One day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. Among other things, he was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would climb the highest mountain in the world, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest and with his bare hands fight against the fiercest animals.
He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added: "By the way I'll be over to see you on Wednesday night -- if it doesn't rain."

一天，一个青年男子给住在离他几英里远的镇上的女朋友写信。除写了其他的事情外，他告诉她他爱她有多深，他认为她有多好，他越写越富有诗意。最后，他写道，为了能和她呆在一起，他将克服最大的困难，他将面对任何人能够想像的最大的危险。实际上，为了能和她呆上一分钟，他将爬越世界上最高的山，他将游过最宽的河，他将赤手空拳进入最深的森林同最凶恶的野兽搏斗。
他写完了信，签上了名，突然，他想起忘了写一件挺重要的事。因此，他在信末签名后又补充道：“顺便说一下，我将在星期三晚上去看你--如果不下雨的话。”