Love Is Not Like Merchandise

　　爱情不是商品

　　A reader in Florida, apparently bruised by some personal experience, writes in to complain, "IfI steal a nickel's worth of merchandise, I am a thief and punished; but if I steal the love ofanother's wife, I am free."

　　佛罗里达州的一位读者显然是在个人经历上受过创伤, 他写信来抱怨道: “如果我偷走了五分钱的商品, 我就是个贼, 要受到惩罚, 但是如果我偷走了他人妻子的爱情, 我没事儿。”

　　This is a prevalent misconception in many people's minds---that love, like merchandise, canbe "stolen". Numerous states, in fact, have enacted laws allowing damages for "alienation ofaffections".

　　这是许多人心目中普遍存在的一种错误观念——爱情, 像商品一样, 可以 “偷走”。实际上，许多州都颁布法令，允许索取“情感转让”赔偿金。

　　But love is not a commodity; the real thing cannot be bought, sold, traded or stolen. It is anact of the will, a turning of the emotions, a change in the climate of the personality.

　　但是爱情并不是商品;真情实意不可能买到，卖掉，交换，或者偷走。爱情是志愿的行动，是感情的转向，是个性发挥上的变化。

　　When a husband or wife is "stolen" by another person, that husband or wife was already ripe forthe stealing, was already predisposed toward a new partner. The "love bandit" was only takingwhat was waiting to be taken, what wanted to be taken.

　　当丈夫或妻子被另一个人“偷走”时，那个丈夫或妻子就已经具备了被偷走的条件，事先已经准备接受新的伴侣了。这位“爱匪”不过是取走等人取走、盼人取走的东西。