A Letter to You 一封给你的信
A Letter to You 一封给你的信
◎ Lissa Rovetch
Dear Arizona:
亲爱的亚利桑那：
My friend is moving in a month——and not just to a different neighborhood, but to a whole different country! I’m so sad, I can hardly think about anything else. I know you can’t make my friend’s family stay, but I’m hoping you’ll at least have some helpful ideas.
我的朋友一个月后就要离开了——不仅仅是去不同的街坊邻居那里，而是一个完全不同的国家。我很伤心，我几乎无法思考其他任何事情了。我知道你不可能让我朋友留下来，但我希望你至少可以给我一些有用的建议。
Already Lonely in London
在伦敦的孤单者
Dear Already Lonely,
亲爱的孤单者：
The first thing I want to say is——I’m so sorry your friend is moving!
首先我想说的是，对你朋友的离开，我也深表遗憾。
The second thing I want to say is——are you from London, as in London, England? That is so exciting! Have you ever seen the Queen? Is it true that people there drive on the left side of the road? How big is Big Ben, really?
其次我想说，既然你在英国伦敦，那你是伦敦人吗？如果是的话那就太好了。你见过女王陛下吗？在那儿，人们果真都是沿着路的左边开车吗？大本钟有多大呢？
OK, I guess I should stop asking questions and get back to your letter——which reminds me of how beyond and I was when my friend Elizabeth had to move.
嗯，我认为我不该再问问题了，该回到你信上说的事儿了——那使我想起之前我的朋友伊丽莎白搬家时的情形。
I met Elizabeth in my very first karate class. I was the only new kid in the class. Everyone else knew a lot of the moves already and had yellow or orange belts.
我是在上第一节空手道课时遇到伊丽莎白的。我是班上唯一一个新来的孩子。其他人都已经知道很多的动作，他们不是黄带级别的，就是橙带级别的。
I had a total beginner’s white belt and felt unbearably nervous the whole way through the class. I tried my hardest to follow along, but everything was very harder than I thought it would be.
而我则完全是初学者的白带级别，整个课程当中我都特别紧张。我竭力试图跟上大家的进程，可是一切都比我想象的困难得多。
Afterward, as I was putting on my shoes, I was thinking, there is no way I am ever coming back to karate!
后来，在我穿鞋时心想，我决不可能再回来学空手道了。
And that’s when I met Elizabeth.
就在那时我遇到了伊丽莎白。
“You did great!” I laughed. “I was so clueless!”
“你做得很棒！”我笑道，“我非常笨！”
“That’s how I felt at first, too,” she said. “If you want, I can help you practice.”
“我刚开始时也是那样的，”她说，“如果你愿意，我可以帮你练习。”
“Really?” I said.
“真的吗？”我问。
“Sure. By the way, I’m Elizabeth.” She scribbled on the back of a karate schedule. “Here’s my number.”
“当然。顺便说一下，我叫伊丽莎白。”她匆匆地在空手道时刻表背面写着，“这是我的号码。”
“Wow, that’s so nice of you!” I said.
“哇哦，你真好！”我说。
She smiled. “No problem.”
她笑了，“不客气。”
Anyway, to make a long story short, I called her a few days later, and we’ve been amazing friends ever since.
总之我长话短说，几天之后我给她打了电话，自那之后我们就是很好的朋友了。
Now for the sad part. Not very long ago, Elizabeth had to move. Her family still lives in California, but if you know anything about my state, then you know it’s gigantic. And I’m not positive about the exact geographic details, but the distance Elizabeth moved was about the same as if she had moved from London to Paris!
接下来就是伤心的事了。前不久，伊丽莎白要搬家了。她家仍住在加利福尼亚，但如果你知道我所在的州，你就知道这个距离有多远了。我并不清楚具体地理位置的细节，但是伊丽莎白搬家的距离就如同她从伦敦搬到了巴黎！
“You can’t move!” I screamed when she told me the terrible news.
“你不能搬走！”当她告诉我这个可怕的消息时，我大声嚷道。
“I know. That’s what I told my parents,” she said. “But they said we don’t have a choice. We’re moving in with my grandparents, and I guess it’ll be very cheaper than where we live now.”
“我明白。我也是这么跟我父母说的。”她回答，“但他们说我们没有别的选择。我们要搬过去和祖父母一起住，我觉得那样会比我们现在住的地方便宜很多。”
“Wait! I have the perfect solution,” I said. “You and your parents can move in with my family! We can share my room, and it’ll be like having a sleepover every single night! I’m sure my parents will be totally cool with it.”
“等下！我有一个完美的办法。”我说，“你和你的父母可以搬来我家住！我们可以住在我的房间，这样每天晚上我们就像在一起聚会一样！我相信我的父母绝对会同意这个办法的。”
“That would be so great!” said Elizabeth, and then she sighed. “I wish we could do that. But there’s no way. My parents also want to be closer to my grandparents, so I think we’re definitely going.”
“那样就太好了！”伊丽莎白说，但之后她叹了口气。“我也希望我们能够那样，可那绝不可能。我的父母一直都想离祖父母近一些，所以我们肯定会搬过去的。”
So Elizabeth and I had to come up with a Plan B. A would have been. We were actually pretty happy about our solution. Here’s what we did.
于是我和伊丽莎白得想出第二套计划。第一套计划本来可以成功的。事实上，我们对自己的计划很满意。下面就是我们所做的。
First, we asked my mom to take a picture of us together and help us print it out regular size and teeny-tiny size.
首先，我们让我妈妈给我们俩拍了照片，帮我们冲洗出来，一张常规尺寸和一张小尺寸。
We put the regular photos in special frames that we decorated forever. I gave me the frame she decorated.
我们把常规大小的那张放到了装饰有永恒字样的特制相框里。我把她装饰的相框留给了自己。
Then, we cut the teeny-tiny picture of us in half. I put the half with Elizabeth’s face in my locket necklace, and she put the half with my face in her locket necklace.
然后，我们把袖珍尺寸的相片剪成两半。我把有伊丽莎白头像的那半放在了我的盒式项链坠里，她把有我头像的那半放在了自己的项链坠里。
So even though Elizabeth lives miles away and I only get to see her once in a while, our Friends Forever picture frames and lockets really do help with the “missing-you” part.
所以即使伊丽莎白住在很远的地方，我只能过很久才见她一次，但我们友谊的相框和我们的项链坠，帮助我们将对彼此的思念留在了心底。
Besides that, our parents let us e-mail sometimes, and we still get to talk and crack up together on the phone now and then. Also, we love sending each other funny letters and packages filled with goofy surprises.
除此以外，我们的父母时常让我们互发邮件，我们也不时地在电话里聊天，每次都会开怀大笑。同时，我们还喜欢给对方寄有趣的信件，或是令对方惊奇的愚蠢的包裹。
So, dear Already Lonely, being separated from your friend doesn’t have to be as bad as it seems right now. Photos, letters, phone calls, e-mails, and great memories can really and truly make a friend seem closer than he or she is.
因此，亲爱的孤单者，和朋友分开并不像它看上去那样糟糕。相片、信件、电话、邮件以及美好的回忆，这些都会使你的朋友看起来比现实中更亲近一些。
I hope these ideas help. As they say in London, “cheers” to you and your friend! And as I like to say...
我希望这些建议能帮助你。正如人们在伦敦讲的那样，为你和你的朋友“干杯”！这也正是我想对你说的……
Ciao for now,
好了再见。
Arizona
亚利桑那
