Over the summer, one of my teenage son’s high school classmates lived in a remote country place where she lacked reliable Internet and phone service. Because it was hard to call or text his friend or reach her on social media, Will tried to sit down and write a letter once a week.
When Will asked for materials to get started, I struggled to remember where we stored the paper and envelopes. Once we fished the essentials from a shelf and Will hiked to the post office for stamps, which required us to recall just where the nearest post office was, he settled into a spot near the living room window. That was his letter corner, where I’d routinely spot a 21st-century adolescent with a sheet of paper on his lap, writing away.
Later, I asked him if writing a letter felt any different from writing an email, text, or post. “What I’m learning,” he said, “is that you don’t want to write about the news in a letter. By the time the letter gets where it’s going, the news has moved on.”
Given the endless change of current events, a letter about the latest political mistakes or Hollywood news would become outdated. To really succeed, a proper letter must push both the writer and the reader beneath the current of the headlines, into the depth of life, personal thoughts and private dreams.
Virginia Woolf, who died in 1941, worried in her own time that “as communication became cheaper and easier, people would think less about what they were trying to say, giving up the ideal(典范) of letters that were encouragements to careful composition, to the finishing of sentences and the arts of the writing master”.
I’m not giving up my smartphone and laptop, and I’d be lost without the convenience of connecting with others each day with them. But my 17-year-old reminded me that in an age of instant communication, mail still has its good values.
11. Why did Will write a letter once a week?
A.To experience the joy of writing. | B.To improve his writing skills. |
C.To keep in touch with his friend. | D.To spread news to others secretly. |
12. What can we infer from the second paragraph?
A.The writer helped mail the letters. | B.The writer does little letter writing. |
C.The writer got everything ready for Will. | D.The writer made a letter corner for Will. |
13. What did Will learn from his experience of writing letters?
A.Current events happen every day. | B.Writing letters is really out of date. |
C.News spreads slowly through letters. | D.Something thoughtful should be written. |
14. What did Woolf worry about?
A.People would communicate causally. | B.People would quit their pursuit of ideals. |
C.People would lose the art of writing. | D.People would treat writing as an easy thing. |