A Letter to You 一封給你的信
A Letter to You 一封給你的信
◎ Lissa Rovetch
Dear Arizona:
親愛的亞利桑那：
My friend is moving in a month——and not just to a different neighborhood, but to a whole different country! I’m so sad, I can hardly think about anything else. I know you can’t make my friend’s family stay, but I’m hoping you’ll at least have some helpful ideas.
我的朋友一個月后就要離開了——不僅僅是去不同的街坊鄰居那里，而是一個完全不同的國家。我很傷心，我?guī)缀鯚o法思考其他任何事情了。我知道你不可能讓我朋友留下來，但我希望你至少可以給我一些有用的建議。
Already Lonely in London
在倫敦的孤單者
Dear Already Lonely,
親愛的孤單者：
The first thing I want to say is——I’m so sorry your friend is moving!
首先我想說的是，對你朋友的離開，我也深表遺憾。
The second thing I want to say is——are you from London, as in London, England? That is so exciting! Have you ever seen the Queen? Is it true that people there drive on the left side of the road? How big is Big Ben, really?
其次我想說，既然你在英國倫敦，那你是倫敦人嗎？如果是的話那就太好了。你見過女王陛下嗎？在那兒，人們果真都是沿著路的左邊開車嗎？大本鐘有多大呢？
OK, I guess I should stop asking questions and get back to your letter——which reminds me of how beyond and I was when my friend Elizabeth had to move.
嗯，我認(rèn)為我不該再問問題了，該回到你信上說的事兒了——那使我想起之前我的朋友伊麗莎白搬家時的情形。
I met Elizabeth in my very first karate class. I was the only new kid in the class. Everyone else knew a lot of the moves already and had yellow or orange belts.
我是在上第一節(jié)空手道課時遇到伊麗莎白的。我是班上唯一一個新來的孩子。其他人都已經(jīng)知道很多的動作，他們不是黃帶級別的，就是橙帶級別的。
I had a total beginner’s white belt and felt unbearably nervous the whole way through the class. I tried my hardest to follow along, but everything was very harder than I thought it would be.
而我則完全是初學(xué)者的白帶級別，整個課程當(dāng)中我都特別緊張。我竭力試圖跟上大家的進程，可是一切都比我想象的困難得多。
Afterward, as I was putting on my shoes, I was thinking, there is no way I am ever coming back to karate!
后來，在我穿鞋時心想，我決不可能再回來學(xué)空手道了。
And that’s when I met Elizabeth.
就在那時我遇到了伊麗莎白。
“You did great!” I laughed. “I was so clueless!”
“你做得很棒！”我笑道，“我非常笨！”
“That’s how I felt at first, too,” she said. “If you want, I can help you practice.”
“我剛開始時也是那樣的，”她說，“如果你愿意，我可以幫你練習(xí)。”
“Really?” I said.
“真的嗎？”我問。
“Sure. By the way, I’m Elizabeth.” She scribbled on the back of a karate schedule. “Here’s my number.”
“當(dāng)然。順便說一下，我叫伊麗莎白。”她匆匆地在空手道時刻表背面寫著，“這是我的號碼。”
“Wow, that’s so nice of you!” I said.
“哇哦，你真好！”我說。
She smiled. “No problem.”
她笑了，“不客氣。”
Anyway, to make a long story short, I called her a few days later, and we’ve been amazing friends ever since.
總之我長話短說，幾天之后我給她打了電話，自那之后我們就是很好的朋友了。
Now for the sad part. Not very long ago, Elizabeth had to move. Her family still lives in California, but if you know anything about my state, then you know it’s gigantic. And I’m not positive about the exact geographic details, but the distance Elizabeth moved was about the same as if she had moved from London to Paris!
接下來就是傷心的事了。前不久，伊麗莎白要搬家了。她家仍住在加利福尼亞，但如果你知道我所在的州，你就知道這個距離有多遠(yuǎn)了。我并不清楚具體地理位置的細(xì)節(jié)，但是伊麗莎白搬家的距離就如同她從倫敦搬到了巴黎！
“You can’t move!” I screamed when she told me the terrible news.
“你不能搬走！”當(dāng)她告訴我這個可怕的消息時，我大聲嚷道。
“I know. That’s what I told my parents,” she said. “But they said we don’t have a choice. We’re moving in with my grandparents, and I guess it’ll be very cheaper than where we live now.”
“我明白。我也是這么跟我父母說的。”她回答，“但他們說我們沒有別的選擇。我們要搬過去和祖父母一起住，我覺得那樣會比我們現(xiàn)在住的地方便宜很多。”
“Wait! I have the perfect solution,” I said. “You and your parents can move in with my family! We can share my room, and it’ll be like having a sleepover every single night! I’m sure my parents will be totally cool with it.”
“等下！我有一個完美的辦法。”我說，“你和你的父母可以搬來我家住！我們可以住在我的房間，這樣每天晚上我們就像在一起聚會一樣！我相信我的父母絕對會同意這個辦法的。”
“That would be so great!” said Elizabeth, and then she sighed. “I wish we could do that. But there’s no way. My parents also want to be closer to my grandparents, so I think we’re definitely going.”
“那樣就太好了！”伊麗莎白說，但之后她嘆了口氣。“我也希望我們能夠那樣，可那絕不可能。我的父母一直都想離祖父母近一些，所以我們肯定會搬過去的。”
So Elizabeth and I had to come up with a Plan B. A would have been. We were actually pretty happy about our solution. Here’s what we did.
于是我和伊麗莎白得想出第二套計劃。第一套計劃本來可以成功的。事實上，我們對自己的計劃很滿意。下面就是我們所做的。
First, we asked my mom to take a picture of us together and help us print it out regular size and teeny-tiny size.
首先，我們讓我媽媽給我們倆拍了照片，幫我們沖洗出來，一張常規(guī)尺寸和一張小尺寸。
We put the regular photos in special frames that we decorated forever. I gave me the frame she decorated.
我們把常規(guī)大小的那張放到了裝飾有永恒字樣的特制相框里。我把她裝飾的相框留給了自己。
Then, we cut the teeny-tiny picture of us in half. I put the half with Elizabeth’s face in my locket necklace, and she put the half with my face in her locket necklace.
然后，我們把袖珍尺寸的相片剪成兩半。我把有伊麗莎白頭像的那半放在了我的盒式項鏈墜里，她把有我頭像的那半放在了自己的項鏈墜里。
So even though Elizabeth lives miles away and I only get to see her once in a while, our Friends Forever picture frames and lockets really do help with the “missing-you” part.
所以即使伊麗莎白住在很遠(yuǎn)的地方，我只能過很久才見她一次，但我們友誼的相框和我們的項鏈墜，幫助我們將對彼此的思念留在了心底。
Besides that, our parents let us e-mail sometimes, and we still get to talk and crack up together on the phone now and then. Also, we love sending each other funny letters and packages filled with goofy surprises.
除此以外，我們的父母時常讓我們互發(fā)郵件，我們也不時地在電話里聊天，每次都會開懷大笑。同時，我們還喜歡給對方寄有趣的信件，或是令對方驚奇的愚蠢的包裹。
So, dear Already Lonely, being separated from your friend doesn’t have to be as bad as it seems right now. Photos, letters, phone calls, e-mails, and great memories can really and truly make a friend seem closer than he or she is.
因此，親愛的孤單者，和朋友分開并不像它看上去那樣糟糕。相片、信件、電話、郵件以及美好的回憶，這些都會使你的朋友看起來比現(xiàn)實中更親近一些。
I hope these ideas help. As they say in London, “cheers” to you and your friend! And as I like to say...
我希望這些建議能幫助你。正如人們在倫敦講的那樣，為你和你的朋友“干杯”！這也正是我想對你說的……
Ciao for now,
好了再見。
Arizona
亞利桑那
