[美國]馬克·吐溫/Mark Twain
馬克·吐溫（1835-1910），美國傑出的小說家，美國文學史上最重要的作家之一，也是美國文學史上第一個用口語進行寫作的作家，開創了一代文風，被福克納稱為“美國文學之父”。馬克·吐溫幼年家境貧寒，被迫放棄學業外出謀生。豐富的生活經曆對他後期的創作影響很大。19世紀70年代到90年代是他創作的鼎盛時期，其代表作有《哈克貝利·費恩曆險記》和它的姊妹篇《湯姆·索亞曆險記》等。
She was 82 and living in Keoluk when, unaccountably, she insisted upon attending a convention of old settlers of the Mississippi Valley. All the way there, and it was some distance, she was young again with excitement and eagerness. At the hotel she asked immediately for Dr. Barrett, of St. Louis. He had left for home that morning and would not be back, she was told. She turned away, the fire all gone from her, and asked to go home. Once there she sat silent and thinking for many days, then told us that when she was 18 she had loved a young medical student with all her heart. There was a misunderstanding and he left the country;she had immediately married, to show him that she did not care. She had never seen him since and then she had read in a newspaper that he was going to attend the old settlers'convention.“Only three hours before we reached that hotel he had been there,”she mourned.
She had kept that pathetic burden in her heart 64 years without any of us suspecting it. Before the year was out, her memory began to fail. She would write letters to school-mates who had been dead 40 years and wonder why they never answered. Four years later she died.
當時她82歲，住在克勒克城，不知為何，她堅持要參加密西西比河穀的老居民大會。路途有點遠，但是，一路上興奮熱切的心情仿佛使她又回到年輕時代。她一到旅館，便立即打聽從聖路易來的巴雷特醫生的消息。得知他當天早上就回家了，而且不再回來，她興致全無，調頭便要回家。回到家，她默默地坐著，沉思了幾天後，才告訴我們，18歲時她曾衷心愛過一位學醫的青年學生。不料發生了一次誤會，他出國了，而她閃電般地結婚，以示她毫不在乎。從那以後她再也沒有見過他，然而，她從報紙上得知他將參加今年的老居民大會。“要是早到三小時，我就能在旅店見到他了。”她歎息道。