有個小伙子非常愛一位姑娘，但姑娘的父親卻不喜歡他，不允許他們繼續發展下去。小伙子很想給姑娘寫封情書，但他知道姑娘的父親會先看，于是他給姑娘寫了這樣一封信：

There once lived a lad who was deeply in love with a girl, but disliked by the girl's father, who didn't want to see any further development of their love. The lad was eager to write to the girl, yet he was quite sure that the father would read it first. So he wrote such a letter to the girl:

My love for you I once expressed
no longer lasts, instead, my distaste for you
is growing with each passing day. Next time I see you,
I even won't like that look yours.
I'll do nothing but
look away from you. You can never expect I'll
marry you. The last chat we had
was so dull and dry that you shouldn't think it
made me eager to see you again.
If we get married, I firmly believe I'll
live a hard life, I can never
live happily with you, I'll devote myself
but not
to you. No one else is more
harsh and selfish and least
solicitous and considerate than you.
I sincerely want to let you know
what I said is true. Please do me a favor by
ending our relations and refrain from
writing me a reply. Your letter is always full of
things which displease me. You have no
sincere care for me. So long! Please believe
I don't love you any longer. Don't think
I still have a love of you!

Having read the letter, the father felt relieved and gave it to his daughter with a light heart. The girl also felt quite pleased after she read it carefully, her lad still had a deep love for her. Do you know why? In fact, she felt very sad when she read the letter for the first time. But she read it for a few more times and, at last, she found the key - only every other line should be read, that is the first line, the third, the fifth … and so on to the end.

姑娘的父親看了這封信以后，非常高興的把信給了姑娘。姑娘看完信后也非常快樂，小伙子依然愛著她。你知道她為什么高興嗎？其實，她初讀這封信時非常憂傷，但她怎么也不相信那是他的真心話，于是她又默讀了幾遍，終于，她清楚了該怎樣來讀這封信。只能一、三、五行如此類推來讀，直到信的結尾。

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（英語點津姍姍編輯）