Myfirst commissioned work was to write letters for her. You write for me,honey? she would say, holding out a ball-point she had been given at agrocery store promotion, clicking it like a castanet. My fee was cookies andmilk, payable before, during, and after completion of the project.
Isettled down at her kitchen table while she rooted around the drawer where shekept coupons and playing cards and bank calendars. Eventually she located apiece of stationery and a mismatched envelope. She laid the small, pastel sheetbefore me, smoothing it out; a floral motif was clotted across the top of thepage and bled down one side. The paper was so insubstantial even ballpoint inkseeped through the other side. Thats OK, she would say. Weonly need one side.
True.In life she was a gifted gossip, unfurling an extended riff of chatter from abare motif of rumor. But her writing style displayed a brevity that madeHemingways prose look like nattering garrulity. She dictated her letters as ifshe were paying by the word.
DearSister, she began, followed by a little time-buying cough and throatclearing. We are all well here. Pause. And hope you are welltoo. Longer pause, the steamy broth of inspiration heating up on her sideof the table. Then, in a lurch, Winter is hard so I dont get outmuch.
Thiswas followed instantly by an unconquerable fit of envy: Not like you inCalifornia. Then she came to a complete halt, perhaps demoralized by thisevidence that you cant put much on paper before you betray your secret self,try as you will to keep things civil.
Shesat, she brooded, she stared out the window. She was locked in the perversereticence of composition. She gazed at me, but I understood she did not see me.She was looking for her next thought. Read what I wrote, she wouldfinally say, having lost not only what she was looking for but what she alreadyhad pinned down. I went over the little trail of sentences that led to her deadend.
Moresilence, then a sigh. She gave up the ghost. Put God bless you, she said. She reached across to see the lean rectangle of words on the paper.Now leave some space, she said, and put Love. Ihanded over the paper for her to sign.
Shealways asked if her signature looked nice. She wrote her one word - Teresa -with a flourish. For her, writing was painting, a visual art, not declarativebut sensuous.
Shesent her lean documents regularly to her only remaining sister who lived in LosAngeles, a place she had not visited. They had last seen each other as childrenin their village in Bohemia. But she never mentioned that or anything from thatworld. There was no taint of reminiscence in her prose.
Evenat ten I was appalled by the minimalism of these letters. They enraged me.Is that all you have to say? I would ask her, a nasty edge to myvoice.
Itwasnt long before I began padding the text. Without telling her, I added ananecdote my father had told at dinner the night before, or I conducted thisunknown reader through the heavy plot of my brothers attempt to make firststring on the St. Thomas hockey team. I allowed myself a descriptive aria onthe beauty of Minnesota winters . A little ofthis, a little of that - there was always something I could toss into my grandmothersmeager soup to thicken it up.
雅思阅读长难句结构分析经典一百句(下)
雅思阅读实力提升策略(AG类都适用)
雅思阅读T/F/NG题的快速判断法
攻克雅思阅读的两个招数
提升词汇量和阅读速度 轻松攻克雅思阅读
雅思阅读摘要填空题型的做题技巧
雅思阅读背景资料:国家名称及别称
雅思阅读heading题的选项标志词
雅思阅读List of headings标题中的启示
雅思阅读难句实例解析:省略句
学会正确地阅读才能拿到雅思高分
雅思阅读难句分析:插入结构(下)
细说雅思阅读考试测试的五大能力
剑桥雅思真题集5阅读部分全面分析(4)
快速阅读法是雅思阅读的关键
雅思阅读难句实例解析:倒装句
浅谈基础练习对于雅思阅读的重要性
G类雅思阅读备考指南
从宏观和微观角度来看雅思阅读做题的步骤
慢中求快有助提高雅思阅读能力
雅思阅读考试需要养成的四大阅读习惯
解码雅思阅读TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN题
攻克学术类雅思阅读的五个备考步骤
雅思阅读备考的三点忠告 不存侥幸心理
提高雅思阅读分数的诀窍(1)
雅思阅读考试如何拿到高分
雅思阅读难句分析:分割结构(上)
雅思阅读如何选择备考资料及答题方法
雅思阅读难句分析:平行并列结构(下)
剑桥雅思五阅读译文Test2:电木(BAKELITE)
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |