Claire and I

Claire is one of my British friends. She lives in Cardiff， which is the capital city of Wales. I knew her through a student's letter exchange of USA. We have corresponded（通信）for about two years and we have seen each other in the photos.

　　Knowing I like collecting stamps， Claire posted me some beautiful British stamps and of course， I gave her several postcards of Changshu（my hometown）， too.

　　In one of her letters， Claire told me a lot of things about their“New Year's Eve”。 After Big Ben（伦敦的大本钟）has struck twelve， they go out into the street， talking and dancing. In Wales there is a superstition（迷信说法）that says that the first person to come into the house after twelve o'clock must be a darkhaired stranger carrying a lump of coal. What an interesting thing！ When reading this， I couldn't helping[help]（1） laughing. In my back letter[letter in reply]（2）， I wrote jokingly： I have dark hair and the person perhaps is me！

　　Claire is in the local secondary school and she likes maths， biology， and German. I asked her why not try to learn Chinese. It would be wonderful if not long after[soon]（3） I could write in English while Claire could write in Chinese. She said that was a good idea， but at school there was no opportunity to learn Chinese. So I had to write some simple Chinese characters every time. Claire is a clever student indeed， now she even can write some sentences such as“We are good friends”in Chinese.

　　I live in the eastern hemisphere（半球）and Claire lives in the western hemisphere. We are so far away from each other but friendship has connected us. Just like the words she wrote at the beginning of one letter：“I love you， Wang.”I also want to say：“I love you too， Claire.”

　　江苏省常熟市中学高二（5）班 王星

　　评 语

　　交上一个外国小朋友，经常用英语写信交流是学习英语、提高英语运用能力的好形式。其实，一时没有外国笔友，在中国学生之间开展笔友活动，写英语信（包括给老师写信）也不失为一种练笔的好办法。文章记叙了与外国小朋友之间的几次通信交流，内容很有趣。文章中某些语言上的不足之处点评修改如下：

　　（1）原文可能是笔误了。

　　（2）作者想表示“回信”，应该说a letter in reply.原文用back，成中国式英语了。

　　（3）not long after语义不够清楚，soon意为“不久”。