A Funeral Oration
Guidance for Reciting
The dead are only dead when they die in the thoughts of the living. Therefore，someone who is dead is still alive（in the mind of the living）”.
Death is nothing at all…I have only slipped away into the next room…I am I and you are you…whatever we were to each other we are still. Call me by my old family name；speak to me in the way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone；wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play，smile，think of me，and pray for me. Let it be spoken without effect，without the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was；there is absolute unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident？Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight？I am but waiting for you，for an interval，somewhere very near just around the corner…All is well.
Notes
eath is nothing at all…I have only slipped away into the next room…I am I and you are you…whatever we were to each other we are still. Call me by my old family name；speak to me in the way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone；wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play，smile，think of me，and pray for me. Let it be spoken without effect，without the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was；there is absolute unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident？Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight？I am but waiting for you，for an interval，somewhere very near just around the corner…All is well.
Notes
1.solemnity [sE5lemnEti] n.严肃，一本正经
2.negligible [5neglidVEbl] a.可以忽略的，微不足道的
篇悼词
诵读导言
没有活人思念的死人，才是真正的死了。所以，“有的人死了，他还活着（活在活人的记忆中）”。
死亡算不了什么……我只不过悄悄地溜进了另一个房间……我仍是我，你仍是你……我们彼此还和从前一样，仍然叫我原来的姓氏，像以往一样和我谈话。不要改变你的语气；不要勉强显出严肃和悲哀的神情，我们仍然像以往一样欣赏一个小小的笑话而共同欢笑，跟我玩乐，对我微笑，为我思念，为我祈祷。不要因为它而对我们有任何影响，也不要给它蒙上鬼魂的阴影，生命意味着它过去所蕴涵的一切，生命将如以往毫不间断地延续下去。死亡算得了什么？难道不就是一次微不足道的偶然事故吗？难道因为看不见我就把我忘掉了吗？我仍然在等待着你，在那个拐角处的某个很近的地方等待一段时间，……一切安好！
注：悼词又称祭文，是一种非常特殊的文体。语言偏重于口语，但又不能过于随便；语气委婉，但又不能过于悲哀。本篇选自英国 ESB（English speaking Board）会刊。
口语点津
人们喜欢使用“Out of sight，out of mind”，大概是因为如果一段时间看不到，慢慢地也就不那么惦记了吧。可是，有些“痴情”人就不一样了。对于他们来说，“Absence makes the heart grow fonder（久别情更深）”。
读后札记：
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