Why do I not write to you?

 

为什么我没有给你写信？

And you, a learned man, ask me this?

你，凭你的学识，居然会问我这个问题？

You should be clever enough to guess that I am in a happy mood because in a wood I have made an acquaintance who moves my heart in a strange way.

你准能猜到，我一切都很好；因为，简单说吧，我认识了一个人，她紧紧地牵动着我的心。

I have…I do not know.

我已经…我也不知道自己怎么啦。

It is not easy for me to tell you, in chronological order just how it happened, how I met such a lovely being.

我很难把这事的经过有条不紊地告诉你，我认识了一位最最可爱的人。

I am contented and happy, and therefore not a good historian.

我现在感觉既快乐又幸福，所以不能把事情很客观地写出来。

An angel! Nonsense!

一位天使！不用说！

Everyone calls his loved one thus, does he not?

谁谈起自己的意中人都会这么说，不是吗？

And yet I cannot describe to you how perfect she is, or why she is so perfect; enough to say that she has captured me completely.

可是我却无法向你描述她是多么完美，以及她为什么会那么完美；一句话，她已经把我整个心都俘获了。

So much innocence combined with so much intelligence; such kindness with such firmness; such inner serenity in such an active life.

她那么淳朴，又那么聪明；那么善良，又那么坚定；那么辛苦，内心又那么充满宁静。

But all this is foolish talk pure abstract words which fail to describe one single feature of her real person.

但所有这些全都是令人讨厌的空泛之词，丝毫反映不出她真实的样子。

Another time no, not another time, right at this moment will tell you everything.

下次，不，不是下次，我现在就要立即告诉你。

If I do not do it now, it will never be done.

要是现在不在说，那就永远不会说了。

Because between you and me since I began this letter I have been three times on the point of laying down my pen, having my horse saddled and riding out to her.

因为，说心里话，从开始写这封信到现在，我已经有三次想搁下笔，打算让人给马备好鞍，骑马出去找她了。

Although I swore to myself this morning not to do it, I am going every other moment to the window to see how high the sun has climbed.

今天早晨我还发誓不这样做，可我还是时不时地跑到窗前，看看太阳已经爬到多高了。

I could not bear it any longer; I had to see her.

我无法控制自己，我还是去了她那儿。

Here I am back. Wilhelm; I will now eat my supper and then go on writing to you.

现在我已经回来了，威廉，我要吃着夜宵继续写你写信。

What a delight it was to see her among the dear lively children, her eight brothers and sisters!

看到她同一群活泼可爱的孩子，她的八个弟妹，在一起，我是多么欣喜啊！