写给未来的我的一封信英语作文通用20篇

I have a brother. He is younger than me. When our parents have bought us

presents, I will be the first to take presents, or if there is something to eat,

I will make the choice before my brother. My mother educates me that I should

share things with my brother. Until then I realize the meaning of sharing.

To whom it may concern,

I am one of your customers(顾客). I ordered(订购)a set of(一套) Bookworm Series on your website two weeks ago, but I didn’t receive them until yesterday. And much to my disappointment, thebooks were so poorly packed up that the cover of one book was torn. To makematters worse, it is not a complete set, as I found one book missing.

I am sorry to have received such poor service, and I believe I have every rightto ask you to deal with this problem. I hope that you either return my money ordeliver a new set of books to me. Besides, I’d like to be informed of theprocess of your dealing with my complaint.

Lookingforward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

Nothing is difficult if you put your heart into it. Nothing is easy if you

don’t try your best.

We often hear people say, “Never give up.” A person who believes in these

words will keep trying to pursue his goal no matter how many times he fails. In

my opinion, the quality of determination to succeed is an important one to have.

Therefore, I believe that we should never give up.

One reason is that if we give up easily, we will achieve nothing. It is not

unusual for us to fail in our first attempt at something new, so we should not

feel discouraged. Besides, if we always give up when fail happens, we will can

not develop new skills. Finally, we should never give up because as we work to

reach our goals, we develop confidence, and this confidence can help us succeed

in other areas of our lives.

Probably the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln. Born into

poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight

elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown. He could

have quit many times - but he didnt and because he didnt quit, he became one

of the greatest presidents in the history of America.

Lincoln was a champion For the reason that ---he ,never gave up.

In short, no matter you succeed or not, you can learn something, no matter

what we learn will help us to become more confident. If we give up, we have no

chance to make our dreams come true, if we keep trying, there is always a

chance, that we will succeed one day. Thank you very much!

世上无难事，只怕有心人。如果你不努力，没有什么是容易的。

我们经常听到人们说:“永不放弃。”一个相信这些话的人，无论失败多少次，都将继续追求他的目标。在我看来，成功的决心是很重要的。因此，我认为我们不应该放弃。

一个原因是，如果我们轻易放弃，我们将一事无成。我们第一次尝试新事物时失败并不罕见，所以我们不应该感到气馁。此外，如果我们总是在失败的时候放弃，我们就无法发展新的技能。最后，我们永远不应该放弃，因为当我们努力实现我们的目标时，我们会建立信心，这种信心能帮助我们在生活的其他方面取得成功。

也许最伟大的坚持就是亚伯拉罕·林肯。林肯出身贫寒，一生都面临失败。他在8次选举中失败，两次失败，并经历了精神崩溃。他本可以放弃很多次，但他没有，因为他没有放弃，他成为了美国历史上最伟大的总统之一。

林肯是一个冠军，因为他从不放弃。

总之，无论你成功与否，你都可以学到一些东西，无论我们学到什么都会帮助我们变得更加自信。如果我们放弃，我们就没有机会实现我们的梦想，如果我们继续努力，总有机会，我们终有一天会成功。非常感谢!

dear kate,

this term i moved to a new house and studied in a new school. but i always missed my friend. my old house was move comfortable than this new house. i wanted to go back to my old house.

everything was strange for me,so i couldnt study better. i felt nervous in the first test. and i got bad scores,i felt very sad. the teacher shouted at me. and then,i felt under too much pressure and very tired. my parents were also sad with me. when my classmates knew this thing,she helped me,and gave me some advice. later,i thought i can be better next time.

i hope to get on well with everyone and get a good mark soon.

yours,

li hua

dear zhang,

my name is liming.guo dehao you recently?

thanks your help i was only able to enter high school,im happy.i am very delicious new environment singular,and new school is very beatiful.here the new teachers and new classmates very good relations,so i in the new environment of very happy.i do not worry, i will study hard to repay your exs education.

finally, the teacher you want a happy blessing fortunately, good health.

best wish for you!

your student,

liming

I have many good teachers, but my favourite teacher is Miss Li. SW he is a

very good teacher.

She is very young, but her English is very good. She teaches us English

every day. Her class has so much fun.She sings songs with us, plays games with

us. We are so happy . And we learn English well. Our English are very very

good.So I like her very much.

She likes reading books and playing sports. After class, Miss Li often

plays sports with us. We are very happy. We all love her very much.

This is my favourite teacher.She is a good teacher .I like my English

teacher very much. What about you?Do you have a good teacher, too?

亲爱的老师：

您好!

还记得前几天上英语课的时候，您从第一组开始点我们回答问题。

您是从第一个开始依次点起，我找出了规则。因为你的问题是要我们一人翻译一个句子。于是我兴高采烈的找起了按道理应该是我翻译的那一句。不一会二我找到了我要翻译的那一句。于是我就开是试着翻译这一句，我知到按道理我应该是翻译这一句，所以我也就没顾得上看其它的句子。终于要轮到我回答了，我刚准备站起来，却突然听到您喊的不是我的名字。我的心情犹如股票从涨到跌，这是何等的悲伤，因为全组的人都按规则点完了，唯独我一个人没点，我当时心想难到老师真的对我的英语不抱一丝希望了，我的心……我趴在了座位上。

正在这时我似呼听到了一个熟悉的名字，是的，是老师在喊我的名字。我站起来的一刹那，我既高兴有不高兴。我高兴的是老师对我的英语还抱一丝希望，我不高兴的是其它的句子我看

都没看，那回翻译。老师点起来的后果可想而知，我结结巴巴的临时翻了半句，还不知到对不对，我只见老师的书已打到我的脸上。接着我在老师的呵斥声中坐下了。

老师我想对您说几句心里话，老师我知道您之所以最后点我，是因为你怕我不会翻译那一句长的，您认为我不会翻译那句，那么我也许真的是不回翻译了。因为老师是学生一大部份原动力的源泉。还有您不应该破坏规则，也许您是好心，但是任何事物既然有它的规则，就不要去破坏它的规则。就像我读过的一篇文章中写的那样，文章里的主人公有一个蝴蝶茧，一天，小主人公看见蝴蝶即将破茧而出，看见蝴蝶捅破了一个孔，看见蝴蝶这样费劲，就把茧剪破了，果然蝴蝶很轻松的飞出来了。小主人公那知到这是害死了蝴蝶，它刚出来不久，折腾了2下，就死了。老师这些都不重要，重要的是您当着全班同学打我，我的……我说这些，老师请您不要生气。

最后祝老师工作顺利，身体键康!

您的学生

dear head master of f & b department:

first of all, we thank you for the perfect service and providing delicious

foods, which give us a deep impression for everything you done. here, our

company specially thanks you and your team, and sends the best regards and the

most sincere gratitude to all of you. at the same time, we specially thank an

outstanding employee ------ __xwhom gave the most cooperation during the

events.

at the end, we sincerely thank for the all supports from you and your

colleagues.

millions of thanks!

your sincerely

beijing __x co., ltd.

date: __-__-____

Xiao Ming,

Hello!

You are always my best listener to help me analyze problems and solve

difficulties, and I often play your analysis, but since you started practicing

eloquence, I have not only failed to encourage you, but also started to feel

bored with you. But you not only dont mind, but you have always been

considerate of me. I am very sorry for you, and thank you for being willing to

be my listener after that. Thank you for your tolerance and forgiveness.

Today is your birthday. Congratulations on youre one year older. Happy birthday!

Yours,

____

小明：

你好!

往常你总是做我最好的听众帮我分析问题解决困难，而我也时常扮演你的分析，但自从你开始练口才的当下，我不但没有鼓励你还开始对你感到厌烦。可是你不但不介意，还一直体谅我。我对你感到很抱歉，也谢谢你在那之后还是愿意做我的听众。谢谢你一直以来对我的包容和宽恕。

今天是你的生日，恭喜你成功老了一岁，生日快乐!

姓名：__

The weather of these days is really bad. Its foggy and there is haze in

the air.So， we cant see the things very far.Every morning， when I pull back the

curtain， I only can see the building dozens miles away.When I go to school， I

must be very careful when I go across the street.Besides， the air is dirty

because of the haze. I even feel hard to breathe.My mother tells me to wear a

respirator. I do as she tells.Because of the bad weather， car accidents happen

more frequently. I hope drivers can drive more carefully and keep safe.

Dear Parents of students:

Hello!

New Years Day is approaching, the school staff to your way: "Happy New Year!" According to the provisions of the superior documents, our school New Years Day holiday date: January 1-3, 20__ (Sunday - Tuesday). In order to ensure the health and safety of students on New Years Day holiday, and in order to make students spend a meaningful short holiday, here, we hope you can cooperate with us to do the following work:

1. Students have entered the comprehensive final review stage this term. Please urge your children to do their homework and prepare for the final exam.

2. Please strengthen your childrens safety education. First of all, pay attention to fire safety. Now the temperature drops, the wind high dry winter, is the high incidence of fire, carbon monoxide poisoning accidents season, please strengthen the childrens fire safety education, do not play with fire, do not start fires, in case of fire and other incidents to learn to save themselves, to ensure their own safety, and timely dial 119 fire alarm; Secondly, pay attention to traffic safety. To consciously abide by the traffic laws and regulations, do not ride motorcycles, under 12 years old students are not allowed to ride bicycles, do not take no license, no license, illegal transport of vehicles, etc. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the safety and reasonable diet of household gas and electricity, so as to prevent the occurrence of overeating, food poisoning and other harmful events.

3. Please ask the children to strictly enforce prohibition of drugs, alcohol and smoking, prohibit to play games in the game hall, prohibit reading and watching pornography, violence and other books, films and TV programs, prohibit to go to pornographic websites and do not play games for teenagers, prohibit to go to bars, karaoke bars and other game places. Parents, please strengthen supervision, nip in the bud.

4. Educate children to learn self-control, improve the ability of self-management and self-protection. Guide children to learn various safety skills, deal with illegal infringement, in order to timely carry out self-protection.

5. During the holidays, please encourage and support children to participate in community public welfare activities and improve their social practice ability. Should arrange the child attends recreational and sports activity appropriately and other quality education activity, instruct the child to deal with the relation of good recreation and study.

6. During the festival, our school leaders are on duty. Parents can contact us at any time if they need. In case of any special circumstances, please contact the school immediately.

The safety education of students holidays cannot be separated from the support and cooperation of families. Lets work together to ensure that children have a healthy, civilized, safe and fulfilling New Years Day holiday.

May your children make progress in their studies! May the whole family be happy and healthy!

Dear Xiao Wang,

I am very glad to learn that you are going to visit me during the week-long holiday.

[我很高兴得知你要在我为期一周的假期里来看我。]My parents will also be happy to see you again.[我的父母也很高兴再次见到你。]I am sure you will enjoy every minute here. [

我相信你会喜欢这里的每一分钟。]

I have arranged our schedule for the holiday as follows.[我已经安排好我们的日程安排的假期如下.]On the first day you arrive, I will show you around our campus. [在你来着的第一天，我会带你参观我的校园。]On the second day, we will visit the art gallery and the music hall.[第二天，我们去参观艺术馆和音乐厅。]Next day,we will climb a hill in the northeastern part of the city.[第三天，我们去攀爬城市东北部的山峰。]On the top of the hill, we can have a wonderful bird’s eye view of the city.[在山顶上，我们可以鸟瞰这个美丽的城市。]During the next three days, we’ll make some short trips to some places of interest nearby，such as the Swan Cave, the Golden Lake, etc.[接下来的三天，我们去附近的名胜古迹来些短途旅行，例如天鹅洞，金色湖。]On the last day, I’ll see you off at the railway station.[最后一天，我会到火车站送你。]

Please remember to call and tell me your train number and time of arrival so that I can meet you at the railway station. [请记得打电话告诉我你的火车号和抵达时间以便我去火车站接你。]By the way, it is very hot here and we have a lot of sunshine, so don’t forget to wear

you sunglasses. [顺便提一下，这里天气很热阳光强烈，所以不要忘了戴太阳镜。]

I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.[我期待很快见到你。]

Sincerely yours,

Zhang Ying

Dear Robert,

Im glad to receive your letter. Now I will tell you something about my plan

for summer vacation after the final exam. Firstly, I will learn to drive. I

think driving can be useful. Secondly, I will take some English courses.

Thirdly, I will visit some tourist attractions. It must be very exciting. Last,

I will do some reading in the vacation. What about you? I hope you can have a

pretty vacation.

John

Invitation

Thank you for inviting me to take part in your school about English gramer

problem. I am free these days and i wrote a book called . i would go and i hope

you schools teachers and students can give me some value advice.i will arrive

at 6thand stay to 8th June 2011.

nt cast your net never kill you consciously leave otherwise dont blame us

youre welcome. Voice just fell, shi ling feng said that our two race though

they had been enemies but to our this generation should resolve

contradictions.

Even though I was born of the wind, but I believe that I cant stop my

ability but I believe I can dissolve our two race Mao Dun. Now that we are all

human and said to the angel of the Milky Way so we should not completely make

antinomy. Our two race make antinomy can make dark emperor set in again, chief

of the fathers of mine told me that because we have the relationship between the

two family hopeless so would make the galaxy in the rule of the great dark. Now

our two race should unite completely guards the Milky Way.

Oh for below said that if it werent for two communities because we make

antinomy is not back to cause this tragedy its time we should reflect on. Next

year is our two race against diablo emperor day here I also want you to work

together against diablo emperor. All of them are Shouting.

Diablo in the second attack the Milky Way all people united together to

resist dark emperor rule. Because everyones efforts to achieve the success of

this time. And this time the big hero is our masked men - wind walker, shi ling

wind

20 June 2020

Dear Mr. Seaton， Thank you very much for taking me with you on that

splendid outing to London. It was the first time that I had seen the Tower or

any of the other famous sights. If Id gone alone, I couldnt have seen nearly

as much, because I wouldnt have known my way about. The weather was splendid on

that day, which I thought was rare.

I still remember some people told me that in Britain there was weather and

no climate. During the same day, it might snow in the morning, rain at noon,

shine in the afternoon and be windy before the night falls. So I think I was

lucky.

I think the river trip was the best thing of all. London really came alive

for me as we saw it from the Thames during that wonderful journey down to

Greenwich. It was all tremendously exciting - a day that I shall never

forget.

Thank you for giving me such a great birthday treat.

Yours sincerely,

Linda Chen

Wu Tao:

吴涛：

Hello!

你好!

In life, there are some things that are really difficult to say clearly; maybe one of my actions makes you have a great view; but to tell the truth, I always have an idea that good friends must not have anything to do with money; not that I am too realistic, but that there are some things, as long as the money is linked, how deep feelings will eventually be unhappy and dispersed.

人生之中，有一些事情，真的很难说清楚;也许我的一个行为，就让你产生了极大的看法;可是说实话，我一直有一个观念，好朋友之间，一定不能跟金钱有任何挂勾;不是我太现实，而是有一些事情，只要跟钱挂勾了以后，那么有多深的感情，最后都会不欢而散。

As a stable working person, I always think you should do a good job and make some achievements in your work. So when you borrow money from me to do business, I really disapprove of 10,000 people. I think people should not be too greedy in this life. Because you are an iron rice bowl person, if you do business, then your stable life will be broken. For my friend, Ive been trying to persuade you, but I believe you must have misunderstood me.

作为一个有稳定工作的你，我一直觉得你应该要好好工作，在工作上有所建树;所以当你向我借钱做生意的时候，我真的一万个不赞成;我觉得人这一生，不应该太贪心;因为你是一个端铁饭碗的人，如果做了生意以后，那么你稳定的生活，就将会被打破;所以作为朋友，我一直在劝你，但是我相信你一定误解了我。

To tell you the truth, when you ask to borrow money, I can say that I am not without money; but I think that there will be problems between friends if they have something to do with money; if you ask me to borrow money because you are in urgent need, then I will never hesitate; but if you take money to do business, then it must be risky; if you make money, then there will be risks between brothers. It must be easy to say, but if you lose money, will our relationship survive when I ask for money?

说实话，当你开口借钱的时候，我可以说，我并不是没有钱;而是我觉得，朋友之间，如果跟钱扯上关系以后，那么就一定会出问题;你要是因为急用，找我借钱，那么我决不犹豫;可是你是把钱拿去做生意，那么这一定是有风险的;如果你赚钱了，那么兄弟之间，都一定好说;可是如果你亏了，当我找你要钱的时候，我们的关系还能保存吗?

Maybe you really dont understand me very well, thats what youve always been thinking; if a person borrows money from me to do business, I wont borrow it either; if a person has difficulty borrowing money from me, I can help him borrow it without me; because I think that doing business and encountering difficulties are two different purposes; so I didnt lend money to you, so I let you see so much. Law.

也许你真的不太理解我，在一直的观念就是如此;如果一个人找我借钱做生意，我有没有我都不会借;如果一个人有困难找我借钱，我没有我都可以帮他找人借;因为我认为做生意和遇到困难，这是两个不同的用途;所以我才没有借钱给你，才让你有了那么大的看法。

You said that since then, our brotherhood has ceased; in fact, I feel very sad to hear such words; do you mean that our brotherhood is measured by money? In my opinion, you dont treat me as a brother at all; if you treat me as a brother, then I believe you wont say that and ask me to borrow money; because the real brother must be pure and never have anything to do with money.

你说从此以后，我们兄弟之情就断了;其实听到这样的话，我觉得很伤心;难道说，我们兄弟之情，就是用金钱来衡量的吗?在我看来，你根本就不把我当兄弟;如果你把我当兄弟，那么我相信你就不会说这种话，也不会找我开口借钱;因为真正的兄弟，一定是纯洁的，跟金钱永远也不会扯上关系。

In this society, money is really not a good thing; if you dont have money, people will look down on you, and if you have money, they will borrow it from you; if you have it, what is it? But when I cant borrow it, then I will become an enemy between brothers and friends, so instead of becoming an enemy in the end, why dont I borrow it from the beginning?

在这个社会之中，钱这个东西，真的不是一个好东西;没钱那么别人看不起你，有钱别人又要找你借;有借有还，这还没有什么?可是当借了以后，还不起的时候，那么兄弟之间，朋友之间，就会成了为仇人;所以与其最后都会成为仇人，那么我何不从一开始，就不要借。

Dear Miss Luo,

hello

A year has slipped away from our laughter between our eyes, and we should say goodbye to you. Although we only wanted to work for a short year, you left me a deeper impression than the foreign teacher who taught me for five years.

I used to think that Chinese class is a boring thing, but since I know you, I like Chinese class.

First of all, I think you love to encourage classmates. When I answer questions in class, if the answer is right, you will look at me with happy eyes and ask me to make persistent efforts. If I got it wrong, you encouraged me with a gentle voice and spoke to the whole class about my problem. Whether I am right or wrong, I feel happy.

Secondly, I think you are very earnest and meticulous in doing things. For example, when we borrowed arrows from the grass boat, you not only let us learn the surface meaning, but also took us to study the text deeply. To my surprise, you also let us listen to the pingshu, to stimulate the interest of the students, so that the students learn more practical.

You still love to delay, I used to think that it is to deprive me of time to play, but a long time I understand the love for us then, let us learn more knowledge.

Finally, I think you are very concerned about the students, once, there was no meal in the canteen, the students had to be hungry, but you did not ignore, but to invite them to eat noodles.

All in all, you are wonderful, admirable and unforgettable. It seems that this is the main reason that you are better than my original teacher!

I wish you success in your work!

Your students

As the saying goes,if you have great talents,industry will improve them;if

you have but moderate abilities,industry will supply their deficiency.This

saying reflects the importance of diligence.The life of a lazy man is of no use

to both himself and others.What’s worse,the man who is too lazy to work is more

likely to beg or steal.Therefore,everyone should be diligent when he is

young.

Diligence is the key to be useful. "Are frequently compensated with good

training, a hard points to", only diligent, can get good grades.

From my point of view,diligence is of great significance in one’s life and

career.The story of Hua LuoGeng is a case in point.Hua luogeng is due to the

diligence, to become a famous mathematician.Hua luogeng in jintan county, home

is very poor in childhood, dropping out of school at home, very early to help

his father miscellaneous shop for a living, but he never give up the pursuit of

mathematics. At eight o clock every night, go home after good accounts, to

study their favorite mathematics, often study late into the night. In this way,

day after day, year after years efforts, hua luogeng finally got a chance to,

when in tsinghua university math department assistant, he is very cherish the

hard-won learning opportunities, he like a duck to water, swam in the sea of

mathematics every day, give yourself only five or six hours of sleep time, it is

really hard to believe. Hua luogeng even developed after lights out, also can

the habit of reading. He, of course, there is no specific function, is just a

kind of logical thinking activity of the mind. Under the lamp, he took a book

and look at the topic to think for a moment, and turning in bed, close the

meditation, start, to solve the problem in your mind run into difficulties, then

turn off the bed, open the book for a while. In this way, a book can see ten

days, he you can finish it 2 days, otherwise cant sleep. Hua luogeng who is

considered the unusual assistant. After studying so hard to learn, later, became

a famous mathematician.For example,Isaac Newton was often laughed at by others

at primary school because of his poor performance in study,but he turned out to

be a great physicist through his persistent hard work.

We learn from hua luogeng, in the later study, should be hard work, hard

work, so as to achieve good results.

I like dogs， because they are mans good friends. They can do many helpful

things to us， such as guarding our houses， greeting guests， helping the police，

and so on. Some trained dogs can even lead the blind people and save peoples

lives. So theyre treated as our family members. I hope someday dogs will be in

great harmony with human-beings.

My Darling McGeorge

You said that things seemed clearer when they were written down. Well, here

with a very boring letter in which I will try to put everything down so that you

may read and re-read it at a horror at your folly in getting involved with

me.

Deep breath. To begin with ,I love you. With a depth and passion and I have

felt for no one else in this life. And if it is astonishes you, it astonished me

as well. Not, I hasten to say, because you are not worth loving. Far from it.

Its just that, first of all,I swore I would not get involved with another

woman. Secondly, I have never had such a feeling before and it is almost

frightening. Thirdly, I would never have thought it possible that another human

being could occupy my waking and sleeping thoughts to the exclusion of almost

everything else. Fourthly, I never thought that even if one was in love one

could get so completely besotted with another person so that a minute away from

them felt like a thousand years. Fifthly, I never hoped,aspired, dreamed that

one can find everything one wanted in one person.

I was not such an idiot as to believe this was possible. Yet in you I have

found everything I want: youre beautiful, gay, giving, gentle, idiotically and

deliciously feminine, sexy, wonderfully intelligent and wonderfully silly as

well. I want nothing else in this life than to be with you, to listen and watch

you, your beautiful voice, your beauty, to argue with you, to laugh with you, to

show you things, to share things with you, to explore your magnificent mind, to

explore your wonderful body, to help you, protect you, serve you ,and...bash you

on the head when I think you are wrong...

Not to put too fine a point on it, I consider that I am the only man

outside mythology to have found crock of gold at the rainbows end. But, having

said all that, let us consider things in details. Dont let this become public,

but, well...I have one or two faults. Minor ones,I hasten to say. For example I

am inclined to be overbearing. I do it for the best possible motives, all

tyrants say that, but I do tend, without thinking, to treat people underfoot.

You must tell me when Im doing it to you, my sweet, because it can be a very

bad thing in a marriage.

Right, the second blemish. This actually is not so much a blemish of

character as a blemish of circumstance. Darling, I want you to be you on your

own right, and I will do everything I can to help you in this. But you must take

into consideration that I am also me in my own right. And that I have a head

start on you. What Im trying to say is that you must not feel offended if you

are sometimes treated simply as my wife. Always remember that what you lose on

the swings you gain on the roundabouts. But i am an established ‘creature’ in

the world, and so on occasions you will have to live in my shadow. Nothing gives

me less pressure than this. But it is a fact of life that has to be faced.

Third, a very important and nasty, blemish. Jealousy. I dont think you

know what jealousy is, thank god, in the real sense of the word. I know that you

have felt jealousy over Lincolns wife and child, but this is what I call normal

jealousy, and this to my regret, is not what Ive got. What I have got is a

black monster and any goodness that I have in my make-up. It is really a Jekyll

and Hyde situation... my Hyde is stronger than my good sense and defeats me,

hard though I try. As I told you, I have always known that this lurks within me,

but I could control it, and my monster slumbered and nothing happened to awake

it. Then I met you and I felt my monster stir and become half-awake when you

told me of Lincoln and others you have known, would you like to end with your

letter my monster came out of its lair, black, irrational, bigoted, stupid,

evil, malevolent. You never know how terribly corrosive jealousy is; It is a

physical pain as though you have swallowed acid or red hot coals. It is the most

terrible of feelings. But you cant help it at least I cant and god knows Ive

tried. I dont want any ex-boyfriends sitting in church when I marry you. On our

wedding day I want nothing but happiness both for you and me, but I know I wont

be happy if there is a church full of your ex-conquests. When I marry you I will

have no past, only a future. I dont want to drag my past into our future and I

dont want you to do it, either. Remember I am jealous of you because I love

you. You are never jealous of something you dont care about.

Okay enough about jealousy. Now let me tell you something. I have seen a

thousand sunsets and sunrises, in a thousand sunsets and sunrises on land where

it floods forest mountains with honey-coloured light, at sea where it rises and

sets like a blood orange in a multi-coloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out

of the vast ocean. I have seen thousand moons. Harvest moon is like gold coins,

winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans feathers. I have

seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot silk or blues as a

kingfisher or transparent as glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving

ponderously and murderously. I have felt winds straight from the south pole,

bleak and wailing like a lost child; Winds as tender and warm as a lovers

breath; Winds that carried the astringent smell of salt and the death of

seaweeds; Winds during the moist rich smell of a forest floor, the smell of a

million flowers. Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast, or

winds that made the waters lap at the shore like a kitten. Ive known silence:

the cold, earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; The implacable stony

silence of a deep cave; The hot, drugged midday silence when everything is

everything is hypnotized and still moved into silence by the eye of the sun. The

silence when great music ends. Ive heard that summer cicadas cry so that the

sound seems stitched into your bones. Ive heard a tree frogs in an

orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million

emerald fireflies. Ive heard the Keas calling over the grey glaciers that

groaned to themselves like old people as they inched. Their way to the sea. Ive

heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to

their sleek golden wives, the crisp staccato admonishment of the rattlesnake,

make the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the red deer knee-deep

in purple heather. Ive heard wolves baying at a winters moon, read howlers

making the forest vibrate with their roaring cries. Ive heard the squeak, purr

and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes. I’ve seen hamming birds

flashing like opals round a tree of scarlets blooms, humming like a top. I have

seen flying fish skittering like quicksilver across the blue waves, drawing

silver lines on the surface with their tails. Ive seen Spoonbills flying home

to roost like a scarlet banner crossed the sky. Ive seen Whales, black as tar,

cushioned on a cornflower blue sea,creating a Versailles of fountain with their

breath. I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sun

irons their wings smooth. I watch tigers, like flames, mating in the long grass.

I have been dive -bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devils

hoof. Ive lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played a

host of Dolphins. I have met a thousand animals and see a thousand wonderful

things.

All this I did without you. This was my loss. All this I want to do with

you. This will be my gain. All this I would gladly have forgone for the sake of

one minute of your company, for your love, your voice, your eyes, hair, lips,

body, and above all for your sweet, ever surprising mind which is an enchanting

quarry, in which it is my privilege to delve.

Gerald Durrell