原文作者：佚名

　“and none will hear the postman’s knock without a quickening of the heart. for who can bear to feel himself forgotten？”
 　　“听到邮递员的敲门声，没有人不会心跳加速。毕竟有谁能承受被人遗忘的感觉呢？”
　　—— w. h. auden （w. h. 奥登，美国诗人）
　　when i heard the us postal service would no longer be delivering mail on saturdays starting this august， a little ping of apprehension and sadness hit me. one of the best parts of my day is getting the mail. i know this is not the case for everyone. bills come in the mail. useless flyers from new dentists and chinese restaurants in town also come in the mail. but every evening when i head out to my mailbox …
 　　i hope there will be a letter.
　　there is little else that brings as much joy to my day as receiving a letter from my mom or a friend. in all the bbc period dramas that i obsessively watch， receiving a letter is a big deal. women breathlessly flutter1） out of rooms so they can sit alone to read their letters. in love letters， a person’s character is determined by the quality of their penmanship2）. answering the letters is even more of an ordeal3）， taking sometimes up to half the day depending on the amount of gossip held therein！[论文网] 
 　　when i was growing up， letters were pretty much relegated4） to special occasions， like birthdays and christmas， but it wasn’t until i went to college that the true impact of personal mail hit me. getting mail inspired the envy of everyone in the campus post office who happened to see you， and if you were lucky enough to get a package， you’d also hope you were lucky enough not to get ambushed on the way back to your dorm. physical mail was the connection to the people in the outside world who existed beyond the bubble of college life.
 　　for the four and a half years that i was in college， my mom faithfully sent me a card every week. to this day， that is one of the most meaningful things she has ever done for me. her little notes of encouragement saw me through some tough times. every week， i knew i was going to get a card from mom， and it didn’t matter how short the note was or what graced5） the outside of the card. what mattered was that i knew without a doubt she was thinking of me. someone out there in the big， huge， crazy world hadn’t forgotten about me. the act of purchasing a card， writing a note， buying a stamp， and mailing the letter spoke of care and love louder than any email i ever received.
 　　after graduating and moving on with my life， i never forgot the impact of mom’s letters. whenever i traveled anywhere i’d keep a small address book in my purse （this was before smartphones）， along with a supply of stamps， and send postcards to my girlfriends. all of a sudden i started getting postcards from all over the world！ my fridge was covered with a mosaic of exotic pictures and familiar handwriting from my closest friends. in every circumstance we c

ould have emailed each other and saved the trouble of mailing something in a foreign place， but that would have diminished the joy of touching a piece of paper from another part of the world where a friend was thinking of you.

　i heard a story on npr6） a few months ago about a man named phillip kunz who carried out a social experiment by sending 600 christmas cards to people he had never met. he added a personal element to each one and sent them out into the void. the response was overwhelming. suddenly he and his wife were flooded with mail from well-wishers who appreciated the christmas card. the experiment was carried out in 1974， and to this day， phillip still receives many christmas cards from the original group he reached out to so many years ago.
　　then， there is the matter of thank you letters. i will never forget all the times as a kid when my mother made me sit down at the dining room table and write thank you notes to anyone who’d ever sent me a check， a gift， or did something nice for me. i think she was trying to convey the importance of acknowledgement when another human being displays a kind and generous nature. we’ve all had those moments when we’ve sent a wedding gift only to never hear from the bride or groom that it was even received. bummer7）.
　　it’s not about getting a huge ovation8） so you can stroke your ego about how awesomely kind you are， but it is nice to know that your friend appreciated the time and care you took to send a gift. there have been times when i’ve neglected to send a thank you note for a gift and felt like the biggest jerk， riddled with remorse， and paralyzed by laziness. i am not proud of these lapses9） in acknowledgement because the old-fashioned part of me thinks it’s only polite to say thank you. i’ve sent thank you emails and texts for the simple immediacy of letting someone know how a gift they’ve sent has thrilled me， but part of me fights against this instant gratification of the digital age for the simple fact that it’s not as personal as a letter.
　　when i moved into my first house last year friends and family from around the country filled my mailbox with notes welcoming me to my new home. i don’t know why it had never occurred to me to send a card when someone buys a house， but i sure will in the future！ i was blown away by the kindness and love that shined through those notes of celebration for this big step in my life.
　　i saved all those cards because i want to remember that time， to remember that my friends and family walked beside me encouragingly and sent their love even though they couldn’t be there. a congratulatory text is nice， but i won’t be pulling that out of the drawer in five years smiling from the memory of the joy it brought me when i received it.

x　call me a sentimental fool， but i worry that the art of letter writing will be utterly lost， disappearing into the binary10） code of the future. many schools no longer teach cursive11） handwriting， and

children grow up learning how to use ipads and computers from infancy. heck， my cats even enjoy the occasional ipad game. but something beautiful is vanishing. i can recognize who a letter is from by the handwriting on the envelope. handwriting is part of our identity， and yet we have little need for it in the digital age， making a letter all the more special and personal.
 　　i hope the us postal service can hang in there and people will be able to send letters for many years to come. i also hope that more people are encouraged to resurrect12） this lost art of communicating with the handwritten word. there are so many reasons to write a letter to someone you care about， if only to13） know that it might bring a much-needed smile to their face.
 　　当我听说从今年8月起，美国邮政服务公司逢周六将不再投递信件时，心里不由泛起一阵忧虑和沮丧。WWW.11665.CoM我一天中最大的乐事之一就是收信。我知道并不是所有人都这么想。邮寄过来的有账单，也有城里新开张的牙医诊所和中餐馆寄来的无用的小广告。但是每天晚上，当我向邮箱走去时……
 　　我希望里面会有一封信。
　　几乎没有什么比收到妈妈或朋友的来信更让我高兴的了。在所有令我看得着迷的bbc时代剧中，收信都是一件大事。收到信的女子上气不接下气地慌忙跑出房间，只为了能独自坐下来读信。如果是情书，从一个人的书法好坏就能断定其个性。回信更是一件熬人的辛苦活儿，根据写在信里的家长里短的多少，有时甚至要花上半天的时间！
 　　在我成长的岁月中，信件几乎是生日、圣诞节这样的特殊场合才会使用的东西。直到上了大学，我才真正体会到私人信件的力量。如果你收到信，那在学校邮局碰见你的每个人都会对你心生嫉妒。如果你足够幸运，收到了包裹，那你还得祈祷自己足够幸运，不要在回宿舍的路上遭到伏击。大学生活充满虚幻色彩，而有形的书信是与这种生活之外的外部世界的人们联系的纽带。
 　　在我四年半的大学生活里，妈妈坚持不懈地每周给我寄一张卡片。直到今天，那都是她为我做过的最有意义的事情之一。她那只言片语的鼓励帮助我度过了一些艰难时光。每个星期，我都知道自己将会收到妈妈寄来的卡片。无论卡片内容多短，无论卡片外观是否精美，我都不在乎，重要的是我确定无疑地知道她在惦记着我。在这个广阔、疯狂的世界里还有个人没有忘记我。买张卡片，写下几句话，再买张邮票，把信笺寄出——这其中所传达出的爱与关怀超过我收到过的任何一封电子邮件。
 　　从学校毕业并开始新的人生阶段后，我从未忘记妈妈的来信曾带给我的影响。无论我去哪里旅行，我都会在包里放一小本通讯簿（这是在使用智能手机之前）和一些邮票，然后给女友们寄去明信片。突然之间，我也开始收到从世界各地寄来的明信片！我的冰箱上贴满了我最亲近的朋友们寄来的卡片，上面是充满异国情调的照片和她们熟悉的字迹。其实每次我们都可以通过电子邮件联系，省去在异国他乡寄东西的麻烦，但如果那样，触摸着某个想念你的朋友从世界另一个地方寄来的信笺时的那份快乐就减弱了。
 　　几个月前，我在国家公共电台的节目中听到一个故事。一个名叫菲利普·孔兹的人做了一个社会实验，他将600张圣诞贺卡寄给了素不相识的陌生人。他在每张卡片上都添加了一些个人元素，然后将它们寄往未知的世界。结果，回信如雪片般飞来。突然之间，他和妻子收到了许多祝福者寄来的信件，这些祝福者对他们寄出的圣诞贺卡表示感谢。菲利普做这个实验是在1974年，这么多年过去了，直到今天，他仍然会收到当初收到他卡片的人们寄来的许多圣诞贺卡。
 　　接下来说说感谢信。我永远也忘不了小时候多次发生的情景：妈妈让我坐在餐厅的桌边，为每一个给我寄过支票、礼物或者帮助过我的人写感谢信。我想她是在试图让我明白，当别人表现出善意和慷慨的一面时，向他们道谢是多么重要。我们都有过这样的经历：我们寄出了结婚礼物，结果新郎或新娘却连一个是否收到礼物的回音都没给我们。真是令人失望。
 　　这并不是为了赢得别人的叫好，好让你自我膨胀地觉得自己是多么友善，而是当你知道送礼物所花费的时间和心意能够得到朋友的肯定时，你会感到欣慰。有些时候，我在收到礼物后忘记写信去道谢，此时我会觉得自己是个大混蛋，内心充满自责，却因懒惰而作罢。我并不以道谢方面的这些过失为荣，因为我内心传统的那一部分认为道谢才是有教养的表现。我也曾通过电子邮件和短信向别人道谢，只是因为这样能很快让对方知道他们寄来的礼物令我感到兴奋，但我心里对数字时代带来的这种即时满足还是有所抵触，原因很简单：它不像书信那么有人情味。

去年，当我第一次住进属于自己的房子时，家人和朋友们从全国各地寄来的祝贺乔迁的信塞满了我的信箱。我不知道自己之前为什么从来没有想到过在别人购置新居时寄去一张贺卡，但将来我肯定会这么做的！这些信对我人生中的重要一步表示祝贺，其中闪耀的善意和关爱令我感动不已。
 　　我保存着所有的卡片，因为我想记住那些时间，记住这一路上家人和朋友一直充满鼓励地在我左右陪伴，即使不能陪在我身边，也不忘把他们的爱邮寄过来。收到一条祝贺的短信也不错，但我无法在五年之后把它从抽屉中抽出来，然后回想起当初收到它时的喜悦，脸上泛起微笑。
 　　尽可以叫我多愁善感的傻瓜，可是我担心写信这门艺术会彻底失传，消失在未来的二进制编码中。很多学校都不再教学生写连体字，孩子们则从婴儿时期就玩着ipad和电脑长大。见鬼，就连我的猫都喜欢偶尔玩一玩ipad上的游戏。但某种美好的事物正在消失。我能通过信封上的字迹辨认出信是谁写的。字迹是我们身份的一部分，可是在数字时代，我们已经几乎不怎么需要它了，而这让信显得愈发特别和有人情味。
 　　我希望美国邮政服务公司能够坚持下去，这样在未来的很多年里人们仍然可以收发信件。我也希望能有更多的人受到鼓舞，重拾亲笔写信这种没落的交流方式。有太多的理由让你给自己在乎的人写一封信，哪怕只是因为你知道这可以为他们的脸上带来一抹宝贵的笑容。
 　　1. flutter [?fl

?t?（r）] vi. 奔忙；忙乱；坐立不安
　　2. penmanship [?penm?n??p] n. 书法，字迹
　　3. ordeal [??（r）?di?l] n. 煎熬，折磨
　　4. relegate [?rel?ɡe?t] vt. 把……归入某类
　　5. grace [ɡre?s] vt. 美化，装饰
　　6. npr：美国国家公共电台（national public radio的简称）
　　7. bummer [?b?m?（r）] n. 令人不快的事，令人失望的事
　　8. ovation [???ve??（?）n] n. 热烈鼓掌，欢呼
　　9. lapse [l?ps] n. 过失，小错
　　10. binary [?ba?n?ri] adj. [数]二进制的
　　11. cursive [?k??（r）s?v] adj. 草写的，手写体的
　　12. resurrect [?rez??rekt] vt. 复兴
　　13. if only to：即使仅仅因为