Gerald Durrell（英国自然学家、作家）于1978年写给未婚妻Lee McGeorge的情书，情真意切，字句优美，整封信犹如一首诗。引用一部分（中译在最后）：
“Now let me tell you something.
I have seen a thousand sunsets and sunrises,on land where it floods forestand mountains with honey coloured light,at sea where it rises and sets like ablood orange in a multicoloured nest of cloud,slipping in and out of the vastocean.
I have seen a thousand moons:harvest moons like gold coins,winter moonsas white as ice chips,new moons like baby swans'feathers.
I have seen seas as smooth as if painted,coloured like shot silk or blue as akingfisher or transparent as glass or black and crumpled with foam,movingponderously and murderously.
I have felt winds straight from the South Pole,bleak and wailing like a lostchild;winds as tender and warm as a lover's breath;winds that carried theastringent smell of salt and the death of seaweeds;winds that carried themoist rich smell of a forest floor,the smell of a million flowers.
Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast,or winds that madethe waters lap at the shore like a kitten.
I have known silence:the cold,earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dugwell;the implacable stony silence of a deep cave;the hot,drugged middaysilence when everything is hypnotised and stilled into silence by the eye ofthe sun;the silence when great music ends.
I have heard summer cicadas cry so that the sound seems stitched into yourbones.
I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in aforest lit by a million emerald fireflies.
I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselveslike old people as they inched their way to the sea.
I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as theysang to their sleek golden wives,the crisp staccato admonishment of theRattlesnake,the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Reddeer knee-deep in purple heather.
I have heard Wolves baying at a winter's moon,Red howlers making theforest vibrate with their roaring cries.
I have heard the squeak,purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reeffishes.
I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms,humming like a top.
I have seen flying fish,skittering like quicksilver across the blue waves,drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails.
I have seen Spoonbills flying home to roost like a scarlet banner across thesky.
I have seen Whales,black as tar,cushioned on a cornflower blue sea,creating a Versailles of fountain with their breath.
I have watched butterflies emerge and sit,trembling,while the sun irons theirwings smooth.
I have watched Tigers,like flames,mating in the long grass.
I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven,black and glossy as the Devil'shoof.
I have lain in water warm as milk,soft as silk,while around me played a hostof Dolphins.
I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things…
All this I did without you.
This was my loss.
All this I want to do with you.
This will be my gain.”
“现在我要告诉你一些事情。
我看过无数次日出日落，在大地上，森林和群山都被笼罩在光芒之中，在大海上，为五彩的云朵增添上一抹血橘色，在无垠的大海上划进划出。
我看过无数次月亮：满月如金币，寒月洁白似冰屑，新月宛如小天鹅的羽毛。
我看过大海平静如止，颜色如缎，或蓝如翠鸟，或如玻璃般透明，抑或如乌黑褶皱的泡沫，沉重而危险的翻动着。
我感受过来自南极的烈风，寒冷呼啸着像一个走失的儿童；感受过如爱人呼吸般的柔风；掺杂着苦涩的咸味和海草死亡气息的海风；弥散着森林大地肥沃土壤气息和千万种花香的山风。
狂风涛海如同酵母发酵起沫，或使海水轻拍海岸像小猫一般。
我了解宁静：一口新井中寒冷又朴实的宁静；一个深洞中无情冷酷的宁静；炎热迷离的午后万物被炎炎烈日催眠的宁静；一曲美妙音乐结束的宁静。
我听过夏日蝉鸣如芒在骨。
我听过树蛙在无数萤火虫点亮的森林中演奏着如巴赫管弦乐般美妙复杂的旋律。
我听过啄羊鹦鹉飞跃冰川叫喊着，像老人呻吟着走向大海。
我听过声嘶力竭的街道商贩成交皮草生意的叫嚷，好像是对他们鎏金妻子的赞美；响尾蛇清脆却不连贯的警告声；成群结队的蝙蝠的刺耳叫声；马鹿在齐膝的紫石楠中的咆哮。
我听过狼群在冬夜对月长嚎，红吼候啸震山林。
我听过珊瑚群中异彩斑斓的鱼群发出的吱吱、呱呱和呢喃。
我见过蜂鸟如同宝石一般围绕着开红花的树闪烁，如陀螺一般哼鸣作响。
我见过飞鱼如水银一般穿越蓝色海浪，用他们的尾翼在海面上划下银色痕迹。
我见过琵鹭像朱红的旗帜从鸟巢飞往鸟群。
我见过漆黑洳焦的鲸鱼，在如矢车菊般的蓝色海洋中停留，呼吸间创造了一个凡尔赛宫的喷泉。
我见过阳光熨展蝴蝶的翅膀，它浮现、停顿、又扇动。
我见过鲜如火焰的老虎在长草之中亲昵。
我曾被愤怒的乌鸦俯冲攻击，如魔鬼的爪牙黑暗顺滑。
我曾躺在温暖如牛奶、柔顺如丝绸的水中，任一群海豚在我身边嬉戏。
我曾遇到过无数生灵，曾看过无数美景……
这一切却未与你共度。
这都会是我的损失。
这些事情我都想与你共度。
这一切才会是我的收获。”
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