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John Adams to His Wife

约翰·亚当斯致妻

Prince Town New Jersey¹ Aug.28 th, 1774
My Dear:

我亲爱的:

I received your kind letter, at New York, and it is not easy for you to imagine the pleasure it has given me. I have not found a single opportunity to write since I left Boston, excepting by the post and I don't choose to write by that conveyance',event)">conveyance, for fear of foul² play. But as we are now within forty two miles of Philadelphia, I hope there to find some private hand by which I can convey this.

在纽约收到了你亲切的来信，你很难想象出它给我带来的快乐。自从离开波士顿，我还没有找到一次给你写信的机会，虽然信可以邮寄，但我没有选择那种传递方式给你写信，因为害怕恶作剧，而现在我俩同距费城下超过42英里，我希望在那儿能找人私下为我们传递这封信。

The particulars of our journey, I must reserve, to be communicated after my return.It would take a volume to describe the whole. It has been upon the whole an agreeable jaunt³. We have had opportunities to see the world, and to form acquaintances with the most eminent⁴ and famous men in the several colonies we have passed through. We have been treated with unbounded civility, complaisance⁵, and respect.

我们旅程的细节我必须保留到回家后再告诉你，整个旅途的经历都可以写成一册书了。总的来说，这是一次令人愉快的旅行。我们有机会看看大千世界，并且有幸结了路经的几个殖民地中最杰出的知名人士。我们在那里受到了热烈欢迎和盛情款待，赢得了极大的尊重。

We yesterday visited Nassau Hall College, and were politely treated by the scholars, tutors, professors and president, whom we are, this day to hear preach. Tomorrow we reach the Theatre of Action. God almighty⁶ grant us wisdom and virtue⁷ sufficient for the high trust that is devolved upon us. The spirit of the people wherever we have been seems to be very favourable⁸.They universally consider our cause as their own, and express the firmest resolution, to abide⁹ the determination of the Congress.

昨天我们参观了纳索荷学院，得到了学者们、导师们、教授们和校长的礼貌相待，今天我们要去听他们演讲。明天我们会前往行动礼堂。愿万能的上帝赐给我们充足的智慧和美德，让我们能够承受上帝对我们的高度的信任。我们所到之处民众的精神面貌非常积极向上。他们普遍认为我们的事业就是他们的事业，并且表达了最为坚定的决心，要遵守国会的一切决定。

I am anxious for our perplexed¹⁰, distressed¹¹ province--hope they will be directed into the right path. I beg you, my dear, to make yourself as easy and quiet as possible.Resignation to the will of heaven is our only resource in such dangerous times. Prudence¹² and caution should be our guides, I have the strongest hopes, that we shall yet see a clearer sky, and better times.

我为我们地区困惑不安的人民感到忧心忡忡，希望他们会被指引到正确的道路上去、亲爱的，我恳求你，尽可能让自己放松和平静。在这个危险的年代，顺从上帝的意志是我们唯一的精神支柱。谨慎小心应该是我们的指导方针。我最最强烈地希望将来我们能看到更加晴朗的天空和更加美好的时代。

Your account of the rain refreshed me.I hope our husbandry is prudently¹³ and industriously¹⁴ managed. Frugality¹⁵ must be our support. Our expenses, in this journey, will be very great-our only reward will be the consolatory¹⁶ reflection that we toil¹⁷, spend our time, and tempt¹⁸ dangers for the public good.-happy indeed, if we do any good!

你在信中讲述的雨景使我顿觉精神振奋。我希望我们的农业要谨慎管理和苦心经营。勤俭是我们的立足之本。这次旅行的开支会很大，但想到我们为了公众的利益而辛苦工作，花费时间，并且甘冒危险，我们倍感安慰，而这也是我们唯一的回报—如果我们做了任何有益的事，那的确令人感到幸福!

The education of our children is never out of my mind. Train them to virtue, habituate them to industry, activity, and spirit. Make them consider every vice¹⁹, as shameful²⁰ and unmanly: fire them with ambition to be useful-make them disdain²¹ to be destitute²² of any useful, or ornamental²³ knowledge or accomplishment²⁴. Fix their ambition upon great and solid objects, and their contempt upon little, frivolous²⁵, and useless ones. It is time, my dear, for you to begin to teach them French. Every decency²⁶, grace, and honesty should be inculcated upon them.

孩子们的教育问题总是萦绕在我的脑海。培养他们良好的道德，使他们养成勤勉、充满活力和富有进取精神的习惯;让他们视每一种缺点为可耻和懦弱:激励他们满怀雄心壮志成为有用之才—使他们鄙视缺乏有用知识的人、毫无造诣的人和无所成就的人;把他们的抱负建立在伟人、坚定的目标之上，而无视那些细小、琐碎和无价值的事情。亲爱的，是你开始教他们法语的时候了。应该让礼貌、优雅和诚实牢牢地铭刻于他们的心中。

I have kept a few minutes by way of journal, which shall be your entertainment when I come home, but we have had so many persons and so various characters to converse²⁷ with, and so many objects to view, that I have not been able to be so particular as I could wish-I am, with the tenderest affection and concern, your wandering.

我以日记的方式记了一些备忘录，待我回家时可让你浏览消遣。不过，我们有那么多不同的人物要交谈，有那么多的事物要观察，所以我不能如我所希望的那样详细叙述这一切。—接受我最温柔的爱意和关怀，你的流浪者。

                                                                                     John Adams

                                                                                           约翰·亚当斯
                                                                                           于新泽西普林斯镇
                                                                                            1774年8月28日

课堂笔记：
1.副词在英语句子中的位置非常灵活，此句的副词“there”置于谓语动词“hope”之后，用于修饰不定式中的动词“find"，表示地点。连词“which”引导定语从句，修饰 "hand"(人手)。
2.此句的宾语“the particulars of our journey"放置句首，表示强调.情态动词“must"突出肯定的语气，说明作者非常珍视此次旅行经历中的各种细枝末节.
3.此句为非限制性定语从句，修饰先行词“scholars, tutors, professors and president"，由于先行词在从句中充当“hear"的宾语，故而关系代词选用“whom”而非“who".
4.此句主语为“the spirit of the people"，谓语动词为“seem”.从句"wherever we have been”用作地点状语。
5. "cause”在此作“事业”讲，是指美国的独立事业.18世纪中叶，英国在美洲的殖民地与英国之间已产生了裂痕.殖民地的扩张，使他们感受到英国的迫害，而萌生独立的念头.约翰·亚当斯是美国独立运动的先驱之一.
6.1774年，来自12个州的代表聚集在费城，召开了第一次大陆会议，希望与英国和平解决之间的问题，制定了相应举措.
7.此句中的“that'’从句为同位语从句，具体阐释“reflection"(考虑，想法)的内容。