人鬼情未了 美國老婦偶遇70年前男友日記

Corporal Thomas 'Cotton' Jones had one 'last life request' before he was killed by a Japanese sniper on a South Pacific island in 1944: Please give my diary to Laura Mae Davis, the girl I love.
美國大兵托馬斯·瓊斯（外號“棉花”）1944年在南太平洋島嶼上遭日軍狙擊陣亡，臨終前留下“一生最後的請求”：請把我的日記交給我心愛的女孩勞拉·梅·戴維斯 。

Davis, 90, did get to read the diary, but not until last month - nearly seven decades later - when she stumbled upon it in a display case at the National World War II Museum.
90歲的戴維斯直到上個月在美國二戰博物館參觀時才無意間看到這本日記，而這已經是70年之後的事情了。

The New Orleans museum is currently holding an exhibit dedicated to the 22-year-old machine gunner - her high school sweetheart - who was one of nearly 2,000 Americans killed in the bloody assault on the Japanese-held island of Peleliu during World War II.
在新奧爾良博物館，有一件展品屬於她的高中男友——時年22歲擔任機槍手的瓊斯。二戰期間，近2000名美國大兵在日本佔領的貝里琉島陣亡，瓊斯即是其中之一。

'I didn't have any idea there was a diary in there,' said the Mooresville, Indiana, woman, and the discovery brought her to tears.
“我一點都不知道那兒有一本日記，” 來自印第安納州穆爾斯維爾的戴維斯說道，發現日記後，她激動得熱淚盈眶。

'I figured I'd see pictures of him and the fellows he'd served with and articles about where he served,' she said.
她說，“我本來覺得我只會看到他和戰友們的照片，還有關於他服役地點的報道。”

She was stunned to find her sweetheart's diary - a gift she had given him before he set off to war.
所以當看到前男友的日記時，她非常驚訝，因爲日記本是她送給瓊斯的臨別禮物。

The journal's 4-by-7-inch back cover was nearly filled with her photograph. The picture itself was black and white, but the photographer had tinted her cheeks pink and her lips dark red.
這本黑色的日記本寬4英寸長7英寸，裏面幾乎塞滿了她的照片。在其中的一張黑白照片上，攝影師爲她的臉頰添上了粉色，將她的嘴脣塗成了深紅色。

She had signed it, 'Love, Laurie.'
照片上她還寫了一句話，“愛你的勞拉。”

The pair met in the class of '41 at Winslow High School. 'He was a basketball player and I was a cheerleader,' she said.
這對曾經的情侶相識於溫斯洛高中，兩人是1941屆的同班同學。 “他是籃球隊的，而我是拉拉隊的，” 她回憶道。

They had dated through high school and went to the prom together. Jones had given her his class ring but they weren't engaged, she said.
她說，高中時她們一直在一起，還一起參加了畢業舞會。瓊斯把自己的畢業戒指送給了她，但他們並沒有訂婚。

Burlingame said she didn't know why she never got the diary. It apparently went first to a sister of Jones whom she didn't know well, she said.
勞拉表示不知道爲何自己沒收到這本日記。這本日記應該是先寄給了瓊斯的一個姐姐，不過她們並不相熟。

Burlingame said she was touched by the number of times Jones mentioned getting letters from his parents and her.
勞拉說，看到瓊斯那麼多次提到從父母和她那兒收到了信，她很感動。

The 22-year-old's last entry in the diary, written aboard the USS Maui on December 1, 1943, described winning $200 at craps. He had a total of $320, he wrote, and if he were back home 'Laura Mae & I would really have a wonderful Xmas.'
1943年12月1日，22歲的瓊斯在毛伊島的軍艦上寫下了最後一則日記，他在日記中紀錄道，自己擲骰子贏了200美元。他還寫道，自己身上一共有320美元了，如果能回家，“勞拉和我將會一起度過一個美妙的聖誕節。”