1 . In a gray box, I have a thick pile of love letters. I imagine about sharing them with a granddaughter when I’m 90. But my most treasured love letter is from one of my best friends. It’s a handwritten letter years ago when I was having trouble getting over a man. Her letter is the most romantic in my pile. It made no excuses. It simply let me know that I was loved.

Reflecting on her gift, and the dying art of handwritten letters in our age of emails and emoticons, I chose to conduct an experiment this Christmas: replacing presents with heartfelt, handwritten love letters for my family members.

In our digital era, most of us rarely take the time to share deeply considered thoughts and emotions with the people in our lives. Handwriting captures the writer’s emotions, often preserved longer than digital exchanges. However, technology is taking over. First came typewriters and keyboards. Now a new brain-computer lets people type with their minds. What are we losing when we sacrifice the physical labor behind the written word? We tend to value what we struggle for. Have we undervalued the human exchange of ideas?

That day, I came across a letter my mom wrote to her parents when she was young. She seemed so comfortable with her parents. It was a relationship I didn’t have with her. I was inspired by my mother’s letter to her parents when I sat down to write my letter to her. I wanted her to know my love, and to close the crack that technology and culture had created between us. With each sentence, I was discovering new and deeper ways of seeing my mother, and making myself known to her in more thoughtful ways as well.

Eight single-space pages later, my hand was aching but I was done. It was only the first of my love letters, but it was already clear: What had begun as a fun project was in fact one of the most important undertakings of my life.

1. Why does the author mention her love letters in Paragraph 1?

A．To show her grand charm as a young girl.	B．To share them with one of her granddaughters.
C．To highlight the value of handwritten letters.	D．To look back upon her romantic relationship.

2. How will technology probably affect us in the digital age?

A．Making our interaction less emotional.	B．Encouraging our thoughtful communication.
C．Saving our physical labor in conveying emotions.	D．Increasing our effort in handwritten exchanges.

3. Why did the author handwrite a letter to her mother?

A．To give her mother a big surprise.	B．To answer her mother’s handwritten letter.
C．To bridge a communication gap.	D．To make her mother feel more comfortable.

4. What did the author learn from her experiment?

A．The irreplaceable bond of family members.	B．The tendency of information technology.
C．The expression of emotions in the digital age.	D．The power of handwritten correspondence.