感謝信：遺失的藝術

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： 一款即時通訊軟件。

2. Pragued： 布拉格，捷克首都和最大城市，歐洲歷史名城。

3. antiquated： 陳舊的，過時的。

4. Huffington Post：《赫芬頓郵報》，美國的一個多語言的新聞博客網站，始創于2005年，提供原創報道和新聞評論，著重于國內外時政新聞，是美國當前影響力最大的政治類博客。

5. Roald Dahl： 羅爾德·達爾（1916—1990），英國杰出的兒童文學作家、劇作家和短篇小說作家，代表作為《查理與巧克力工廠》；Marilyn Monroe： 瑪麗蓮·夢露（1926—1962），美國女演員、模特，是20世紀50年代最流行的性感象征之一；Barack Obama： 貝拉克·奧巴馬（1961— ），第44任美國總統，是美國歷史上第一位非裔美國人總統；Ronald Reagan： 羅納德·里根（1911—2004），第40任美國總統；Audrey Hepburn： 奧黛麗·赫本（1929—1993），英國著名女演員，憑《羅馬假日》榮獲奧斯卡影后殊榮，晚年曾擔任聯合國兒童基金會特使；Conan OBrien： 柯南·奧布萊恩（1963— ），美國脫口秀主持人、喜劇演員、作家；John Lennon： 約翰·列儂（1940—1980），披頭士樂隊的創始成員、搖滾音樂家、社會活動家。

6. heckle： 打斷（表演者），對……起哄；Smothers Brothers： 史莫瑟兄弟，美國喜劇團體。

7. ensue： 接著發生，繼起；Pam Grier： 帕姆·格里爾（1949— ），美國女演員。

8. Harry Nilsson： 哈利·尼爾森（1941—1994），美國著名音樂家、歌手、詞曲創作人。

9. scrappy： 雜湊的，不連貫的。

10. gay： 歡快的，愉快的。

11. bunch： 一系列，大量。

12. aggregate： 集合，聚集。

13. 艾米從她最喜愛的圖書《吹夢巨人》中汲取靈感，將油彩、顏料水和小亮片混合在一起放入瓶中，呈現出一個她腦海中的斑斕夢境，并將這份恰當且無疑很可愛的禮物送給了作者。The BFG：《吹夢巨人》，羅爾德·達爾創作的中篇童話，講述小女孩蘇菲被意外帶到巨人國度，遇到一位可以編織和收集美夢的巨人，兩人之間展開的奇妙冒險故事；glitter： （裝飾用的）小亮片。

14. sentiment： 感情，情緒。

15. intrigue： 激起……的興趣。

16. 這些感謝信之所以如此驚艷，不僅因為他們是由家喻戶曉的名人寫就，也在于即使是最簡短精練的語句，也洋溢著動人的關懷與真誠。signatory： 簽名人；pithy：精煉的，簡潔有力的；brim with： 洋溢著，充滿著。

17. ground： 態度，立場；recipient：接受者。

18. well-crafted： 精心設計的。

19. 年輕人已經習慣于電子化的交流，所以一封手寫的信箋對于他們而言真的會很與眾不同，值得紀念甚至是珍藏。

20. deletable： 可刪除的。

21. white out： 用修正液掩蓋錯字；sloppy： 粗心的，草率的。

22. boilerplate： （可供模仿的）標準化文本，陳詞濫調。

23. stock： 老套的。

24. hyperbole： // 夸張法。

25. exaggerate： 夸張，夸大。

26. highlight： 突出，強調。

27. stilted： （言談）呆板的，不自然的。endprint