When did you last write - I mean in the real sense, i.e. a handwritten letter - to your parents, brothers, sisters, other relatives or friends who live apart from you? To this question, most people would answer "years ago".
I know I would be jeered by a number of my regular critics, who would say: "Listen, this old foggy is harping on the good old days again."
Wait a minute. Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming modern technology for the disappearance of handwritten letters; instead, I'm blaming modern men (me included) of becoming lazy and less attached to kinship while enjoying the ease and convenience afforded by modern technology.
Take greetings between family members and friends at festivals. Chinese people wrote letters to their kinfolk and friends to express good wishes during traditional festivals before the telephone became popular in the early 1990s in cities and
E-mails were soon bypassed as mobile phone text messaging began to sweep across the nation as the dominant carrier of festival correspondence in the early 2000s. The fast, ubiquitous, low-cost messenger prevails over any other form of communication where speed is concerned. And the broadcasting function of a cell phone makes it easy to send one message to a number of receivers with just a click.
The new technology even created a new occupation. In 2002, "professional writers of short messages", appeared producing ready text passages for various occasions: New Year greetings, marriage congratulations, sickness condolences, and so on.
At first, people were attracted by the witty,
However, for people who used to communicate through handwritten letters, neither an e-mail nor a cell phone message can match a traditional letter. The lifeless print characters on the screen of a computer or cell phone never conveys an affectionate association as is described by a traditional Chinese saying: "The seeing of the handwriting is like seeing the writer him/herself." The modern "letters" may even cause a sense of unreality on the part of the receiver: "Is this really written by him/her?"
In the just past Mid-Autumn Festival, the Nanjing Normal University urged its students to hand write a letter to their parents. It was the first ever handwritten letter the students had sent to their parents. They felt great pleasure in doing so and their parents were greatly moved. A mother wrote back to her daughter saying that the day she received the letter was "the happiest day in my life".
All Chinese who have read Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) verses remember this line of the great poet Du Fu: "A letter from home is worth 10,000 liang (a weight unit) in gold "
A "letter from home" has served as an emotional bond between family members and friends. It is also part of Chinese culture for it is a carrier of etiquette, calligraphy and literature. We should not abandon this part of our culture. At least we can urge young people to regularly write to their parents like what the Nanjing university did.
相关单词：jeered
jeered解释：v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 )
jeered例句：
The police were jeered at by the waiting crowd. 警察受到在等待的人群的嘲弄。
The crowd jeered when the boxer was knocked down. 当那个拳击手被打倒时，人们开始嘲笑他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
相关单词：harping
harping解释：n.反复述说
harping例句：
Don't keep harping on like that. 别那样唠叨个没完。
You're always harping on the samestring. 你总是老调重弹。
相关单词：disappearance
disappearance解释：n.消失，消散，失踪
disappearance例句：
He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。
相关单词：dominant
dominant解释：adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因
dominant例句：
The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
相关单词：witty
witty解释：adj.机智的，风趣的
witty例句：
Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。
相关单词：
Here, then, we have a
So, in a
相关单词：philosophical
philosophical解释：adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的
philosophical例句：
The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
She is very philosophical
相关单词：sincerity
sincerity解释：n.真诚，诚意；真实
sincerity例句：
His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。
相关单词：etiquette
etiquette解释：n.礼仪，礼节；规矩
etiquette例句：
The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。
相关单词：calligraphy
calligraphy解释：n.书法
calligraphy例句：
At the calligraphy competition,people asked him to write a few characters.书法比赛会上，人们请他留字。
His calligraphy is vigorous and forceful.他的书法苍劲有力。
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