Dear Tom,
Thanks for your letter which finally caught up with me in London. I suppose you're keen to hear how the trip has been so far. So here's a short description of what's happened.
Well, you remember we left Sydney on Monday and arrived in London 24 hours later. After such a long and exhausting flight the first thing we did was to have a good, long sleep. And after that?a good meal to make up for all that horrible airline stuff!
The first real day of our holiday was spent just walking around London to get a feel of the place. After that, however, we were more particular and planned each day carefully.
First, we looked at all the historical sights, such as the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum and the National Gallery. Then we visited some other famous places, such as Kew Gardens and Hampstead Heath. Finally, we took a one-day trip to Oxford, which is really the most marvelous town. You should make sure to go there when you visit England.
After we had seen a lot of London, we flew to Paris. A t first, we didn't like the place-I suppose because it was so different from London. Later, though, we began to really love it and started to appreciate its differentness.
The final stage of our trip is a visit to Rome, after which we will be staying in Singapore for two days before returning to Australia.
Hope everyone is well. See you soon.
Dear Tom,
I'm just writing to let you know that we're all well, and I hope you are, too. Unfortunately, I've got some rather bad news for you: I'm afraid I made a bit of a mess of John's car. Anyway, here's what happened.
We were on our way to Carol's after a long party, and I suppose it must have been about eleven o’clock. Well, the last few miles back home were really dark and deserted. I now realize I was probably going a bit too fast for a country lane because, although the road was fairly straight, I drove up onto the curb and went into a tree.
Of course, John was absolutely furious and started shouting at me and cursing. After we' d argued for a few moments, we decided to look at the damage, and he calmed down a bit. Well, we found we could move the car, but the wing was caught on the wheel, so we couldn't drive it. I tried to pull the wing clear, but I didn't succeed.
Anyway, John went off to phone for a breakdown lorry, but while he was away, I had another go at the wing and this time succeeded in pulling it right off. I threw it onto the back seat, and by that time John got back and we were ready to go?so we didn't need the breakdown lorry at all. John has more or less forgiven me now, but he was very angry with me for a few days. I suppose I was a bit careless.
Well, that's all for now. Next time I write I hope I'll have better news for you.
Yours sincerely,
Linda Chen
Dear Mr. Wang,
I am pleased to invite you to a luncheon, to be held by the Monterey Institute of International Studies on October 12, 20xx at noon, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the death of General Stilwell and in honor of his daughter, Mrs. Nancy Stilwell Easterbrook. Mrs. Easterbrook was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Monterey Institute and founder of the Stilwell Scholarship, which is dedicated to supporting students from China.
For many years until she passed away, Nancy had served as a goodwill ambassador of the American people who made unremitting efforts to promote exchanges between the United States and China. The Stilwell Scholarship she founded helps support deserving students from China who have come to the Monterey Institute to pursue professional degrees in translation and interpretation, international policy studies, language teaching and business management.
I hope you will be able to join us. Mr. Chuanyun Boo, Dean of the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, will be calling you soon to discuss this event further.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Burton