Dear Sir,
I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of. Leaves of Grass. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seems the sterile and stingy Nature, as if too much handiwork or too much lymph in the temperament were making our Western wits fat and mean. I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment, which so delights us, and which large perception only can inspire.
I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which must yet have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion, but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging. I did not know until I, last night, saw the book advertised in a newspaper, that I could trust the name as real and available for a post office.
I wish to see my benefactor, and have felt much like striking my tasks, and visiting New York to pay you my respects.
R.W. Emerson
Concord
Massachusetts
21 July 1855
亲爱的先生：
对于卓越超群的《草叶集》，我对它的价值并非视而不见。我认为它是美国迄今为止所出版的最杰出最具才智的作品。我在读它的时候，心情十分愉快，伟大的力量总会让我们感到愉快。我一直都认为，我们似乎处于贫瘠枯竭的状态，似乎太多的精雕细琢，或者过度的迂缓气质正使我们西方的智慧变得迟钝而平庸，而《草叶集》正是我们所需要的。我很高兴您拥有这样自由而勇敢的思想，我感到十分兴奋。我发现，很多事物都应该表现出它本身拥有的无可匹敌的美，我也看到其中那种大胆的令我们愉悦的记述，也许只有具有深刻理解力的人才能够把它挖掘出来。
一项伟大的事业有这样良好的开端，我为此向你表示祝贺，这个开端将来一定会有广阔的前景。我揉揉眼睛，想看看这道阳光是不是幻觉，但是这本书给我的感觉又是确定无疑的。它最大的优点就是能够增强和鼓舞人们的信心。直到昨天晚上，我在一家报纸上看见这本书的广告时，才相信真有此书，而且在邮局就能买到它。
我很希望能与您这样一位良师益友见一面，很想抛开手中的工作去纽约拜访您。
爱默生
1855年7月21日
于马塞诸塞州康科德
协查函
协查函一般为两个不同地的部门之间，或者上级部门对下级部门之间的函件，要求对方予以协助调查，并有正规回复的公文。
sterile [sterail] adj. 不生育的；不能生殖的；无菌的
An operating theatre should be completely sterile.
手术室应该完全无菌。
incomparable [inkmprbl] adj. 无双的；无敌的；无比的
My income is incomparable with his.
我的收入不能与他的相比。
rub [rb] v. 擦；搓；揉（使）相互摩擦
Don't rub your eyes.
不要揉眼睛。
illusion [ilju:n] n. 错觉；幻想；错误观念；假象
His illusion crumbled.
他的幻想成了泡影。
我在读它的时候，心情十分愉快，伟大的力量总会让我们感到愉快。
我发现，很多事物都应该表现出它本身拥有的无可匹敌的美，我也看到其中那种大胆的令我们愉悦的记述，也许只有具有深刻理解力的人才能够把它挖掘出来。
我很希望能与您这样一位良师益友见一面，很想抛开手中的工作去纽约拜访您。
It meets the demand I am always making of what seems the sterile and stingy nature...
make of：用……做成；理解；对……有某种看法
...I could trust the name as real and available for a post office.
available for：可利用的；可得到的
埃米莉·狄金森致托马斯·希金森上校
Emily Dickinson to Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.
I find ecstasy in living; the mere sense of living is joy enough.
How do most people live without any thoughts? There are many people in the world, —you must have noticed them in the street, —how do they live? How do they get strength to put on their clothes in the morning?
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold, no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?
August 1870
真理是稀有之物，谈论真理让人愉快。
我觉得生活让人狂喜，仅仅感觉活着就其乐无穷。
世界上大多数人没有思想，他们是怎样生活的呢？世界上有许多人——你走在大街上一定能注意到他们——他们是怎样生活的呢？清晨，他们哪儿来的力量起床穿衣呢？
如果我读一本书，这本书让我浑身冰凉，没有火能温暖我，我就知道那是诗。如果我切身感到脑壳都要被掀掉了，我就知道那是诗。只有这两种方法能让我辨别它，还有其他方法吗？
1870年8月
确认函
确认函就是主管机关对原先发出的文件资料（邀请信）进行进一步认定的文件。它以电传的形式发给驻外机构，为了查找方便，还可以把电传文件号通知申办人员。它的作用可以防止伪造和假冒。
rare [r] adj. 稀少的；罕见的；珍贵的；稀薄的
We should pay attention to conservation of rare animals.
我们应该重视珍稀动物的保护。
ecstasy [ekstsi] n. 狂喜；出神；入迷；陶醉
Tasting this chocolate is pure ecstasy.
吃这种巧克力的感觉简直棒极了。
notice [nutis] v. 注意；留心；看到
Did you notice him coming in?
你看见他进来了吗？
physically [fizikli] adv. 体格上；身体上；完全地
He is physically strong.
他的体格健壮。
真理是稀有之物，谈论真理让人愉快。
我觉得生活真让人狂喜，仅仅感觉活着就其乐无穷。
如果我读一本书，这本书让我浑身冰凉，没有火能温暖我，我就知道那是诗。
Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.
be delightful to：做……很愉快
If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
take off：拿走；取下；去掉；脱去
约瑟夫·康拉德致爱德华·加尼特
Joseph Conrad to Edward Garnett
约瑟夫·康拉德（1857—1924），英国小说家，全名约瑟夫·西奥多·康拉德·柯日涅夫斯基。1878年，21岁的康拉德离开他的出生地乌克兰，移居法国。他于1886年开始业余文学创作，1895年发表第一部长篇小说《奥尔迈耶的愚蠢》。从此，他结束海上漂泊生活，定居英国，专门从事写作。
1894年，康拉德投稿到伦敦一家出版社，得到当时审稿员加尼特的大力推荐，稿件得以出版，两人后结为好友。康拉德写本信时，正在创作小说《营救》，情绪很低落。
My dear Garnett,
I am not dead tho' only half alive. Very soon I shall send you some Ms. I am writing hopelessly, but still I am writing. How I feel I cannot express. Pages accumulate and the story stands still.
I feel suicidal.
Drop me a line and tell me when and how you are. If you could come down it would be an act of real friendship and also of charity.
My kind regards and Jessie's love to your wife. Jess is knocked up with the boy's teething performances. He has (and she has also) a rough time of it.
I am afraid there's something wrong with my thinking apparatus. I am utterly out of touch with my work and I can't get in touch. All is darkness.
Ever yours Joseph Conrad
3rd Aug. 1898
我亲爱的加尼特：
我虽没有死，但也只剩下半条命了。我正在毫无希望地写作（可仍然在写），不久将寄一些手稿给你。我无法表达我的感受。稿纸累积成堆，故事却没有进展。
我真想自杀。
请给我捎来只言片语，告以近况。如你能来，不仅表现了真挚的友谊，也表现了你的仁慈。
请向你太太带去我和吉茜的问候。吉茜为儿子长牙的事疲惫不堪。母子二人都够受的。
我想我的思维系统恐怕有问题。我跟我写的东西完全脱节，而且怎么也衔接不上。到处都是黑暗。
你永远的
约瑟夫·康拉德
1898年8月3日
suicidal [su:'saidl] adj. 自杀的；自杀性的；自我毁灭的
She is feeling suicidal today.
她今天想自杀。
charity [t鎟ti] n. 慈善机构（或组织）；慈善；赈济；施舍
We should judge people with charity.
我们应该宽厚待人。
rough [rf] adj. 粗糙的；不平滑的；高低不平的；不确切的
She had a really rough time when her father died.
她在父亲去世以后受了很多罪。
utterly [tli] adv. 完全地；彻底地；十足地
She utterly admired him.
她非常羡慕他。
我无法表达我的感受。
如你能来，不仅表现了真挚的友谊，也表现了你的仁慈。
到处都是黑暗。
Drop me a line and tell me when and how you are.
drop a line：写信
I am utterly out of touch with my work and I can' t get in touch.
get in touch：取得联系；联系；联络