John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he did not, the girl with the rose.

約翰·布蘭徹從長椅上站起來，整理了一下軍服，仔細觀察著中央地鐵站熙熙攘攘的人流。 他在尋找著那個與他心有靈犀但卻從未謀面的女郎，那個戴著一朵玫瑰的女郎。

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in the Library of University of Florida when he was doing his graduation project at college. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. But before he received a reply from her, he was shipped overseas for service in the Gulf War in Iraq.

他對她產生興趣是在13個月前做畢業設計的時候，在佛羅里達大學圖書館， 他被書架上拿下的一本書深深吸引了。并不是因為上面的文字，而是頁邊用鉛筆做的注解。 那溫柔的字體反映出那是一個聰慧的靈魂和富有遠見的頭腦。 在書的扉頁上他發現了前擁有者的名字，荷利絲·梅耐爾小姐。 通過一段時間的努力他終于找到了她的地址， 她住在紐約市。 布蘭徹給她寫了一封信還邀請她回信， 但還沒等到他接到回信，就被派到伊拉克的海灣戰場上去了。

During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it would not matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Iraq, they scheduled their first meeting -7:00 PM at Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me,"she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 in the station Mr. Blanchard was looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen.

隨后的一年又一個月，兩個人在鴻雁往來中互相了解了對方。 每一封信都在互相渴望的心中播下了浪漫的種子 并生根發芽。 布蘭徹向她要一張照片但是她拒絕了， 她覺得如果他真的喜歡她是不會在乎她的長相的。 在他從伊拉克返回的當天，他們定下了第一次約會---晚上7點鐘在紐約的中央地鐵站。 “你會認出我的，”她在信中說，“我會在衣領上別一朵玫瑰花。” 所以那天7點鐘在地鐵站，他在等一個從未謀面但早已令他心儀已久的女孩。

I will let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past forty, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes....

一個身材苗條的姑娘向我走來。 一頭金發自然卷曲在小巧的耳朵后;眼睛像花一樣藍， 她的嘴唇和下巴柔美而棱角分明，身著淺綠色的套裝，就好像春天一樣。 我快步走向她，完全忘記注意她根本沒別什么玫瑰花。 看見我向她走去，她嘴角露出誘人的微笑。 “想干嘛，水手?”她低聲說。 幾乎無法控制自己，我向她走近了一步，然后就看見了真正的荷利絲小姐。 她就站在那個女孩的身后： 一個年過四旬的中年婦女，灰白的頭發裹在一頂舊帽子里， 身材微胖，低跟鞋中露出臃腫的腳踝......

The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I were split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.

穿綠套裝的那個姑娘很快離開了。 我覺得自己好像被撕裂了，隨她而去的愿望是如此強烈，對這個成為我精神知己的女人的渴望也是如此深! 而且她站在那兒! 她蒼白豐滿的面龐流露出溫柔和睿智，灰色的眼睛里閃著柔和的光芒。 我沒有猶豫， 抓緊了那本用來識別我的藍色皮面的小舊書。

This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?" The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

這不會是愛，但值得珍惜，甚至比愛情更好，一段我曾經而且將來也必須感謝的友誼。 我立正敬禮并把那本書遞給那個女士，盡管我開口說話的時候失望的苦澀哽住了喉嚨。 “我是約翰·布蘭徹中尉，你一定是梅耐爾小姐， 很高興在這里見到你。 我能請你去吃飯嗎?” 那位女士臉上露出寬容的笑容。 “我不知道這一切到底是怎么回事，孩子，”她回答，“但那個剛過去穿綠衣服的女孩請求我把這朵玫瑰別在衣服上， 還說如果你邀請我去吃飯，就讓我告訴你她在街對面的那家大餐廳等著你。 她說這是一個什么考驗!”

It is not difficult to imagine Blanchard's reaction after hearing these words. He might have flown into that restaurant. Meanwhile, we have to admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. Although we all expect beautiful things in life, what life offers us cannot satisfy us for good. There are many difficulties, setbacks, or even despair, which not only make us suffer from physical or psychological pain but challenge our moral standards as well. It always remains a problem for us whether these standards would be heightened or lowered when we meet occasions that demand crucial but instant choices.

我們不難想像布蘭徹先生聽到這些話以后的反應， 他也許是飛奔進那家餐廳的。 同時我們也不得不欽佩梅耐爾小姐的智慧。 盡管我們都期待生活中會有美好的事情，但生活給與我們的東西不會永遠都令我們滿意。 生活中會有很多困難、挫折，甚至是絕望，不僅讓我們承受肉體或精神上的痛苦，而且也會考驗我們的道德水準。 對我們個人來說面對這些考驗，道德標準是被提高了還是降低了始終都會是一個問題，特別是碰到需要當時就做出但卻十分重要的決定的時候。

Miss Maynell understood that the true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive and Blanchard scored perfectly in this test. Few would doubt that a romance as such would have a happy ending because they shared the views on the important ingredient of love. This proved well what Houssaye had written, "Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are."

梅耐爾小姐明白一個人的真心只有通過他對平庸的反應才能看得出來，布蘭徹先生在考驗中獲得了滿分。 很少有人會懷疑這樣的一個浪漫故事不會有一個美滿的結局，因為他們對愛情的看法是那么的一致。 這很好地證明了法國作家烏賽的話，“告訴我你愛的是什么樣的人我就知道你是什么人。”