Dear you,
Are you wearing 1)pajamas? I do not mean to begin this letter by getting personal. I was just wondering if you people leave the house anymore-something that seems to be increasingly unnecessary these days, a hundred years ago.
Are you six-feet-six? Are you fly-fishing on Mars? Are you talking on a cell phone? We are, usually.
As lovers leaving lovers say, By the time you read this, I'll be gone. Or possibly I won't. Given the way life is being prolonged these days, I - with my pig's liver, 2)titanium hips and knees, artificialheart, transplanted kidney and reconstructed DNA - could write this letter in my century and pick it up in yours.
I write you in the dead of winter from a summer village by the Atlantic Ocean. The last of the houseflies beats its body against the window, through which I watch the 3)tremors of a 4)berry bush and the shorn stoic trees. Afternoon lowers on evening; the sky is the color of 5)unpolished silver. A Cole Porter song, In the Still of the Night, goes through my head. I do not know why.
We are generally content, generally atpeace, generally optimistic, and with good reason. We are generally rich; more people have homes of their own. We are generally healthy, thanks largely to remarkable advances in medicine. People who died of certain diseases even 30 years ago are routinely saved today.
In short, we are generally OK in spite of notable low spots and areas of significant concern. Our movies are mostly silly. Our books? Mostly small. The quality of our cultural criticism is generally so low that one cannot tell how good or bad any artist is, but in literature, at least, it is highly unlikely that any writer touted as a heavyweight in our era will make it to the ring in yours. Movies that once were judged by normal artistic criteria are now valued by the amount of money they make over a weekend. For your horrified amusement, see if you can dig up a print of something called 6)Screamor The Blair Witch Project.
We enlarge and expand. We have recently found out that the entire universe is expanding more than we had 7)initially believed. We build, invent and discover at a pace that is 8)dizzying for us, perhaps turtle footed for you.
I wonder how far you have progressed. I wonder if you have figured out how to make the best use of the past. I see you looking back at us. You see us looking out at you. Because we can imagine one another, we constitute each other's dreams.
Outside, the air is cold and deep. The moon hangs in a fingernail of light. The clouds conspire and retreat to reveal your stars and ours. Come. Walk with me in the 9)chill still of the night.
Yours,
Roger Rosenblat
一封致2100年的信
親愛的你：
你已經(jīng)穿上睡衣了嗎？我無意把信的開頭寫得過于私人化。我只是想知道，一百年后你們是否還到戶外去-今天，那已經(jīng)變得越來越?jīng)]有必要了。
你們是否身高六尺六？是否在火星上釣魚？是否用手機談話？我們通常如此。
正如情侶在分離時說的一樣：當你讀到這時，我已經(jīng)不在了。我也有可能還在。憑著如今延長壽命的方式-換豬肝、鈦制臀部和膝蓋、人工心臟、移植腎臟、重建DNA-我也就能夠在你的世紀里收到這封在我的世紀寫下的信了。
我身處大西洋岸邊的避暑山莊，給你寫這信時，正值隆冬季節(jié)。最后的家蠅撞擊著窗戶，透過窗我看到搖曳的果樹與修剪過的忍冬樹。 下午漸去，薄暮來臨 ；天空是暗銀色。不知何故，我的腦海中浮想起了科爾·波特的歌《靜夜》。
我們通常是滿足的，通常是平和的，通常是樂觀的，我們這樣做有著很好的理由。我們通常是富裕的；更多的人擁有了自己的家。非常感謝醫(yī)藥的巨大進步，令我們保持身體的健康。30年前的一些不治之癥如今都找到了治療方法。
簡言之，我們總的來說還好，除了在一些重大地方有明顯不足以外。許多電影拍得傻里傻氣。書？多是小本的。文化評論的質(zhì)量一般都很低劣，令人分不清哪些藝術(shù)家好哪些藝術(shù)家不好，不過在文學方面，至少我們的時代里似乎還沒有能稱為泰斗的哪位作家，可以到你們那時依然享有盛名。過去電影是通過正常的藝術(shù)水準來加以評判，如今卻以一個周末所賺到的金錢作為衡量。如果你想自我驚嚇娛樂一番，試試能否挖到《尖聲驚叫》或《噩夜叢林》的電影拷貝吧。
我們擴大并擴展著。最近我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，整個宇宙比起初時我們所知道的膨脹得還要多。我們以令自己驚訝的速度建設(shè)著、發(fā)明著、發(fā)現(xiàn)著，也許對于你來說那只是一小步。
我想知道你們發(fā)展到了什么程度。我想知道你們是否已經(jīng)知道怎樣去充分利用歷史經(jīng)驗。我看到你們在朝我們回顧。你們看到我們在向你們展望。我們相互想像著，編織彼此的夢。
屋外寒氣正起，暮色深重。月光迷離。云朵繚繞過你我的群星。來吧，和我一起走進這夜晚冷冷的寂靜中去。
此致
敬禮
羅杰·羅森布拉特
1) pajamas n. 睡衣，寬長褲
2) titanium n. （化學）鈦注釋：
3) tremor n. 震動，顫動
4) berry n. 漿果
5) unpolished a. 無光澤的
6) Scream和The Blair Witch Project是美國近年最賣座的恐怖影片。注釋：
7) initially adv. 最初，開頭
8) dizzying a. 令人昏亂的9) chill a. 寒冷的，掃興的
Are you wearing 1)pajamas? I do not mean to begin this letter by getting personal. I was just wondering if you people leave the house anymore-something that seems to be increasingly unnecessary these days, a hundred years ago.
Are you six-feet-six? Are you fly-fishing on Mars? Are you talking on a cell phone? We are, usually.
As lovers leaving lovers say, By the time you read this, I'll be gone. Or possibly I won't. Given the way life is being prolonged these days, I - with my pig's liver, 2)titanium hips and knees, artificialheart, transplanted kidney and reconstructed DNA - could write this letter in my century and pick it up in yours.
I write you in the dead of winter from a summer village by the Atlantic Ocean. The last of the houseflies beats its body against the window, through which I watch the 3)tremors of a 4)berry bush and the shorn stoic trees. Afternoon lowers on evening; the sky is the color of 5)unpolished silver. A Cole Porter song, In the Still of the Night, goes through my head. I do not know why.
We are generally content, generally atpeace, generally optimistic, and with good reason. We are generally rich; more people have homes of their own. We are generally healthy, thanks largely to remarkable advances in medicine. People who died of certain diseases even 30 years ago are routinely saved today.
In short, we are generally OK in spite of notable low spots and areas of significant concern. Our movies are mostly silly. Our books? Mostly small. The quality of our cultural criticism is generally so low that one cannot tell how good or bad any artist is, but in literature, at least, it is highly unlikely that any writer touted as a heavyweight in our era will make it to the ring in yours. Movies that once were judged by normal artistic criteria are now valued by the amount of money they make over a weekend. For your horrified amusement, see if you can dig up a print of something called 6)Screamor The Blair Witch Project.
We enlarge and expand. We have recently found out that the entire universe is expanding more than we had 7)initially believed. We build, invent and discover at a pace that is 8)dizzying for us, perhaps turtle footed for you.
I wonder how far you have progressed. I wonder if you have figured out how to make the best use of the past. I see you looking back at us. You see us looking out at you. Because we can imagine one another, we constitute each other's dreams.
Outside, the air is cold and deep. The moon hangs in a fingernail of light. The clouds conspire and retreat to reveal your stars and ours. Come. Walk with me in the 9)chill still of the night.
Yours,
Roger Rosenblat
一封致2100年的信
親愛的你：
你已經(jīng)穿上睡衣了嗎？我無意把信的開頭寫得過于私人化。我只是想知道，一百年后你們是否還到戶外去-今天，那已經(jīng)變得越來越?jīng)]有必要了。
你們是否身高六尺六？是否在火星上釣魚？是否用手機談話？我們通常如此。
正如情侶在分離時說的一樣：當你讀到這時，我已經(jīng)不在了。我也有可能還在。憑著如今延長壽命的方式-換豬肝、鈦制臀部和膝蓋、人工心臟、移植腎臟、重建DNA-我也就能夠在你的世紀里收到這封在我的世紀寫下的信了。
我身處大西洋岸邊的避暑山莊，給你寫這信時，正值隆冬季節(jié)。最后的家蠅撞擊著窗戶，透過窗我看到搖曳的果樹與修剪過的忍冬樹。 下午漸去，薄暮來臨 ；天空是暗銀色。不知何故，我的腦海中浮想起了科爾·波特的歌《靜夜》。
我們通常是滿足的，通常是平和的，通常是樂觀的，我們這樣做有著很好的理由。我們通常是富裕的；更多的人擁有了自己的家。非常感謝醫(yī)藥的巨大進步，令我們保持身體的健康。30年前的一些不治之癥如今都找到了治療方法。
簡言之，我們總的來說還好，除了在一些重大地方有明顯不足以外。許多電影拍得傻里傻氣。書？多是小本的。文化評論的質(zhì)量一般都很低劣，令人分不清哪些藝術(shù)家好哪些藝術(shù)家不好，不過在文學方面，至少我們的時代里似乎還沒有能稱為泰斗的哪位作家，可以到你們那時依然享有盛名。過去電影是通過正常的藝術(shù)水準來加以評判，如今卻以一個周末所賺到的金錢作為衡量。如果你想自我驚嚇娛樂一番，試試能否挖到《尖聲驚叫》或《噩夜叢林》的電影拷貝吧。
我們擴大并擴展著。最近我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，整個宇宙比起初時我們所知道的膨脹得還要多。我們以令自己驚訝的速度建設(shè)著、發(fā)明著、發(fā)現(xiàn)著，也許對于你來說那只是一小步。
我想知道你們發(fā)展到了什么程度。我想知道你們是否已經(jīng)知道怎樣去充分利用歷史經(jīng)驗。我看到你們在朝我們回顧。你們看到我們在向你們展望。我們相互想像著，編織彼此的夢。
屋外寒氣正起，暮色深重。月光迷離。云朵繚繞過你我的群星。來吧，和我一起走進這夜晚冷冷的寂靜中去。
此致
敬禮
羅杰·羅森布拉特
1) pajamas n. 睡衣，寬長褲
2) titanium n. （化學）鈦注釋：
3) tremor n. 震動，顫動
4) berry n. 漿果
5) unpolished a. 無光澤的
6) Scream和The Blair Witch Project是美國近年最賣座的恐怖影片。注釋：
7) initially adv. 最初，開頭
8) dizzying a. 令人昏亂的9) chill a. 寒冷的，掃興的