No.1

　　Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

　　亨利八世寫給安妮·博林

　　King Henry VIII originally courted Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary, butit was Anne who caught the English royal’s wandering eye —though she refused to be his mistress. She wanted to be Queen.Unfortunately for Anne, the temperamental King had anotherchange of heart and ordered her execution in 1536. Henry VIIIwrote Anne this letter in 1527:

　　國王亨利八世最初追求的是安妮·博林的姐姐瑪麗·博林，不過皇室看中的卻是安妮——雖然她拒絕做亨利八世的情婦。她想要做的是皇后，不過不幸的是，喜新厭舊的亨利八世之后卻又變了心，1536年時(shí)下令處決安妮。1527年，亨利八世給安妮寫下了這樣的：

　　“I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me toobtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet surewhether I shall fail or find a place in your affection.”

　　“我乞求你，清楚明白地告訴我你的心意，是否愿意與我相愛。我必須要得到這個(gè)答案，愛神之箭射中了我，傷口已一年有余，能否在你的心中占有一席之地，我卻依然無從確定。”

　　No.2

　　Napoleon to His Wife Josephine

　　拿破侖寫給妻子約瑟芬

　　The ruthless French leader had a sweet side for his wife Josephine. Although he divorced her whenshe could not have children, he continued to write to her. A few days after they were married,Napoleon left to command the French army near Italy. In the following months, he frequentlywrote, expressing how much he missed her. He wrote the following on July 17, 1796:

　　拿破侖這位法國革命領(lǐng)袖殘酷無情，然而對(duì)妻子約瑟芬卻有柔情的一面。雖然因?yàn)榧s瑟芬無法懷孕而和她離婚，但他依舊保持著對(duì)她的通信。在他們婚后沒幾天，拿破侖就離開家，前往離意大利不遠(yuǎn)處的前線指揮部隊(duì)。在接下去的幾個(gè)月中，他頻繁地給妻子寫信，表達(dá)相思之情。1796年7月17日，他在信中寫道：

　　“Since I left you, I have been constantly depressed. My happiness is to be near you. Incessantly Ilive over in my memory your caresses, your tears, your affectionate solicitude. The charms of theincomparable Josephine kindle continually a burning and a glowing flame in my heart. When, freefrom all solicitude, all harassing care, shall I be able to pass all my time with you, having only to loveyou, and to think only of the happiness of so saying, and of proving it to you?”

　　“自從與你分別，我時(shí)常郁郁寡歡。我的幸福就是能與你相依。我不斷在記憶里重溫你的愛撫、你的淚水、你深情的掛念。世上沒有人能同你相比，你的魅力總會(huì)在我心中燃起熊熊烈火。我何時(shí)才能擺脫所有掛慮、所有惱人的擔(dān)憂，和你共度生命中的每分每秒，向你證明，我只需要愛你，只需要想著向你訴說愛意時(shí)的幸福之感。”

　　No.3

　　Beethoven to His Immortal Beloved

　　貝多芬寫給“永遠(yuǎn)的愛人”

　　The identity of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “immortal beloved,” who received a plethora of lettersfrom the composer in 1812, is still a mystery, but historians believe it was Antonie Brentano, adiplomat’s daughter. Beethoven dedicated his Diabelli Variations Op. 120 to her, and in one of hisletters found after his death, he famously wrote:

　　1812年，貝多芬“永遠(yuǎn)的愛人”收到了來自這位作曲家雪花般的來信，不過收信人的身份卻依然無人知曉。不過，歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為收信人是安東妮·布倫塔諾。安東妮·布倫塔諾是一位外交家的女兒，貝多芬將他創(chuàng)作的《迪亞貝利變奏曲》獻(xiàn)給了她。貝多芬去世后人們找到了他生前的書信，在其中有一句著名的話：

　　“Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, Be calm–loveme–today–yesterday–what tearful longings for you–you–you–my life–my all–farewell. Ohcontinue to love me–never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Evermine. Ever ours.”

　　“我的人躺在床上，但我的思緒卻飛向了你，我永遠(yuǎn)的愛人。請(qǐng)保持冷靜-愛我-今天-昨天-我的眼中飽含淚水思念著你-你-你-我的生命-我的一切-永別了。噢，繼續(xù)愛我吧，不要誤會(huì)我這顆最赤誠地愛著你的心。我永遠(yuǎn)屬于你。你永遠(yuǎn)屬于我。我們永遠(yuǎn)屬于彼此。”

　　No.4

　　Winston Churchill to His Wife Clementine

　　溫斯頓·丘吉爾寫給妻子克萊芒蒂娜

　　British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine were married for 56 years andwrote to each other whenever they were apart. Winston wrote this letter to Clementine on Jan. 23, 1935, while she was traveling abroad:

　　英國首相溫斯頓·丘吉爾和妻子克萊芒蒂娜攜手走過了56個(gè)春秋，兩人只要是分別，都會(huì)給對(duì)方寫信。丘吉爾于1935年1月23日給正在國外旅游的克萊芒蒂娜寫道：

　　“My darling Clemmie, in your letter from Madras you wrote some words very dear to me, abouthaving enriched your life. I cannot tell you what pleasure this gave me, because I always feel sooverwhelmingly in your debt, if there can be accounts in love…What it has been to me to live allthese years in your heart and companionship no phrases can convey.”

　　“我親愛的克萊米，你從馬德拉斯寄來的信中寫道讓你的人生更為豐富，這些話對(duì)我來說太珍貴了。我無法表達(dá)出你給我?guī)�來了多少的快樂，因�(yàn)槲以谙�，如果愛也能夠�?jì)算，那么我欠你的實(shí)在太多……這些年來，你對(duì)我的愛始終沒有停歇，陪伴在我身邊，我實(shí)在難以用言語表達(dá)這些事對(duì)我的意義。”

　　No.5

　　Charles Darwin to Emma Wedgwood

　　查爾斯·達(dá)爾文寫給妻子愛瑪·韋奇伍德

　　Charles Darwin, author of Origin of Species, wrote a pros and cons list for getting married, andeventually decided to propose to his first cousin Emma Wedgwood. The couple had a happymarriage, producing 10 children. Charles wrote this note to Emma just a few days before theirwedding in 1839:

　　《物種起源》的作者查爾斯·達(dá)爾文列出了一張婚姻利弊清單，最終他決定向表妹愛瑪·韋奇伍德求婚。他們兩人婚姻美滿，膝下有十個(gè)兒女。1839年兩人結(jié)婚的前幾天，達(dá)爾文在給愛瑪?shù)男胖袑懙溃?/p>

　　“How I do hope you shall be happy as I know I shall be. My own dearest Emma, I earnestly pray,you may never regret the great and I will add very good, deed you are to perform on theTuesday: my own dear future wife, God bless you…”

　　“我多希望你也能和我一樣幸福——我知道，我的未來將會(huì)有多幸福。我最愛的愛瑪，你只屬于我。我誠摯地祈禱，希望你永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)為我們星期二要做的偉大舉動(dòng)而后悔。我會(huì)竭盡所能使之完美：我親愛的未來的妻子，愿上帝保佑你……”