215 FERGUSSEN HALL
24th September
Dear Kind-Trustee2-Who-
Sends-Orphans3-to-College,
Here I am! I traveled yesterday for four hours in a train. It's a funny sensation4, isn't it? I never rode in one before.
College is the biggest, most bewildering5 place－I get lost whenever I leave my room. I will write you a description later when I'm feeling less muddled6; also I will tell you about my lessons. Classes don't begin until Monday morning, and this is Saturday night. But I wanted to write a letter first just to get acquainted7.
It seems queer8 to be writing letters to somebody you don't know. It seems queer for me to be writing letters at all－I've never written more than three or four in my life, so please overlook it if these are not a model kind.
Before leaving yesterday morning, Mrs. Lippett and I had a very serious talk. She told me how to behave all the rest of my life, and especially how to behave towards the kind gentleman who is doing so much for me. I must take care to be Very Respectful.
But how can one be very respectful to a person who wishes to be called John Smith? Why couldn't you have picked out a name with a little personality? I might as well write letters to Dear Hitching-Post9 or Dear Clothes-Prop10.
I have been thinking about you a great deal this summer; having somebody take an interest in me after all these years makes me feel as though I had found a sort of family. It seems as though I belonged to somebody now, and it's a very comfortable sensation. I must say, however, that when I think about you, my imagination has very little to work upon. There are just three things that I know:
I. You are tall.
II. You are rich.
III. You hate girls.
I suppose I might call you Dear Mr. Girl-Hater. Only that's rather insulting11 to me. Or Dear Mr. Rich-Man, but that's insulting to you, as though money were the only important thing about you. Besides, being rich is such a very external quality. Maybe you won't stay rich all your life; lots of very clever men get smashed up12 in Wall Street. But at least you will stay tall all your life! So I've decided to call you Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. I hope you won't mind. It's just a private pet name we won't tell Mrs. Lippett.
The ten o'clock bell is going to ring in two minutes. Our day is divided into sections by bells. We eat and sleep and study by bells. It's very enlivening13 ; I feel like a fire horse all of the time.
There it goes! Lights out. Good night.
Observe with what precision I obey rules－due to my training in the John Grier Home.
Yours most respectfully,
Jerusha Abbott To
Mr. Daddy-Long-Legs Smith
弗高森大厦 215号
9月24日
亲爱的送孤儿来大学的好心董事：
我终于到了! 我昨天搭了4个钟头的火车。真有趣, 不是吗? 我以前从没搭过火车。
大学真是大, 好容易把人搞糊涂——我只要一离开房间就会迷路。 等我觉得不那么混乱时, 我会再写一封信给您; 到时我会跟您谈谈我的功课。 现在是星期六晚上,星期一早上才开课。不过我还是想先写封信让我们彼此认识一下。
写信给陌生人是件挺奇怪的事。 写信对我来说本来就够奇怪的——我这辈子到现在写的信不超过3、4封, 所以如果写得不是很标准, 请您睁只眼闭只眼吧。
不过昨天早上出发前, 李皮太太跟我很严肃地谈了一会儿。 她要我今后谨言慎行, 尤其对有恩于我的好心先生更要注意自己的言行。 我必须做到“很尊敬”。
但是对一个叫约翰·史密斯的人, 怎么能“很尊敬”得起来? 您为什么不挑个有点个性的名字呢? 我就像在写信给亲爱的“拴马桩”或“晾衣架”先生一样。
我这个夏天想了很多关于您的事; 这么多年来终于有人对我感兴趣了, 这让我觉得好像找到了家一样， 让我觉得有归属感, 这是种很舒服的感觉。 无论如何, 我必须承认, 当我想到您的时候, 我的想象力就不起什么作用了。我只知道3件有关您的事:
1. 您长得很高
2. 您很有钱
3. 您讨厌女孩子
我想我可以称您为“亲爱的恨女孩先生”，不过这太侮辱我自己了。 或许我可以称您为“亲爱的有钱人”, 不过这样又太侮辱您了, 好像您唯一值得提的就是钱。 此外, “富有”是一种很肤浅的特质。 您也许不会一辈子都有钱; 有很多聪明人都在华尔街惨糟滑铁卢。 不过您身高是不会改变的! 所以我决定称您为亲爱的长腿叔叔。 希望您别介意。 这只是私底下的昵称, 不要告诉李皮太太了吧。
再过两分钟就要敲响10点的钟声了。 我们的生活被钟声分成好几段。我们吃饭、睡觉跟上课都照着钟声来。这让我精神十足，觉得自己时刻像匹野马。
熄灯了。 祝您晚安。
您看我多守规矩, 全亏约翰格利尔之家的训练。
您最恭敬的,
乔若莎·阿伯特
致长腿叔叔-史密斯
.
1. 简·威伯斯特，美国纽约州人。她的父亲是经营出版社的商人，妈妈是马克·吐温的侄女。威伯斯特的文学素养是从小在家庭里培养出来的。她1901年毕业于巴萨女子大学，1912年出版小说《长腿叔叔》。
2. trustee n. 董事
3. orphan n. 孤儿
4. sensation n. 感觉
5. bewildering adj. 令人困惑的
6. muddled adj. 混乱的
7. acquaint v. 熟悉；知晓
8. queer adj. 奇怪的
9. Hitching-Post 拴马的柱子
10. Clothes-Prop 晾衣架
11. insult v. 侮辱
12. smash up 破产
13. enliven v. 使活泼，有生气
14. precision n. 精确