I am a prisoner here in the name of the King; they can take my life, but not the love that I feel for you. Yes, my adorable mistress, tonight I shall see you, and if I had to put my head on the block to do it. For Heaven's sake, do not speak to me in such disastrous terms as you write; you must live and be cautious; beware of madame your mother as of your worst enemy. What do I say? Beware of everybody, trust no one; keep yourself in readiness, as soon as the moon is visible I shall leave the hotel incognito, take a carriage or a chaise, we shall drive like the wind to Scheveningen; I shall take paper and ink with me; we shall write our letters.
If you love me, reassure yourself, and call all your strength and presence of mind to your aid; do not let your mother notice anything, try to have your picture, and be assured that the menace of the greatest tortures will not prevent me to serve you.
No, nothing has the power to part me from you; our love is based upon virtue, and will last as long as our lives. Adieu, there is nothing that I will not brave for your sake; you deserve much more than that. Adieu, my dear heart!
Arouet
The Hague, 1713.
亲爱的甜心：
我被他们以国王的名义囚禁在此；他们可以要我的命，却无法夺走我对你的爱。是的，我倾慕的情人，今天晚上我将要去见你，就算为此上断头台我也在所不惜。看在老天的份儿上，别在信上说些可怕的话。你必须活下去，另外还要非常谨慎；要提防你的母亲，她是你最大的敌人。我在说些什么啊？你要当心每一个人，谁也不能信任；你要妥善准备，等月亮一出来，我就乔装打扮离开旅馆，雇一辆马车或者便车。我们将如疾风般赶到斯赫维宁根；我将会带上纸和墨水，我们可以用来写信。
如果你爱我的话，你一定要打消所有的顾虑，一定要鼓足勇气，一定要保持绝对的冷静；千万不要让你的母亲察觉这些，并且带上你的画像。请你相信我：最严酷的刑罚也不能阻止我为你效劳。
不，什么力量都不能把我们分开；我们之间的爱情是以道德为基础的，它将和我们的生命一样长久。再见，我甘愿为你承担任何风险；你值得我为你做任何事情。再见，我亲爱的甜心！
阿埃
1713年于海牙
公开信
公开信是将内容公布于众的信件。公开信可以笔写，也可以印刷、张贴、刊登和广播。其对象一般比较广泛，但也可写给个人，如廖承志写给蒋经国的公开信。不论是写给社会中的某一部分人或写给个人，从写信者的角度看，都希望有更多的人阅读、了解，甚至讨论信中的问题。信的内容一般涉及比较重大的问题，具有普遍的指导作用、教育作用和宣传作用。
block [blk] n. （方形平面）大块；立方体；大楼；障碍物
He has a memory block.
他的记忆不灵了。
carriage [k鎟id] n. （火车的）客车厢；运输；运费
We need a carriage to transport these goods.
我们需要一个车厢来运送这些货物。
menace [mens] n. 威胁；危险的人（或物）；令人恐怖的氛围
But gradually they came to see the menace to themselves.
但他们逐渐看出了自己面临的威胁。
torture [t:t(r)] n. 拷打；痛苦；折磨人的事物
Without you, my life would be a torture.
没有你，我的人生将是一大折磨。
他们可以要我的命，却无法夺走我对你的爱。
请你相信我：最严酷的刑罚也不能阻止我为你效劳。
不，什么力量都不能把我们分开；我们之间的爱情是以道德为基础的，它将和我们的生命一样长久。
I am a prisoner here in the name of the King.
in the name of：以……的名义；为……的缘故
You must live and be cautious; beware of madam your mother as of your worst enemy.
beware of：小心……；谨防……
济慈致芬尼·勃劳恩
John Keats to Fanny Browne
约翰·济慈（1795—1821），英国诗人，出生于伦敦。1816年，他认识了李·亨特、雪莱等著名诗人，受到他们的影响，弃医从文，走上了诗歌创作的道路，并成为当时英国文坛上一颗光彩夺目的巨星。1818年，23岁的济慈认识了16岁的邻家少女勃劳恩。济慈深爱勃劳恩，但同时也发现自己得了肺病，健康状况愈来愈坏，因此两人无法成婚。济慈死后，勃劳恩与济慈的姐姐同住，12年后嫁给了一位银行家。
My dearest girl,
I have been a walk this morning with a book in my hand, but as usual I have been occupied with nothing but you. I wish I could say in an agreeable manner. I am tormented day and night. They talk of my going to Italy. It's certain I shall never I recover if I am to be so long separate from you, yet with all this devotion to you I cannot persuade myself into any confidence of you.
Past experience connected with the fact of my long separation from you gives me agonies which are scarcely to be talked of. When your mother comes, I shall be very sudden and expert in asking her whether you have been to Mrs. Dilke's, for she might say no to make me easy. I am literally worn to death, which seems my only recourse. I cannot forget what has passed. What? nothing with a man of the world, but to me dreadful.
I will get rid of this as much as possible. When you were in the habit of flirting with Brown you would have left off, could your own heart have felt one half of one pang mine did. Brown is a good sort of man, he did not know he was doing me to death by inches. I feel the effect of every one of those hours in my side now; and for that cause, though he has done me many services, though I know his love and friendship for me, though at this moment I should be without pence were it not for his assistance, I will never see or speak to him until we are both old men, if we are to be. I will resent my heart having been made a football. You will call this madness. I have heard you say that it was not unpleasant to wait a few years, you have amusements, your mind is away, you have not brooded over one idea as I have, and how should you?
You are to me an object intensely desireable—the air I breathe in a room empty of you is unhealthy. I am not the same to you—no—you can wait—you have a thousand activities—you can be happy without me. Any party, any thing to fill up the day has been enough.
How have you passed this month? Who have you smiled with? All this may seem savage in me. You do not feel as I do— you do not know what it is to love—one day you may—your time is not come.
Ask yourself how many unhappy hours Keats has caused you in Loneliness. For myself I have been a Martyr the whole time, and for this reason I speak; the confession is forced from me by the torture.
I appeal to you by the blood of that Christ you believe in: Do not write to me if you have done anything this month which it would have pained me to have seen. You may have altered— if you have not—if you still behave in dancing rooms and others societies as I have seen you—I do not want to live—if you have done so I wish this coming night may be my last.