Chapter 2 Part 1: How to Speak English My First Letter in English (1)

Once I saw an English book in a bookstore. The title was 100 WORLD'S GREAT LETTERS ("One Hundred Letters from Celebrities"). I thought it was very interesting, so I bought it.What kind of people are these one hundred people?What kind of letters would they be?Generally speaking, the letters of life are the display of the soul and the flow of true emotions. If you read a person's letter, you will read this person.Of course, these letters must be real and unaffected, preferably in one go.I like letters in the original English very much, but I seldom read them for a long time in the past, especially when I first learned English. Almost all letters from foreign characters that I could read were in literary works and were translated into Chinese.

At that time, I really hoped to have a copy of the original English letters. I had written many English letters to my friends, but I didn’t know how many mistakes and inaccurate expressions there were in the letters.It may be easy for a man to learn to write a letter in his native tongue, but not so easy to write it beautifully in another language.I could write letters to my mother when I was nine years old and was alone in the hospital in Beijing. Although I never went to school, I still learned to write letters by myself.Although those letters can't fully express my wishes, they can also make things clear-Chinese is my mother tongue, and I always feel that if I can speak it, I will be able to write it.Later I read Biography of Ernest M. Hemingway ("Hemingway Biography"), which contains some letters, including a letter Hemingway wrote to his father when he was a child. He was also nine years old that year. He wrote in the letter:

………… On Sat Mama and I went across the ford at the river. It is very much higher. I got six clams in the river and some were six feet tall. Your loving son Ernest M. Hemingway As can be seen from the fragments of this letter, Hemingway is a very happy and exaggerated little boy. Although his expression is not very accurate, he can write letters after all, which is more important than anything else.Ten years later, Hemingway described his situation in a letter to his mother. This letter is a bit like writing a novel. Dear Mother: I just got your letter today, I was beginning to wonder why I didnt hear from the folks but the trains have all been tied up in bad shape. It was 20 degrees below here too tho (though) not so much snow. In Kansas they had two or three feet in most of the country. No trains got thru (through) at all from the West to East. We were sure cut off for a while. The coal shortage is still pretty bad here. will soon be spring. Now dry those tears Mother and cheer up.

(Dear Mom: I just received your letter today. Before that, I was wondering why there was no news from you.However, the trains were all crooked and paralyzed there.The temperature here is also below 20 degrees, but there is not much snow.There must be two or three feet of snow in most of Kansas.No train goes all the way from the west coast to the east coast.We will definitely not see each other for a while.The shortage of coal here is still very serious.We'll be on the budget though, because it's spring soon.Well, Mom, now dry your tears and be happy. ) There is also a letter he wrote later when he was a reporter:

Dear Mother: The box came tonight and we just opened it at the Pressroom. The cake sure was great. There were about four of the fellows here and we opened the box and ate the cake. It was a peach, I am going to take the rest of the grub home and Carl and I will finish it up. The fellows all agreed that Mother Hemingstein must be some cook. Your praises were sung in loud and stentorian tones. The cake sure fed a multitude of starving and broke newspapermen tonight. (Dear Mom: Received the mailer this evening, we just unwrapped it in the press room and the cake is amazing.There are four guys here, we opened the box and ate the cake, everyone loved it, I'm going to take the rest home and I'm going to eat it up with Carl.These guys said that Mother Hemingstein must have been an excellent cook.We let go of our throats and sing praises for you loudly.This cake really satiated hungry, penniless newspapermen this evening. )

One night, while reading this book, I suddenly remembered the first English letter I wrote to my friend L&Y. To be precise, it was not written by hand, but printed with type.The seal I'm talking about is not printing, but like stamping, stamping one by one on a piece of paper.It was the creation of my teenage years with a passion for learning. At that time, I was in a small county town, and I liked to write letters to my friends far away, almost every day.After I finished studying a few English textbooks, I wanted to write to L&Y. L&Y is also learning English by herself. She lives in a big city. I envy her that she can go to the bookstore to buy her favorite English books.I kept telling L&Y about my progress in learning English in letters. I once said, Please wait for me. One day I will write to you in English.When writing letters to L&Y, I add some English words and sentences from time to time. For example, I always write Dear at the beginning of the letter...and always write Yours sincerely or Yours truly at the end...My letters always Mixed Chinese and English.

The letters from L&Y to me are all typed out with English typewriters, neat and clean.But I don't have an English typewriter, and having an English typewriter is just my wish.Once, I got a whim and wanted to create a letter in English that looked like it was printed.I think of my friend F who works in a printing factory. He once told me that there are some discarded types in their workshop, all of which are worn or broken.So, I asked F to help me find English letters no matter what. F really helped me find a small box of lead type. Although the box is small, the lead blocks are heavy, with uppercase and lowercase letters, and various punctuation marks.I felt for a moment as happy as a prospector who has found a precious deposit!

However, when F heard that I was going to use typefaces to write letters on paper, he widened his eyes in surprise and said, what?Are you going to write like this?You print on paper one by one, like an old cow pulling a broken cart, when can you write a letter?And how can you print these words in one line?The letters are too small.At that time, maybe I seemed very stubborn in the eyes of others. I said, I will try it and compare it with a ruler, and it will be printed in a line. That night I started to write English letters. I put the uppercase letters together and the lowercase letters together, so that there would be some order and it would be easier to pick up. I also arranged the punctuation marks. at the forefront.When I printed the beginning of the letter, I was really excited that a girl's dream came true!

My dear L&Y, How time flies! (Actually, How time flies is an English text I have memorized, it is the beginning of a letter) My dear L&Y: How time flies! But when I wrote the letter, I felt that time passed very slowly.I took the typeface and pressed it hard on the paper. I had to press it hard, because there was blue carbon paper and another piece of paper underneath. If I didn’t use force, I couldn’t print clearly. In order to prevent the paper from moving, I used a stapler to staple them. nailed together.I pressed hard, very persistently, one, two, three... After a while, my fingertips hurt, and my fingers were also stained black.I recalled what F said, all type is poisonous, if you touch too much, you will be poisoned.I quickly improved my "hand-printing technique" by rolling the lead type on kraft paper to make a pen, which was as long as a fountain pen, so that my hands would not need to touch the lead type.

Time really flies very slowly. It took me three nights to print this letter.When I uncovered the carbon paper, the pages below were printed with neat and clear blue English. The lines were like being typed out of a real typewriter. Holding it in front of my eyes, I could still smell a faint ink. fragrance.In my opinion, it is really fragrant and beautiful, and this is my creation.What you create feels beautiful. L&Y wrote back quickly and said that she didn't expect that I could send her such a beautiful letter, let alone that I wrote her a letter in English. Many years later, L&Y is going to settle down in the United States.Before she left, she gave me the English letter that she kept. L&Y said, Heidi, you are a writer now, tell more people about the story of this letter.It contains the pursuit and yearning of our youth, and now think about how nostalgic it is!

I opened the letter, L&Y sat beside me, and I read it line by line, tears welling up: My dear L&Y, How time flies! I think you must be happy to get this letter, and you may be surprised! Because it is so different than the letters I have sent you before. Yes, it's the first letter I wrote with the cast letters (should be letters). It is my (should be a) special technology I developed in a small hut in the small town. I think it would be just as (should be like) Bi Sheng's creation (should be invention) of the movable type printing in the Northern Song dynasty .In this small town far from you it is where my interest is. Yes, it is also a creation. I hope to create not only the (should be a way of) printing, but also create a new life, a new life style and certainly new perspective of life…… (My dear L&Y: How time flies! I think you must be very happy when you receive this letter, and you will be surprised!Because it is so different from the letters I sent you before.Yes, I am writing this letter in type.This is a special technique that I invented in my hut in a small county town.I think it is like the invention of movable type printing by Bi Sheng in the Northern Song Dynasty.In this small county so far away from you, this is where my interest lies.Yes, this is also a creation.I hope that what I create is not only a method of printing, but also a new life, a new way of life, and of course the expectation of a new life...)