Dear Sir or Madam,

　　I’m sorry to bother you with this letter。

　　For quite a few days the water tap in my kitchen has been leaking. It not only wastes the valuable water resource, but also makes big noise. I am now preparing my end-of-term paper, but the noise disturbs my work. In daytime I can’t concentrate myself, at night I can’t sleep well。

　　I have informed the maintenance office of the matter and they promised me they would come to fix it. Two days have passed and nobody ever comes。

　　Please help me solve the problem. I can’t endure it any more。

　　I look forward to a quick solution.       

　　Yours sincerely,

　　Li Ming

　　12。美文赏析：

　　1.       ‘Television is doing irreparable harm’

　　‘Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television?’ How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn’t been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into our homes, we never found it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, we used to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting events. We even used to read books and listen to music and broadcast talks occasionally. All that belongs to the past. Now all our free time is regulated by the ‘goggle box’. We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in time for this or that program-me. We have even given up sitting at table and having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do-anything, providing it doesn’t interfere with the program-me. The monster demands and obtains absolute silenced and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced。

　　Whole generations are growing up addicted to the telly. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on the set. It doesn’t matter that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or spectacles of sadism and violence-so long as they are quiet。

　　There is a limit to the amount of creative talent available in the world. Every day, television consumes vast quantities of creative work. That is why most of the programs are so bad; it is impossible to keep pace with the demand and maintain high standards as well. When millions watch the same programs, the whole world becomes a village, and society is reduced to the conditions which obtain in pre-literate communities. We become utterly dependent on the two most primitive media of communication: pictures and the spoken word。

　　Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself. Television may be a splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilization. In quiet, natural surroundings, we quickly discover how little we miss the hypnotic tyranny of King Telly。

　　中文

　　电视正在造成无法补救的损害

　　我们经常听到这样的感慨：“的确如此。不过，电视出现以前我们又在做什么呢？”我们与电视为伴的时间并不长，可是，我们已经逐渐忘记了没有电视的世界是个什么模样了。在我们把这个独眼怪物请进家门之前，我们从来都不觉得打发业余时间是什么难事。难事，那时，我们享受着种种优雅的乐趣。比如，我们有自己的业余爱好；我们在家里款待客人或者在朋友家里接受款待；我们去剧院、电影院、餐馆和体育馆竞赛现场娱乐消遣。我们也时常读读书，听听音乐和广播。但是，所有这一切都成为明日黄花了。如今我们所有的余暇都被电视这个“凸匣子”主宰着。我们心急燎火地赶回家，三口两口扒完饭，就为了赶上这个或那个节目。过去我们常常围坐在餐桌前，一边悠闲地用餐，一边交换着日间的所见所闻。我们现在连这个也放弃了。一个三明治、一杯啤酒，也就够了——管它是什么呢，只要不影响电视就行。而且，这个怪物还要求(并且也得到了)绝对的安静和注意力。要是某个家庭成员胆敢在播放电视节目的时候开口说话，大家一定会立即叫他闭嘴。

　　一代又一代人在对电视的迷恋中长大了，长成了电视迷。他们饭不吃，家庭作业不做，觉也不睡。电视成了万能的抚慰者。现在，为了让孩子们保持安静，母亲们的标准做法就是：把他们关在起居室里，然后打开电视。孩子们也许会看无聊的商业广告或是暴力和性虐待等场面，但是这些都无关紧要——只要他们规规矩矩呆着就行。

　　人类的创造才能是有限的，而电视每天都需要投入大量的创造性工作。这就是为什么多数电视节目如此糟糕的原因：电视节目不可能既保持高标准又满足观众的需求。当千千万万人观看同一个节目时，整个世界变成了一个村落，而人类社会也就退回到自己的蒙昧状态了。结果，我们的交流变得完全依赖于两种最原始的交流媒介——图画与话语。

　　电视还鼓励消极娱乐。我们越来越满足于间接经验。坐在带扶手的椅子里看着别人干活，这真是太惬意了！慢慢地，电视把我们和真实的世界隔绝开来。我们变得如此懒惰，宁愿在阳光明媚的日子里呆在灰暗的房间里，守着我们的电视机，也不愿走出去、走进真实的世界。或许电视的确是一种了不起的传播媒介，但是它阻止了我们相互之间的交流。只有当我们去远离人类文明的海边或者山中度过一个假期的时候，我们才意识到电视和真实生活是多么风马牛不相及。在静谧的自然环境里，我们很快就会发现，我们并不怀念“电视王”专横的催眠曲。

　　2.       ‘New fashions in clothing are created solely for the commercial exploitation of women’

　　Whenever you see an old film, even one made as little as ten years ago, you cannot help being struck by the appearance of the women taking part. Their hair-styles and make-up look dated; their skirts look either too long or too short; their general appearance is, in fact, slightly ludicrous. The men taking part in the film, on the other hand, are clearly recognizable. There is nothing about their appearance to suggest that they belong to an entirely different age。

　　This illusion is created by changing fashions. Over the years, the great majority of men have successfully resisted all attempts to make them change their style of dress. The same cannot by said for women. Each year a few so-called ‘top designers’ in Paris or London lay down the law and women the whole world over rush to obey. The decrees of the designers are unpredictable and dictatorial. This year, they decide in their arbitrary fashion, skirts will be short and waists will be high; zips are in and buttons are out. Next year the law is reversed and far from taking exception, no one is even mildly surprised。

　　If women are mercilessly exploited year after year, they have only themselves to blame. Because they shudder at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are annually blackmailed by the designers and the big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be discarded because of the dictates of fashion. When you come to think of it, only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear。

　　Changing fashions are nothing more than the deliberate creation of waste. Many women squander vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardy been worn. Women who cannot afford to discard clothing in this way, waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have. Hem-lines are taken up or let down; waist-lines are taken in or let out; neck-lines are lowered or raised, and so on。