归结为；涉及
托马斯·哈代致玛丽·哈代
Thomas Hardy to Mary Hardy
托马斯·哈代（1840—1928），英国小说家、诗人，1840年6月2日生于英国西南部的一个小村庄。哈代的文学生涯开始于诗歌，后因无缘发表，改而从事小说创作。他的第四部小说《远离尘嚣》（1874）让他一举成名。从此，他放弃建筑行业，致力于小说创作。哈代一生共发表了近20部长篇小说，其中最著名的当推《德伯家的苔丝》、《无名的裘德》、《还乡》和《卡斯特桥市长》。另有八部诗集，共918首。
My dear Mary,
I was beginning to think you had given up writing altogether when your letter came. Certainly try to get as long a time as you can Christmas.
I am glad you have been to Oxford again. It must be a jolly place. I shall try to get down there some time or other. You have no right to say that you are not connected with art. Everybody is, to a certain extent; the only difference between a professor and an amateur being is that the former has the (often disagreeable) necessity of making it to earning bread and cheese—and thus often rendering what is a pleasure to other people but a "bore" to himself.
About Thackeray, you must read something of his. He is considered to be the greatest novelist of the day—looking at novel writing of the highest kind as a perfect and truthful representation of actual life—which is no doubt the proper view to take. Hence, because his novels stand so high as works of Art or Truth, they often have anything but an elevating tendency, and on this account are particularly unfitted for young people—from their very truthfulness. People say that it is beyond Mr. Thackeray to paint a perfect man or woman—a great fault if novels are intended to instruct, but just the opposite if they are to be considered merely as Pictures. Vanity Fair is considered one of his best.
I expect to go home about Tuesday or Wednesday after Christmas and shall then find you there of course—We must have a "bit of a lark" —
Ever affectionately
Tom
Doc. 19,1863
亲爱的玛丽：
当我正在想着你可能已经完全放弃了写信的时候，却收到你的来信。你肯定是费尽心机地拖到圣诞节才来信的。
我很高兴你又一次回到了牛津，那肯定是一个充满乐趣的地方，我会试着找个时间到那里去。你没有权利说自己与艺术无缘，从某种程度上说，每个人都是艺术家。教授与业余爱好者之间仅有的区别就是：前者必须（常常是不情愿的）把艺术作为自己维持生计的工具——他的讲授对别人而言是一种快乐，对自己而言却是一种烦恼。
关于萨克雷，你肯定读过他写的一些东西，他被认为是那个时代最伟大的小说家——他认为最杰出的小说创作是对现实生活完美而真实的再现，毫无疑问，这是一个值得借鉴的正确观点。因为他的小说艺术性和真理性的价值是如此之高，人们对它们只有顶礼膜拜，而它们却不适合年轻人阅读——如果从年轻人率直的个性方面考虑的话。人们说萨克雷先生远远不能描绘出一个完美的女人或男人——如果认为小说是为了提供教导的话，这句话是非常错误的；相反，如果认为小说仅仅是图画书的话，那就另当别论了。《名利场》就被人们认为是萨克雷写得最好的一部小说。
我有望在圣诞节之后的周二或周三回家，当然会在那里找到你，我们必须好好地“玩一玩”……
永远爱你的汤姆
1863年12月19日
慰问信
慰问信是有关机关或者个人以组织或个人的名义，在他人处于特殊的情况下（如战争、自然灾害、事故），或在节假日，向对方表示问候的信件。写慰问信就好比向人说说宽慰的话，根据不同的对象、不同的情况，表达真挚的、自然的、真切的慰问之情。
extent [ikstent] n. 程度；大小；面积
To some extent, you are right.
从某种程度来说，你是对的。
amateur [鎚t(r)] n. 业余爱好者；业余运动员；外行
He is an amateur photographer.
他是个业余摄影爱好者。
opposite [pzit] n. 对立面；反义词
He sits opposite.
他坐在对面。
vanity [v鎛ti] n. 渺小；无所谓；自负；虚荣
All is vanity.
一切皆空。
你没有权利说自己与艺术无缘，从某种程度上说，每个人都是艺术家。
教授与业余爱好者之间仅有的区别就是：前者必须（常常是不情愿的）把艺术作为自己维持生计的工具——他的讲授对别人而言是一种快乐，对自己而言却是一种烦恼。
人们说萨克雷先生远远不能描绘出一个完美的女人或男人——如果认为小说是为了提供教导的话，这句话是非常错误的；相反，如果认为小说仅仅是图画书的话，那就另当别论了。
I always beginning to think you had given up writing altogether when your letter came.
give up：投降；认输；放弃
You have no right to say you are not connected with art.
be connected with：与……有联系
埃米莉·狄金森致威廉·奥斯汀·狄金森
Emily Dickinson to William Austin Dickinson
埃米莉·狄金森（1830—1886），美国著名女诗人。她从25岁开始拒绝社交，足不出户，在家务劳动之余埋头作诗，故被称作“安姆斯特修女”。埃米莉一生共创作1775首诗，她生前仅发表7首，其余部分都是她死后30年内由其亲人整理、出版的。埃米莉的诗风独特，以文字细腻、观察敏锐、意象突出著称，题材方面多半是自然、死亡和永生。
Dear Austin,
I've been trying to think this morning how many weeks it was since you went away—I fail in calculations; it seems so long to me since you went back to school that I set down days for years, and weeks for a score of years—not reckoning time by minutes, I don't know what to think of such great discrepancies between the actual hours and those which "seem to be" . It may seem long to you since you returned to Boston— how I wish you could stay and never go back again. Everything is so still here, and the clouds are cold and gray—I think it will rain soon. Oh, I am so lonely!... You had a windy evening going back to Boston, and we thought of you many times and hoped you would not be cold. Our fire burned so cheerfully I couldn't help thinking of how many were here, and how many were away, and I wished so many times during that long evening that the door would open and you come walking in. Home is a holy thing—nothing of doubt or distrust can enter its blessed portals. I feel it more and more as the great world goes on, and one and another forsake in whom you place your trust, here seems indeed to be a bit of Eden which not the sin of any can utterly destroy, —smaller it is indeed, and it may be less fair, but fairer it is and brighter than all the world beside.
I hope this year in Boston will not impair your health, and I hope you will be as happy as you used to be before. I don't wonder it makes you sober to leave this blessed air—if it were in my power I would on every morning transmit its purest breaths fragrant and cool to you. How I wish you could have it—a thousand little winds waft it to me this morning, fragrant with forest leaves and bright autumnal berries. I would be willing to give you my portion for today, and take the salt sea's breath in its bright, bounding stead...
Your affectionate
Emily
Amherst,
Autumn, 1851.
亲爱的奥斯汀：
今天早上我一直在想你离家已有几周——时间过得是如此之慢，一天如同一年，一周如同20年。不再用分钟计算时间以后，我不知道该怎么区分真实的时间与“虚幻”的时间。对于你来说，或许觉得回到波士顿已过了很长时间，我多么希望你能待在这里，永远别再回去啊！这里的一切都是死寂的，乌云密布，寒气袭人，我想很快就会下雨了。啊，我是如此孤单！你在一个刮风的晚上回到了波士顿，我们千万次地思念你，并且希望你不要着凉。我们身旁的炉火正旺，我忍不住想起，在这里，我们有多少次相聚，多少次分离，又有多少次我希望你能在漫长的夜晚把门打开，回到家来。家是一个神圣的地方，任何怀疑或不信任都无法侵入它神圣的领地。当时间的巨轮向前推进，你信任的人也一个个离你而去，我越来越感到家的神圣和温暖，家里似乎确实有点像伊甸园，没有任何罪恶可以彻底破坏它。事实上，家是小了一些，或许也并不美好，但是比起整个世界来，家却更加美丽，更加温馨。
