The Endless Missing
本杰明·富兰克林致赫伯德小姐
Benjamin Franklin to Miss E.Hubbard
本杰明·富兰克林（1706—1790），美国著名的政治家、社会活动家、科学家、发明家。作为政治家，在美国和世界历史上，他与许多重要事件有关。他在北美独立战争中起了重大作用，是美国的创建人之一，参与起草了《独立宣言》和美国宪法。
本篇是富兰克林在弟弟约翰逝世之后，写给约翰第二任妻子与前夫所生的女儿赫伯德小姐的信。
I condole with you. We have lost a most dear and valuable relation. But it is the will of God and nature,that these mortal bodies be laid aside,when the soul is to enter real life. This is rather an embryo state,a preparation for living.
A man is not completely born until he is dead. Why then should we grieve,that a new child is born among the immortals,a new member added to their happy society? We are spirits. That bodies should be lent to us,while they can afford us pleasure,assist us in acquiring knowledge,or in doing good to our fellow creatures,is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes,and afford us pain instead of pleasure,instead of an aid become an encumbrance,and answer none of the intentions for which they were given,it is equally kind and benevolent,that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them. Death is that way. We ourselves,in some cases,prudently choose a partial death. A mangled painful limb,which cannot be restored,we willingly cut off. He who plucks out a tooth,parts with it freely,since the pain goes with it; and he,who quits the whole body,parts at once with all pains and possibilities of pains and diseases which it was liable to,or capable of making him suffer.
Our friend and we were invited abroad on a party of pleasure,which is to last for ever. His chair was ready first,and he has gone before us. We could not all conveniently start together; and why should you and I be grieved at this,since we are soon to follow,and know where to find him?
Adieu,
B. Franklin
Philadelphia,
February 23,1756
我对令堂的逝世深表哀悼。我们失去了一位非常可爱、可贵的亲人。这是上帝和自然的旨意，当灵魂进入天堂的时候，躯体就要置入黄土。或者说它是胚胎的发育期，是新生命的准备阶段。
一个人在死的那一刻才算得到真正的诞生。既然不朽的天堂诞生了一名新生儿，他们的幸福社会里又增加了一名新成员，我们为什么还要悲伤呢？我们都是精灵。无比仁慈智慧的上帝行善施恩，赐予我们躯体，让我们享受快乐的生活；帮助我们获取知识，让我们造福于人类。当我们的躯体无法适应这些目的——不能提供给我们快乐，反而让我们痛苦；不能给我们帮助，反而成为我们的累赘——当它们无法完成上帝当初托付的使命时，依然恩惠仁慈的上帝准备了一个办法，让我们摆脱躯体。死亡就是上帝所准备的解脱办法。我们自己有时也会明智地选择一种局部的死亡。受伤疼痛的手脚，已经无法复原，我们会心甘情愿地把它切除。要拔牙的人，也会毅然跟它分手，因为拔掉之后痛苦就会随之消失。一个人如果完全脱离躯壳，就会立刻解脱掉一切痛苦以及引发痛苦和疾病的根源。
我们的朋友和我们自己早就受到邀请去参加一次欢乐的宴会，这是一场永远不散的宴会。他的坐席早已准备好了，所以他会先我们一步而去。我们不可能都很方便地一同赴宴，既然我们不久之后就要随他而去，并且知道在哪里可以找到他，那么我们为什么要因此伤心呢？
再见
本·富兰克林
1756年2月23日于费城
求职信
求职信是求职者向用人单位或单位领导人介绍自己的实际才能、表达自己就业愿望的一种书信。多数用人单位都要求求职者先寄送求职材料，由他们通过求职材料对众多求职者有一个大致的了解后，再通知面试或面谈人选。因此，求职信写得好坏将直接关系到求职者是否能进入下一轮的角逐。
mortal [m:tl] adj. 终有一死的； 致命的；凡人的
All men are mortal.
人孰无死。
embryo [embriu] adj. 胚芽的；胎儿的；初期的
The project is still at the embryo stage.
这个计划仍在酝酿阶段。
assist [sist] v. 帮助；协助；援助；促进
These tablets assist digestion.
这些药片促进消化。
equally [i:kwli] adv. 相同地；平均地；同时……也
The seedlings were equally spaced.
那些树苗以一定的间隔种植。
一个人在死的那一刻才算得到真正的诞生。
既然不朽的天堂诞生了一名新生儿，他们的幸福社会里又增加了一名新成员，我们为什么还要悲伤呢？
一个人如果完全脱离躯壳，就会立刻解脱掉一切痛苦以及引发痛苦和疾病的根源。
...instead of an aid become an encumbrance, and answer none of the intentions for which they were given, it is equally...
instead of：代替；作为……的替换
...we may get rid of them.
get rid of：摆脱；丢弃；扔掉
欧内斯特·海明威致母亲
Ernest Hemingway to His Mother
欧内斯特·海明威（1899—1961），美国小说家，生于乡村医生家庭。海明威从小喜欢钓鱼、打猎、音乐和绘画。他晚年患多种疾病，精神十分抑郁，多次医治无效，最终用猎枪自杀。他的早期长篇小说《太阳照样升起》、《永别了，武器》成为表现美国“迷惘的一代”的主要代表作。他的后期创作继续弘扬宁死不屈的主题，塑造了以桑提亚哥为代表的“可以把他消灭，但就是打不败他”的“硬汉性格”（代表作中篇小说《老人与海》）。1954年，海明威获诺贝尔文学奖。
Dear Mom,
I haven't written before for quite a while because I ain't got no pep. The old limbs are coming along fine. My left leg is all healed up and I can bend it finally and I now get around my room and this floor of the hospital on crutches but I can go only a little bit at a time because I'm awfully weak yet. My right leg was taken out of the cast a couple of days ago and it's still as stiff as a board and awfully sore from so much carving around the knee joint and foot. But the surgeon whose name is Sammarelli—he is the best in Milan and knows Beck of New York,now dead,and one of the Mayos—says that eventually it will be all right. The joint gets better every day and I'll be moving it soon. I'm enclosing a picture of me in bed. It looks like my left leg is a stump,but it really isn't. Just bent so it looks that way...
Now Mom you may not believe it but I can speak Italian like a born Veronese. You see up in the trenches I had to talk it,there being nothing else spoken,so I learned an awful lot and talked with the officers by the hour in Italian. I suppose I'm shy on grammar but I'm long on vocabulary. Lots of times I've acted as interpreter for the hospital. Somebody comes in and they can't understand what they want and the nurse brings them to my bed and I straighten it all out. All the nurses are Americans.
This war makes us a bit less fools than we were. For instance,Poles and Italians. I think the officers of these two nations are the finest men I've ever known,There isn't going to be any such thing as "foreigners" for me after the war is won. Just because your pals speak another language shouldn't make any difference. The thing is to learn that language. I've gotten Italian pretty well. And I've picked up quite a lot of Polish and my French is improving a lot. It's better than 10 years of college. I know more French and Italian now than if I had studied 8 years in college and you want to be prepared for a lot of visitors after the war now because I've got a lot of pals coming to see me in Chicago. That's the best thing about this awfulness,the friends that you make,and when you are looking at death all the time you get to know your friends too. I don't know when I'll be back. Maybe for Christmas. Probably not. I can't get in the army or navy and they won't take me in the draft if I go home. One bum lamp and two shaky legs. So I might as well stay over here and play around the old conflict for a while.