約翰·奧哈拉給女兒的信（雙語）
摘要：你做得很好，我對你很滿意，並不只是因爲你所做的那些事，而且因爲你本人。就像芬尼根小姐對西斯特所說的那樣“威利反應敏捷”。因此，祝你中學的最後一年交好運，並且永遠記住，我這個老人非常愛你。
John O’Hara to His Daughter約翰•奧哈拉給女兒的信
By John O’Hara
Quogue，Long Island
16 September1962，Sunday
於奎基，長島，星期日
1962年9月16日
My dear：
Well，here we are——but not at 's，Sister in Princeton，and me in Quogue，and another brand new year is about to start for me，too.I always seem to approach the autumn in the frame of mind that spring induces in most excitement of new things;the new plays，the new books，new clothes，etc.，etc.， the same time the autumn for me is a season of a sweet melancholy that is hard to explain. I love the early evenings，the leaves burning，the lights in houses.
好了，我們到了——但不是到這兒。你在聖•蒂姆斯，西斯特在普林斯頓，而我在奎基，對你來說嶄新的一年又開始了。對於我，也是如此。我似乎總是帶着一種春天在大多數人身上所激發的心情走近秋季。新生事物給人們帶來的興奮;新劇目、新書、新服裝，等等，等等，等等。同時，秋天對於我則是帶着美麗的憂鬱的季節。這是難以用言語表達的。我愛黃昏，愛像火一樣燃燒着的紅豔豔的樹葉，愛房屋裏的燈光。
It is the beginning of a big year for you，in many respects your biggest so the time June comes around you will be 18，and graduating from the past week or so I have called you“Kid” but subconsciously I have been doing that because your kid days are over，or just about.I suspect that you are going through the experience of first love，and no matter what else happens，after that experience you are never a kid again.
對你來說，這是至關重要的一年的開始，從許多方面來說這是你最重要的一年。到六月份你就18歲了，將中學畢業。在過去的幾周裏，我稱你爲“小孩子”，但在潛意識裏我這樣做是因爲你的少年時代已經過去，或正要過去。我猜想你已在經歷你的初戀，不管發生什麼，有過初戀的經歷之後，你再也不是小孩子了。
Most of the nice things we associate with being a kid are okay——while you are still a you gain more than you gain in understanding standing，in appreciation of people，in understanding and appreciation of begin to see the wisdom in that quotation I have so often repeated to you：to thine own self be y year at this time I have repeated that quotation to you，and the time is not really too far distant when you will be passing it on to your own is probably the best single piece of advice I can give you，or you can give them.
與當個孩子相關的許多美好的事物都是很不錯的——然而你仍然是個孩子。但你將得到比所失去的更多的東西。你將得到理解、人們的欣賞，以及你對你自己的理解和欣賞。你將明白我常常告訴你的那句話所隱含的智慧：真誠地對待你自己。每一年的這個時候我都對你重複這句話，而且這離你把這句話告訴你的孩子們的時候也爲時不遠了。這句話也許是我能夠給你的最好的一條建議，或許也是你能夠給你的孩子們的最好的一條建議。
You have done well，and I am pleased with you，not only for what you have done，but for what you Miss Finnegan said to Sister，“Wylie has the right reactions.”So good luck in your Senior Year，and always know that the old man loves you very much.
你做得很好，我對你很滿意，並不只是因爲你所做的那些事，而且因爲你本人。就像芬尼根小姐對西斯特所說的那樣“威利反應敏捷”。因此，祝你中學的最後一年交好運，並且永遠記住，我這個老人非常愛你。
Always
Dad
