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My guess is that after writing that letter, Lincoln looked out of the window and said to himself, "Just a minute. Maybe I ought not to be so hasty. It's easy for me to sit here in the quiet of the White House to order him to attack; but if I had been up at Gettysburg and if I had seen as much blood as Meade has seen during the last week, and if my ears had been pierced with the screams and shrieks of the wounded and dying, maybe I wouldn't be so anxious to attack either. Anyhow, it is water under the bridge now. If I send this letter, it will only arouse hard feelings and impair all his further usefulness as a commander."
我估計(jì)，林肯寫完信以后，望了望窗外，心里想：“等等，也許我不該匆忙下結(jié)論。我安坐在白宮里下命令叫他進(jìn)攻是很容易，但假如我也在葛底斯堡，和米德將軍一樣見到過去這一周里那么多的流血，假如我的耳朵也充滿了傷員和將死的士兵的尖叫聲，也許我也不會(huì)那么急于進(jìn)攻了。反正這件事已經(jīng)過去了。假如我發(fā)出這封信，只會(huì)引起反感，使他不再能成為一名有用的指揮官。”
Mark Twain lost his temper occasionally and wrote letters that turned the paper brown. For example, he once wrote to a man who had made him angry: "The thing for you is a burial permit. You have only to speak and I will see that you get it." On another occasion he wrote to an editor about a proofreader's attempts to "improve my spelling and pronunciation." He ordered: "Set the matter according to my copy hereafter and see that the proofreader retains his suggestions in the mush of his decayed brain."
馬克·吐溫有時(shí)候也會(huì)發(fā)脾氣，發(fā)脾氣以后就寫信，其憤怒的言辭往往能把信紙都烤焦了。比如，有一次，他給一個(gè)惹他生氣的人寫了一封信，說道：“你需要的是一張埋葬許可證。你只要說一聲，我保證你能馬上領(lǐng)到。”還有一次，他給一個(gè)編輯寫了一封信，講到一個(gè)校對員如何“試圖糾正我的拼寫和發(fā)音”。他給那個(gè)編輯下令說：“從現(xiàn)在起，就按照我的稿樣 排版。讓那個(gè)校對員把改動(dòng)我稿子的建議統(tǒng)統(tǒng)都留在他那一堆正在腐爛的腦漿里。”
The writing of these stinging letters made Mark Twain feel better. They allowed him to blow off steam, and the letters didn't do any real harm, because Mark's wife secretly lifted them out of the mail. They were never sent.
寫完這些挖苦人的信以后，馬克·吐溫感到痛快多了。它們讓他出了氣。而這些信其實(shí)也并沒有給人造成傷害，因?yàn)樗姆蛉送低蛋阉鼈儚泥]件里抽了出來，這些信根本就沒有寄出去。
