精灵鼠小弟 第73期:鼠小弟约埃姆斯小姐见面

 "Pray forgive me, Miss Ames," continued Stuart, for presuming to strike up an acquaintance on so slender an excuse as your physical similarity;

“请原谅我的鲁莽，埃姆斯小姐，”斯图亚特继续写，当看到你那与我相似的外表时我感到就如同遇到了一个旧友。

but of course the fact is, as you yourself must know, there are very few people who are only two inches in height.

但是就是这样，因为你知道，很少有人身高只有两英寸。

I say "two inches" —actually I am somewhat taller than that.

我说“两英寸”还不太确切——实际上我比那还高一点儿。

My only drawback is that I look something like a mouse.

我唯一的缺陷是我的样子像一只老鼠。

I am nicely proportioned, however.

但即便如此，我还是一个很不错的人。

Am also muscular beyond my years.

我还有着一身与我的年龄不相称的强壮肌肉。

Let me be perfectly¹ blunt: my purpose in writing this brief note is to suggest that we meet.

我干脆坦白说吧：我写这个便条的目的是想约你出来见一面。

I realize that your parents may object to the suddenness and directness of my proposal, as well as to my somewhat mouselike appearance,

我怕你的父母可能会反对我这个直率而又突然的提议，而且由于我的外表像老鼠一样，

so I think probably it might be a good idea if you just didn't mention the matter to them.

所以我想如果你不对他们谈起这件事，结果会更好。

What they don't know won't hurt them.

这样他们就会一无所知，也不会受到伤害了。

However, you probably understand more about dealing² with your father and mother than I do,

可是，你也许更愿意和你的父母讨论这件事，

so I won't attempt to instruct you but will leave everything to your good judgment³.

如果那样的话我也不会强迫你别这么做，但我还是要把我的意见留给你做参考。

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。