Some years ago, a good family moved into the third floor apartment of the tenement where we lived in the Bronx. David was the son and he was going to medical school. He was also an 1)avid reader so he spent most of his free time in the library. The librarian there was a pretty, soft-spoken young woman named Lilly. The kids all loved her. If we couldn’t find a book she would stop whatever she was doing, smile at us warmly and launch a search to find it for us. She was a hard worker.

She also secretly admired our new neighbor David. Whenever he entered the small neighborhood library, Lilly’s eyes lit up and observed his wandering path through the 2)stacks of books. She never 3)struck up a conversation with him though. She was much too shy, and in those days a woman didn't talk to a stranger without a formal introduction. One evening, as Lilly was closing up the library, her assistant bent down near the desk to 4)retrieve an unopened envelope off the floor. She showed it to Lilly and they noted that it was sent from a major city hospital.

“It looked so important,” the assistant said. “Some poor person is probably looking for it 5)frantically. It must have fallen out of his pocket or book.” Lilly glanced at the address of the 6)recipient and was surprised to see it was for the building right next to hers. She took the letter so she could 7)drop it by the man’s apartment on her way home. She 8)turned out the lights, finished locking the library and hurried home, where she quickly 9)set down her bags. 10)Clutching the envelope, she 11)ran across the way, entered the front 12)lobby next store and scanned the mailboxes. She found a Gordon, the same last name listed on the envelope. Lilly walked up the three flights of stairs and was greeted at the door by a sweet older woman who was leaning on a crutch.

“Oh, thank you so much, she said. “Well, here’s the letter. Is David Gordon your husband” “Oh no,” she answered. “That’s my son. We were wondering where the letter went. ” She looked Lilly up and down. “Well, look at us, standing here like strangers, ” the woman said smiling brightly. “Come and sit for a moment and have some tea. Please. ” As she 13)motioned Lilly to a chair, the lady talked about the letter. “When I get mail for my son, I always put it on the kitchen table so he can find it when he comes home. This letter was important so I stuck it in his book. You see, he is going to medical school to be a 14)specialist, ” she said proudly. Just then, the door opened and in walked her son, David.

Upon seeing that he was the young man she had admired so long, Lilly felt her heart beat faster. His mother excitedly explained to him what had happened to the letter. David looked at Lilly in astonishment. “Gosh, you’re from the library? Thank you. I was looking high and low for that letter. ” He turned to his mother. “You see, I was accepted to the hospital’s medical program. ” Then he turned back to Lilly and smiled shyly, “Thanks again, Miss Uhhh... I didn’t get your name?”

“Lilly, ” she said, smiling her warmest smile. And so began Lilly and David’s life together.

But now for the whole story. After they had been married 25 years, he told us the truth about the letter. David was a 15)cardiovascular specialist by then and his dear Lilly, the mother of their three children was sitting by his side as he told us. You see, David wasn’t that avid a reader as it turns out. He just wanted to see that pretty young librarian. He told his mother about the girl at his local library, but he was shy and didn’t know how to approach her. His mother 16)devised a 17)scheme.

Every time David went to the library, he was to drop an envelope addressed to himself on the floor. David’s mother hoped Lilly would retrieve it for him, call him over to the desk and give him a chance to strike up a conversation. So David 18)dutifully dropped a letter each time he visited the library, but each time someone would see the envelope 19)fluttering to the floor and rush to 20)reclaim it for him.

“Oh sir,” he’d hear someone cry out. But when he turned, it was never Lilly. On the day he finally met Lilly, David waited till no one was left in the building but Lilly and her assistant. Once again he dropped his letter by the desk. The next day he hoped he could come back and ask Lilly if she had found an envelope with his name on it. The plan worked far better than he imagined when Lilly showed up in person to deliver the letter. While David was telling the story, his beautiful wife Lilly began laughing 21)hysterically.

“David,” she said, when she caught her breath. “You didn’t seal that envelope very well. We opened it at the library. I saw that there was nothing but a blank piece of paper inside. But I was dying to 22)figure out what you 23)were up to so I 24)played along. David, you are a terrible actor.” She turned her 25)twinkling eyes to her husband’s. “But Oh, David, I loved you so.”CE

04、大衛和莉莉的愛情故事

多年前，我們住在布朗克斯時，三樓搬來一家新租戶。大衛是那家人的兒子，即將入讀醫科學院。他還非常熱衷于閱讀，大部分空余時間都消耗在圖書館里。圖書管理員叫莉莉，她是個說話柔聲細語的漂亮姑娘。孩子們都很喜歡她。如果我們找不到書，她總會停下手上的活，親切地微笑著為我們找書。她工作相當勤懇。

她還暗戀著我們的新鄰居大衛。只要他走進這間小街區圖書館，莉莉的眼睛就奕奕閃亮，注視著他在書架間走動。可她從沒和他說上話。她太害羞了，再說那個年代里女孩子沒經正式介紹是不會與陌生人交談的。一天晚上，正當莉莉要閉館的時候，她的助理從桌旁的地面上拾起一個未開啟的信封。她遞給莉莉瞧，兩人注意到信是從一家大城市醫院發出的。

“信似乎很重要，”助理說，“或許別人正找它找得火急火燎呢。一定是從口袋里或書里掉出來的。”莉莉看了一眼收信人的地址，驚訝地發現就是她住的隔壁樓。她拿了信，打算回家的時候順便帶給那家人。她關了燈，鎖好圖書館的門，急忙回家放下袋子。然后她拿著信穿過馬路，一路跑到旁邊大樓的前廳，打量著信箱。她找到了戈登的名字，和信封上寫的姓名一樣。莉莉走上三樓，一位和藹可親的老太太支著根拐杖在門口迎接了她。

“哦，太感謝你了，”老太太說。“信在這兒。大衛·戈登是你的先生嗎？”“噢，不是，”她回答說，“那是我的兒子。我們還在奇怪信上哪兒去了呢。”她上下打量著莉莉，燦爛地笑著說道：“瞧我們，站在這兒像陌生人似的，進來坐一會兒喝喝茶吧。請進。”老太太邊讓莉莉坐下，邊談起了那封信。“我收到給兒子的信后，總是放在廚房的桌上，好讓他一回家就能看到。但這封信太重要了，所以我放在他的書里。你瞧，他要念醫科學院成為一名醫生呢，”她自豪地說。就在這時，門開了，她的兒子大衛走了進來。

看到大衛就是她長久以來暗戀著的那個年輕人，莉莉感到心砰砰直跳。大衛的媽媽興高采烈地向他解釋那封信的事情。大衛驚訝地看著莉莉。“啊，你從圖書館過來的嗎？謝謝。我正四處找著那封信呢。”他轉身對他媽媽說∶“瞧，我已經被錄取去念醫院的醫學課程了。”然后他回過身對莉莉靦腆地笑著說：“再次感謝你，唔……我還不知道你叫什么名字呢？”

“莉莉，”她說，綻出她那親切的笑容。兩人的生活便由此開始了。

現在我們來聽聽整個故事。大衛在婚后25年告訴了我們關于那封信的真相。那時大衛已是心血管醫生，而他親愛的莉莉已是他們三個孩子的母親，大衛給我們講故事的時候她就坐在一旁。原來大衛并非什么熱情的讀者。他上圖書館去只是為了能看到這位漂亮的圖書管理員。他和母親講述了當地圖書館的女孩事，但他太靦腆了，不知如何才能接近她。于是他媽媽想出了這個主意。

每次大衛上圖書館去時，他就把寫給自己的信掉到地上。大衛的媽媽希望莉莉撿到這封信后會把大衛叫過桌子那頭，然后大衛就有機會與她說上話了。大衛于是每次去圖書館都不斷地掉信，可每回信封飛到地上總給人看到，并急忙還給他。

“噢，先生，”他聽到別人叫他。可他轉過身一看，總也不是莉莉。終于見到莉莉的那天，大衛等到房子里的人只剩下莉莉和她的助理。他再次把信掉在桌旁。他希望次日回去時可以問莉莉是否看到一個寫著他名字的信封。不過計劃進行得比他設想的要好得多，莉莉竟然親自來送信。當大衛在講述這個故事時，他美麗的妻子莉莉笑得上氣不接下氣。

“大衛，”等她緩過一口氣后，說道，“你的信封封得不是很好。我們當時在圖書館里就打開了。我看到里面除了一張白紙什么也沒有。可我實在很想知道你在弄什么名堂，于是就裝糊涂。大衛，你這個演員真不怎么樣。”她雙眼閃閃發亮地看著她的丈夫：“可是哦，大衛，我是這么地愛你。”CE

1) avid [5Avid] a. 渴望的

2) stacks [stAks] n. 書架，書庫

3) strike up 建立起，使開始

4) retrieve[ri5tri:v] v. 找回，取回

5) frantically [frAntikEli] adv. 瘋狂似地

6) recipient [ri5sipiEnt] n. 接受者，領受者

7) drop by 順便拜訪

8) turn out 熄滅

9) set down 放下

10) clutch [klQtF] v. 抓住

11) run across 跑著穿過

12) lobby [5lCbi] n. 大廳

13) motion [5mEuFEn] v. 打手勢，示意

14) specialist [5speFElist] n. 專門醫師，專家

15) cardiovascular [7 ka:diEu5vAskjulE]a. 心臟血管的

16) devise [di5vaiz] v. 想出（辦法），做出（計劃）

17) scheme [ski:m] n. 計劃，策劃

18) dutifully [5djutifuli] adv. 忠實地，忠貞地

19) flutter [5flQtEr] v. 飄動

20) reclaim [ri5kleim] v. 要求歸還

21) hysterically [his5terikEli] adv. 歇斯底里地

22) figure out 想出來

23) be up to 做，弄

24) play along 參與，合作

25) twinkling [5twiNkEliN] a. 閃爍的，閃亮的