100?year?old pen pals continuing 85?year friendship100岁的笔友，85年的友谊

李培贞

主题语境：友谊 篇幅：297词 建议用时：5分钟

1 Looking back， Geoff Banks from Devon，England can hardly even remember how he firststarted writing to his American friend， CelestaByrne.

2 Geoff and Celesta were given each othersnames and addresses as part of a school pen pal program back in 1938. Theyre both now100 years old， and a lot has changed in the past 85 years， but one thing has not： They stillwrite to each other regularly！

3“I honestly struggle to remember how we got in touch， but I was talking to Celestarecently and I think it was something to do with an American schools scheme，”Geoff said.“They matched us up with Americans for a pen pal relationship， and somehow I ended upwith a letter from an American girl， and we have just kept corresponding ever since.”

4 Geoff and Celestas relationship never turned romantic， but they have shared a lotover the decades. They kept up their correspondence， sending updates about their families，friends， and work. In 2002， they finally got a chance to meet in person during a trip to NewYork City. Two years later， they met up again， but ever since then theyve gone back to penand paper.

5 Recently， theyve switched to digital forms of communication to stay in touch， some?thing thats easier on their eyes and hands. Their children have helped them set up emailaccounts， and they also have had a video chat.“I have this new thing called Zoom， I think，now to chat with her， but I leave all the technology to younger people，”said Geoff.“Theyremuch better at pressing all the buttons.”

6 Geoff says writing to Celesta has been“a source of great satisfaction”for him overthe years， and Celesta says their relationship is“like people who live next door”.

Reading Check

Detail

1. Whats the main idea of paragraph 3？

A. Where they are from.

B. What kept them in touch.

C. How they got in touch.

D. When they became pen pals.

Detail

2. What did Geoff and Celesta think of communicating in digital forms？

A. It should speed up their progress.

B. It is more convenient than before.

C. It is a creative way to communicate.

D. It should be more friendly to the old.

Inference

4. From which is the text probably taken？

A. A research paper. B. A news report.

C. A life magazine. D. A travel brochure.

Language Study

Text?centered chunks

in person 亲自

switch to 转到；转变成

set up email accounts 设立电子邮件账户