一封手写家信 A Handwritten Letter

路易斯写给自家大哥的书信，抱怨自己追星失败。 Louis' letter to his elder brother, expressing his disillusionment with his idol.

亲爱的兄长，

Dear Brother,

近来可安好？

How have you been these days?

不管你好不好，反正我糟透了。

Regardless of how well you've been, I've been feeling terrible.

好吧，请原谅我时隔一个多月才主动联系你，毕竟你那老母亲般的关切总如夏夜水塘边的蚊子云；也原谅我此刻笔尖饱蘸怨愤的毒汁，但正如你所说的，「或许偶尔也可以稍微依赖一下自己的兄长」，对吧？所以先别抱怨，听我抱怨。

Well, sorry for taking over a month to reach out to you. Your constant motherly concern always bugs me, like a swarm of mosquitoes at a summer watering hole. Forgive the venom seeping through my pen at the moment, but you once said, "Perhaps you can rely on your brother a little bit," right? So hold off on the complaints and hear me out.

前阵子我迷上一位画家的作品——我知道你都知道，但现在，老老实实听我说——所以写了些相关的评论随笔，用我惯常的分析技法——没错，就是经常被那些业内蠢货评价为“扒皮抽骨、窥人隐私并且公之于众”的「心灵测绘法」。

I got obsessed with a painter's work a while back — I'm aware that you know all about it, but just listen up. So, I ended up writing some critique essays about it, using my usual analytical techniques — the same ones that those idiots in the field love to criticize as "peeking into the author's privacy and making it public." Yeah, that "psychological topography" method.

说实话，那些老顽固真该向他们已故的师长们学学如何保持安静与平常心，说什么“只有疯子才会喜欢毫无保留地袒露自我”,但走着瞧吧，等哪天他们的棺材板也朽烂了，那一把把老骨头哪个不暴露得更加袒露无疑呢？

Seriously, those old farts really should learn from their late mentors how to shut up and stay calm. They say things like, "Only lunatics want to reveal themselves unreservedly." But we'll see. When their coffins are rotten, which one of those stupid heads won't be exposed nakedly?

好吧，又跑题了，那么重新说回画家。在我第二篇随笔发表之后，网站评论区还是一如既往的热闹，盛赞我的、攻讦我的、攻讦盛赞我的人的、攻讦攻讦我的人的、到处拱火的以及路过看热闹的……

Anyway, I digress again, so let's circle back to the painter. After the publication of my second essay, the comments section was a total pandemonium — praises, criticisms, criticisms of those who praised me, criticism of those who criticized me, and even random trolls and onlookers joining the frenzy...

但你猜怎么着——姑且当你还不知道了——这个画家她……赞美了我。

But guess what? Perhaps you don't know it yet, the painter, she... actually praised me!

凭本人这些年在圈子里的「名声」，不带讽刺或奉承的赞美可是比斯诺兰德的春光还难得，更何况她的言辞虽然质朴，却带着一种真挚的包容。

Considering my "reputation" in the community, genuine praise without sarcasm or flattery is rarer than springtime in Snowland. And her words, though simple, were genuinely inclusive.

所以我确实有些忘乎所以了……但说真的，那种能有一位品味、志趣相投的朋友的诱惑于我而言，就好比一大盒霜糖饼干摆在你面前还说不限量一样！（对了，听管家说你最近糖分摄入又超标了，最好在我回家之前把尾巴清理干净。）所以请你理解，我动身前往匹诺康尼确实是个头脑一热的决定——但于我而言，这因艺术而生的热忱与激情，已是我生命中唯一的火光了。况且，我这一路上有克劳迪娅陪同，你大可放心。

I may have gotten a bit carried away... but you know what? The idea of having a friend with similar tastes and interests is like having an endless supply of sugar cookies right in front of you! (By the way, the butler told me you've been overindulging in sugar lately. You'd better clean up your act before I get home.) So as you know, moving to Penacony was a hasty decision, I admit, but my passion for art is the only fire in my life. And don't worry, Claudia was with me on this journey.

稍稍收敛一下你的笑声吧！没错，我确实没想到自己不远万里登门拜访结果茶还没凉透就灰溜溜地出了门，也没想到这位原本惊为天人的大画家在现实中不过是一名头脑空乏胸无大志的主妇，更没想到所谓的优雅和善不过是客气与敷衍！

Oh, hold your laughter for a moment! I didn't realize that I had traveled all the way to meet her and ended up leaving before the tea had even cooled. The great painter I admired turned out to be just a housewife with an empty mind and no ambition. All that elegance and goodness of heart? Just a facade, nothing but superficiality!

我曾无比敬仰这位伟大的画家， 可如今再看到她的名字，我眼前只会浮现出一支使用多年的画笔——只有在饱蘸名为灵感的颜料时才变得柔软灵动，然而一旦洗去油彩，就暴露出自身的苍白僵硬、一文不值！

I used to hold this great painter in high regard, but now, her name only reminds me of a worn-out brush. It only comes to life when dipped in the pigment of inspiration, but once the oil is washed away, it becomes pale, stiff, and worthless!

即便如此我当然，你知道的，不会失礼于一位「有才华」的女士，我甚至都没说出什么刻薄的话！于是我们礼貌地相谈甚欢，礼貌地告别，甚至在分别时那女士还礼貌地邀请我再为她的新作写一篇评论。

Still, I managed to be polite to this so-called "talented" lady, and I didn't even say anything mean! We had a polite chat, a polite goodbye, and, believe it or not, she even politely invited me to write another review of her new artwork.

哈、哈、哈！好一场从头至尾都充满「礼貌」完美会面！！！

Ha, ha, ha! What a perfectly "polite" meeting from start to finish!

所以，莱斯特，我这个月、下个月以及下下个月也都不准备回家了。我要带克劳迪娅去隔壁星系旅游，直到我彻底忘记这一杆惹人生厌的秃笔为止！

So, Lester, I'm not coming home this month, or the next, or the one after that. I'm taking Claudia on a trip to the neighboring galaxy. I need to forget all about this annoyingly worn-out brush!

路易斯

Louis