Keep in touch

Keep in touch

保持联络

Kate:Hello, I’m Kate Colin and this is 6 minute English. Today I'm joined by Jackie Dalton and we'll be talking about keeping in touch the old-fashioned way. Hi Jackie, a quick question for you to begin with….I'd like to know when was the last time you wrote a letter to a friend or relative and posted it? Not an email, but a real letter….

Jackie:Well funnily enough, it was only about a week ago, which I think is quite unusual nowadays.

Kate:Yes, it certainly is because in this modern age of emails, texts, phones, Facebook and Skype, we seldom take the time to put pen to paper and write a letter. Can you tell me what 'put pen to paper' means?

Jackie:Yes, this is an expression which means to deliberately¹ write something down, a letter, a story or a poem perhaps. So putting 'pen to paper' to write a letter writing is certainly becoming less common these days. It's quite sad because until very recently, writing letters had been our main way of communicating with friends and family and now the tradition seems to be dying out.

Kate:Yes, but now of course now we have so much technology available to us that we can communicate with people all over the world in a matter of seconds. It's so much easier than it used to be!

JackieExactly, we no longer have to go to the bother of writing a letter, buying a stamp and posting it, we can just click a few buttons and our message is at its destination.

Kate:Later in the programme we'll be hearing from someone who still prefers to write 'real letters' rather than emails. But first to my question for this week, which is an easy one. When we talk about the postal² service in the UK, we sometimes jokingly use a nickname³. Do we say: a) slug mail b) worm（蠕虫） mail c) snail⁴ mail （传统的信件）

Jackie:Ah that’s an easy one….

Kate: Okay, we’ll check your answer in a few minutes. But first we're going to hear from a girl called Liz. See if you can hear what she liked about receiving letters when she was younger….

Liz ‘It was having something that came through that was yours and someone had taken the

time to write to you. And because no one else can open your post, it’s really private as well

and it’s exclusively just for you. I found that really exciting.’

Jackie: She said it was having something that 'came through' that was hers alone.

We often use the phrasal verb 'come through' when talking about a letter or a

Parcel（包裹）which is posted to us. For example, 'my exam certificate came through this

morning'. She liked the fact that someone had taken the time to write to her. This

means to actually spend the time to do it and she said that a letter was private and

'exclusively for her'. 'Exclusively' means for one person only, it's not

public and often refers to something quite luxurious⁵ or special.

Kate: What else does she like about receiving letters? Listen to find out: Liz ‘It’s so tactile⁶ as opposed to any kind of technology and because the method is so traditional

and long-standing⁷ it just seems a lot more real’.

Kate: She said it's tactile.（有触觉的，能触知的）What does tactile mean? 

Jackie: This means 'nice to touch' and I think she's talking about the fact that a letters are real and you can hold them, as opposed to just reading things off a computer 

screen. 

Kate: Jackie: Kate: Jackie: Kate: Jackie: Kate: And long-standing? We use 'long-standing' when we talk about something that has been taking place for many years, a tradition can be 'long standing' for example. So what do you think? Do you like it when a letter comes through for you? Yes I do actually, I much prefer to receive a real letter rather than an email. Well, many people would agree with you and before technology played such a huge part in our lives, lots of people used to have pen pals⁹. These were friends who kept in contact through letters, hence the name (pal⁸ is another word for friend). Yes, there are a lot of advantages to having a pen pal including the opportunity to practise reading and writing in a foreign language, to improve literacy¹⁰, to learn more about other countries and lifestyles and to make friendships. Many people are still keen in having a pen pal and often use a special agency to put them in contact with someone in another country they can write to. Another way of saying this to link up with someone. Liz has a few pen pals - let's hear what else she has to say… 

 

Liz

I’ve got 3 pen pals now – they’re all based in America. The pen pals started through some research I was doing and I found the Letter Writers Alliance¹¹ on the internet. It’s like a dating service but for pen pals, they just link you up with somebody else and all you get is their address and then you just start a dialogue with them.

Jackie:She said she linked up with some of her pen pals through an agency which was a bit like a dating service! It seems to work though…some people remain pen pals for only a short time, while others continue to exchange letters for the rest of their lives. Some pen pals eventually arrange to meet face to face and there are even stories of some pen pals getting married!

Kate:You can still have a pen pal even if you prefer to use email….these are sometimes

called 'key pals' as you write letters on the keys of your computer rather than with

a pen. Let's have a quick recap（扼要重述） on the vocabulary we've come across today….

Jackie:put pen to paper – to deliberately writing something down came through/come through – a phrasal verb we use when talking about a letter or parcel which is posted to us taking the time – to spend the time to do something exclusively – special or for one person only tactile – nice or pleasant to touch long standing – something we have been doing for a long time link up – another phrasal verb meaning 'to connect with'

Kate:And finally, to the question I asked at the beginning of the programme – the term we sometimes use for the traditional postal service is…..

Jackie:I said it was 'snail mail' as compared to email and the telephone, sending a letter is a slow as a snail!

Kate:That's right. Thanks Jackie – until next time.

Both:Goodbye! （本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

 

1 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

2 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

3 nickname   

n.绰号，昵称；v.给...取绰号，叫错名字

参考例句：

• She called me by my nickname.她叫我的外号。
• Why do you fasten such a nickname on her?你为什么给她取这样一个绰号？

4 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

5 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

6 tactile   

adj.触觉的，有触觉的，能触知的

参考例句：

• Norris is an expert in the tactile and the tangible.诺里斯创作最精到之处便是，他描绘的人物使人看得见摸得着。
• Tactile communication uses touch rather than sight or hearing.触觉交流，是用触摸感觉，而不是用看或听来感觉。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

9 pals   

n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙

参考例句：

• We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
• CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网

10 literacy   

n.识字，有文化，读写能力

参考例句：

• I can't believe that he failed the literacy test.我无法相信他识字测试不及格。
• The literacy rate there is the highest in Central America.那里的识字率居中美洲之首。

11 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。