Whether you are in your home country or in the UK, you may want to find an English-speaking friend to write to (perhaps someone with similar interests or who is interested in your culture). This sort of friend is known as a penfriend (American English: penpal). Some people prefer to correspond using letters (sometimes called "
snail mail" because it is slower), while others prefer to use e-mail (sometimes this kind of penfriend is also called a key pal or an e-pal)不论你是在家或者在英国，你可能想找一个说英文的朋友，特别是有共同爱好的，或者对彼此文化感兴趣的笔友，和他/她通信交流；这种朋友通常被称作“笔友Penfriend”（美国称为Penpal）；有些人喜欢用写书信交流（有时被称为“蜗牛信件”，很慢，即平信），有些人会喜欢用Email交流（有时这种笔友也被称作 key pal或者 e-pal）；
To find a penfriend website, you can type penfriend, pen friend, penpal, pen pal, key pal or e-pal into a search engine such as Google: http://www.google.co.uk.
想找一个笔友网站，你只需要在搜索引擎中（如google）键入penfriend, pen friend, pen pal, penpal, key pal 或e-pal进行搜索即可。
如你想要交英国的笔友，可以试下以下链接：
If you want to find a penfriend from a particular part of the UK, you could try the following links:
English friends: http://www.pen-friends.net/england.html
Welsh friends: http://www.pen-friends.net/wales.html
Scottish friends: http://www.pen-friends.net/scotland.html
Irish friends: http://www.pen-friends.net/ireland.html
“国际笔友会”是迄今为止对大的笔友机构；
International Penpals is one of the larger penpal organisations: http://www.ipfeurope.com
International Penpals is one of the larger penpal organisations: http://www.ipfeurope.com
欧洲也有类似的笔友会，主要为国际学生服务：
Europa Pages have a penpal site for international students: http://www.europa-pages.com/penpal_form.html
安全起见，我们不应该告诉自己的一些私人信息，如个人地址，电话号码给陌生人，除非我们已经非常信任此人。如果你决定见笔友，请务必保证在公共场合见面，如果可以，带一个同伴和你一起。
For your security, you should not give out your personal address or phone number to someone until you are sure you can trust the person. If you meet your penfriend, make sure that the first meeting is in a public place, and if possible take a friend with you.
