“果皮”笔友网 外国笔友 英文笔友 penpalling penmatters.org

英文 笔友小知识（三）

Penpal friends generally find one another through a service which can be either online or in a magazine. They list their interests, a brief description of themselves which includes gender and age and they are either matched with someone they will be compatible with or they choose their own pen friend.

通常在网络或者杂志上我们可以找到笔友信息，这些媒体上会列出笔友的爱好，简单的介绍，比如性别，年龄等，然后一般他们会直接分配看起来谈得来的笔友，或者他们自己选择。

Some penpal matching services are based on common goals or beliefs. The people joining want to find a friend they can write to who sees the world the same way they do.

很多寻找笔友的服务都基于人们进行笔友通讯的目的，那就是人们想找一些和自己世界观相同的人，来通信交流。

Before the advent of the internet many people worldwide would instant message each other in an entirely different way. They were penpal friends and although they shared much of the same information we do today with online buddies, their method of communication was significantly slower.

互联网发明以后，世界范围内的人们开始使用即时消息来沟通，之前的话，人们沟通相同的信息，但是他们的沟通方式非常之慢。

Penpals can live thousands of miles apart and begin a dialogue which will include everything from family members to the political systems of their countries.

笔友们即使相隔万里，也可以对话和沟通，谈论从家庭成员到两国政治体制不同的任何事情。

Decades ago penpal friends were all the rage with teenagers. They would find a friend somewhere else in the world and then spend hours writing handwritten letters and mailing them via the post office to one another. In some cases it took weeks to get a reply but a big part of the experience was awaiting the letters.

几十年以前，笔友在年轻人之间非常流行。他们一般找一个世界其他角落的笔友，然后花上几小时的时间写信然后通过邮局邮寄给对方。有的时候，信笺要几周才可以到达，但其实“笔友”体验中很大一块就在于“等待”的魅力。

Many penpals would include photographs of themselves so that the other person could get a better sense of who they were corresponding with. Gifts would even be exchanged even though the two people had never met one another. Their connection was real though and they enjoyed it very much.

许多笔友都会邮寄自己的照片，这样笔友起码知道他们在和谁通信。笔友见也经常交换礼物。他们的沟通非常真实，笔友间也非常享受这种联系的方式。

It wasn’t uncommon for people who wrote one another back and forth to continue the practice for years sharing milestones such as birthdays, graduations and even marriages.

Penpals often care deeply for one another they laugh and cry with them. Share in the best moments of life and comfort them through the worst. The procedures may have changed over time, but pen friends still exist and people from one corner of the globe can meet and develop a friendship with someone thousands of miles away all through the use of the written word.

Many penpal friends would talk on the telephone and eventually meet forging lifelong friendships. Today the experience is more high tech and the letters can be sent within seconds via email. It’s easy for someone in Europe to send a note to someone in North America and receive a reply back within moments. The information sharing is quicker and although the letters are typed on a keyboard and read across a screen, the emotions born from that are real.

笔友间通信，特别在某些重大的日子，如生日，毕业日以及结婚纪念日，来回写信持续了若干年的例子一点也不鲜见。

笔友见通常都会注重彼此之间的苦与乐，分享生命中幸福的时刻，在困难中安慰彼此。一些形式的东西可能改变了，但是今天，笔友们依然通过这种“文字”的方式交流和建立深厚的友谊。

许多笔友也会通过电话交流，最后见面然后建立起终生友谊。在今天，这种体验被快捷的email变得更加有高科技含量，比如欧洲的笔友发条信息给北美的笔友，不一会就会收到回复。虽然从笔端和从电脑键盘蹦跳出的文字，感觉最真实的是前者。

【果皮笔友网】 penmatters.org