有个小伙子非常爱一位姑娘，但姑娘的父亲却不喜欢他，不允许他们继续发展下去。小伙子很想给姑娘写封情书，但他知道姑娘的父亲会先看，于是他给姑娘写了这样一封信：

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.

姑娘的父亲看了这封信以后，非常高兴的把信给了姑娘。姑娘看完信后也非常快乐，小伙子依然爱着她。你知道她为什么高兴吗？其实，她初读这封信时非常忧伤，但她怎么也不相信那是他的真心话，于是她又默读了几遍，终于，她清楚了该怎样来读这封信。只能一、三、五行如此类推来读，直到信的结尾。

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（英语点津姗姗编辑）