感谢信：遗失的艺术

By+Emily+Esfahani+Smith

Letter writing， in our age of instant communication， is a dying art. Why write letters when we have e-mail， text messaging， Google chat， Facebook， and Skype1？ I have family in Iran， Sweden， and Canada， and a boyfriend in Prague2， so I appreciate and rely on the many quick and easy ways that we can all talk to each other， in most cases free of cost. Modern technology， its a wonderful thing. Writing letters is antiquated3 and I certainly dont long to return to the days when communication-by-post was all there was. Still， I think our fast-paced culture has lost something in giving up old-fashioned hand-written letters for the immediate “hey u” text and “whats up” e-mail.

A couple of days ago， I came across this piece from the Huffington Post 4， “11 Amazing Thank You Notes from Famous People.” The letter writers include Roald Dahl， Marilyn Monroe， Barack Obama， Ronald Reagan， Audrey Hepburn， Conan OBrien， John Lennon， and more.5 Lennons letter is pretty funny. The Huffington Post delivers the context， then the letter：

Once upon another time （1974）， John Lennon showed up drunk to LAs Troubadour club and proceeded to heckle the Smothers Brothers during their act.6 A fight ensued which involved just about everyone， including actress Pam Grier.7 The next day， she got this letter from Lennon：

Dear Pam，

I apologize for being so rude and thank you for not hitting me. John Lennon

P. S. Harry Nilsson 8 feels the same way.

The letter is also pretty scrappy9 looking， which actually makes it even better.

Marilyn Monroes letter is charming for getting straight to the point：

Dear Mr. von Fuehlsdorff：

Thank you for your champagne.

It arrived， I drank it and I was gayer 10.

Thanks again.

My best，

Marilyn Monroe

But the absolutely best letter of the bunch11 is from the childrens book author Roald Dahl to a little girl named Amy.

According to the website Letters of Note， where these originally appeared before they were aggregated12 in the post by the Huffington Post，

One rainy Sunday afternoon in 1989， with encouragement and much-needed help from her father， a seven-year-old girl named Amy decided to send something to Roald Dahl. Taking inspiration from her favourite book， The BFG， and using a combination of oil， coloured water and glitter， Amy sent the author a very fitting and undeniably adorable gift： one of her dreams， contained in a bottle.13endprint

Thankfully， the sentiment14 wasnt lost on Roald Dahl.

Dahl wrote the girl a very touching response：

Dear Amy，

I must write a special letter and thank you for the dream in the bottle. You are the first person in the world who has sent me one of these and it intrigued 15 me very much. I also liked the dream. Tonight I shall go down to the village and blow it through the bedroom window of some sleeping child and see if it works.

With love from，

（Signed）

Roald Dahl

Part of the reason the letters above are so amazing， apart from the fact that their signatories are quite extraordinary people， is that even the shortest and pithiest ones are still brimming with thoughtfulness and sincerity.16 Monroes letter is a perfect example. Its so simple and yet so satisfying to read： she thanks Mr. von Fuehlsdorff for his gift， says what she did with it （drank it）， and describes the effect it had on her （it made her gayer）. Today， when we find ourselves in the position of thanking someone， it is usually because that person gave us a gift—and they want to know that you received it， are enjoying and using it， and—most importantly—that it affected you in some way， that it was meaningful to you.

Dahls letter is the best of the bunch because it not only covers the same essential ground Monroes note does， and with compassion and tenderness， but it makes the recipient feel infinitely special.17 Think about your favorite childhood author writing you， and only you， these words： “You are the first person in the world who has sent me one of these and it intrigued me very much.”

With these letters in mind， Ive put together what I see as the essentials of writing a well-crafted18 thank-you letter. If I missed anything， let me know！

Do it by hand. If you are thanking someone older than you， they will appreciate the thoughtfulness and care that goes into a handwritten note. They may even expect it. If youre thanking someone your age， you still should do it by hand for a similar reason. Younger people are so used to electronic forms of communication that a hand-written note will truly stand out to them as something memorable and， even， worth keeping.19

Think before you write. Because we are all used to e-mail， where mistakes are easily deletable20 with a push or two of the “backspace” button， we tend to start writing first， and editing later. Thats not how it works with a handwritten letter， where crossing or whiting out a mistake looks silly and sloppy.21endprint

Avoid boilerplate22. The first instinct of the lazy writer in all of us is to write a note like this：“Dear James， Thank you so very much for the gift that you sent me. It was very meaningful to me. I hope to see you soon. With love， Emily.” Thats not good enough. It sounds like a stock23 form with very little thought put into it. To avoid that， mention specifics. Mention what they gave you by name， whether its the gift itself or an experience you two shared， like a job interview. Mention what you like most about it and briefly explain why. Even Monroes short letter contained these elements.

Avoid hyperbole24. Not even seven-year-old Amy would believe “This is the best gift I have ever received.”Dont exaggerate25 or make the gift or experience seem bigger than it is. Its transparent and the letter recipient will recognize that. If its not true， leave it out. Which brings us to...

Be sincere. How did this persons effort really affect you？ What was really meaningful to you about it？ This is where you can make the person feel special for affecting you in a unique way. Even if the gift or experience was not all that great， there surely was something about it worth highlighting26.

Close well. If you write a considerate， deeply felt thank-you note， its probably not the best idea to end it with the casual “See you soon！” or the abrupt “Best” or the stilted27 “Sincerely.” Think about a way to close that captures the spirit of your letter and your voice. Dahls“With love” was perfect in his case， but might not be in yours.

1. Skype： 一款即时通讯软件。

2. Pragued： 布拉格，捷克首都和最大城市，欧洲历史名城。

3. antiquated： 陈旧的，过时的。

4. Huffington Post：《赫芬顿邮报》，美国的一个多语言的新闻博客网站，始创于2005年，提供原创报道和新闻评论，着重于国内外时政新闻，是美国当前影响力最大的政治类博客。

5. Roald Dahl： 罗尔德·达尔（1916—1990），英国杰出的儿童文学作家、剧作家和短篇小说作家，代表作为《查理与巧克力工厂》；Marilyn Monroe： 玛丽莲·梦露（1926—1962），美国女演员、模特，是20世纪50年代最流行的性感象征之一；Barack Obama： 贝拉克·奥巴马（1961— ），第44任美国总统，是美国历史上第一位非裔美国人总统；Ronald Reagan： 罗纳德·里根（1911—2004），第40任美国总统；Audrey Hepburn： 奥黛丽·赫本（1929—1993），英国著名女演员，凭《罗马假日》荣获奥斯卡影后殊荣，晚年曾担任联合国儿童基金会特使；Conan OBrien： 柯南·奥布莱恩（1963— ），美国脱口秀主持人、喜剧演员、作家；John Lennon： 约翰·列侬（1940—1980），披头士乐队的创始成员、摇滚音乐家、社会活动家。

6. heckle： 打断（表演者），对……起哄；Smothers Brothers： 史莫瑟兄弟，美国喜剧团体。

7. ensue： 接著发生，继起；Pam Grier： 帕姆·格里尔（1949— ），美国女演员。

8. Harry Nilsson： 哈利·尼尔森（1941—1994），美国著名音乐家、歌手、词曲创作人。

9. scrappy： 杂凑的，不连贯的。

10. gay： 欢快的，愉快的。

11. bunch： 一系列，大量。

12. aggregate： 集合，聚集。

13. 艾米从她最喜爱的图书《吹梦巨人》中汲取灵感，将油彩、颜料水和小亮片混合在一起放入瓶中，呈现出一个她脑海中的斑斓梦境，并将这份恰当且无疑很可爱的礼物送给了作者。The BFG：《吹梦巨人》，罗尔德·达尔创作的中篇童话，讲述小女孩苏菲被意外带到巨人国度，遇到一位可以编织和收集美梦的巨人，两人之间展开的奇妙冒险故事；glitter： （装饰用的）小亮片。

14. sentiment： 感情，情绪。

15. intrigue： 激起……的兴趣。

16. 这些感谢信之所以如此惊艳，不仅因为他们是由家喻户晓的名人写就，也在于即使是最简短精练的语句，也洋溢着动人的关怀与真诚。signatory： 签名人；pithy：精炼的，简洁有力的；brim with： 洋溢着，充满着。

17. ground： 态度，立场；recipient：接受者。

18. well-crafted： 精心设计的。

19. 年轻人已经习惯于电子化的交流，所以一封手写的信笺对于他们而言真的会很与众不同，值得纪念甚至是珍藏。

20. deletable： 可删除的。

21. white out： 用修正液掩盖错字；sloppy： 粗心的，草率的。

22. boilerplate： （可供模仿的）标准化文本，陈词滥调。

23. stock： 老套的。

24. hyperbole： // 夸张法。

25. exaggerate： 夸张，夸大。

26. highlight： 突出，强调。

27. stilted： （言谈）呆板的，不自然的。endprint