A Letter to an American Friend

April 14

　　Dear Miss Miller，

　　Glad to read [I am glad to have read]（1）your letter. Thank you for telling me Christmas celebration in America， which interests me very much.

　　[You've asked about our Spring Festival.]（2）The Spring Festival is to Chinese what Christmas is to Americans. We celebrate it from December 30 to January 15 of the lunar calendar， just the time spring begins. This year we spent it at my grandparents' in Chengdu， Sichuan.

　　According to the tradition， on the eve of the festival， family members get together and have rich dinner. （Of course not turkey， which is as rare as panda in China.）Then like most Chinese， we watch a special TV program by [on]（3）CCTV. It is believed to be the best of the year and nearly all the famous stars turn up on the screen. When the program ends at midnight， people set off fireworks to “drive out the evil”。 But it has been forbidden in big cities like Chengdu， because it often causes fires at the hour， which is [are] （4） hard for firemen to deal with.

　　On the first day of the new year we make Jiaozi ， a traditional dumpling with meat and vegetable stuffing （馅）。 January 2 to 5 are the days for visiting relatives and friends to exchange festival greetings.

　　During the festival you can watch various performances in the country （5）， including lion and dragon dance， stilts （高跷）， drumbeating and gong-beating （锣鼓） and so on.

　　The Spring Festival ends with festival lantern shows and eating tangyuan or yuanxiao ， made of glutinous rice （糯米） and sugar and shaped like a small ping-pong ball. You may have tasted it in China.

　　Of course children like the festival best because they can eat nice food， wear new clothes and receive pocket money from parents and grandparents.

　　I still remember the lessons you taught. I'm lucky to have had your guidance， which was really helpful to me.

　　I'd like to know more about American high school students. Do they have many exams and much homework？ What do they do after school and in their vacation？ I'm also interested in your hometown. Can you send me one of its photos？

　　I would much appreciate it if you could introduce a pen pal （笔友） to one of my schoolmates， Miss Huang Xiaojuan. She likes listening to music， making friends， studying English and reading about UFO. She wishes to have a pen pal of her age （18）， a boy or a girl.

　　Best regards to you and yours.

　　Sincerely yours，

　　Zhao Juan

　　陕西省长安205研究所附中 Zhao Juan

　　评 语

　　文章详细描述了春节的情况，文笔较为流畅，文中用了不少比喻来说明美国朋友从未见过的中国传统食品，形象生动。某些语言上的不足之处修改点评如下：

　　（1）写信开头表示“很高兴读了来信，”有两种常见句型：

　　① I was glad to read your letter. （was用过去时，read用一般不定式）

　　② I am glad to have read your letter. （am用现在时，to have read用不定式完成时）

　　（2）加上这句使上下文不至于太唐突。

　　（3）还是用介词on较好。

　　（4）这里which应该是指前面的fires，故用are.

　　（5）in the country含义不清，可干脆去掉。