I went to college but not direct from high school; there was an interval of six or eight months. Sometimes it works out well to take a short vacation from the academic world. I have a grandson who took a year off and got a job in Aspen, Colorado. After a year of skiing and working, he is now settled into Colby College as a freshman. But I can't advise you, or won't advise you, on any such decision. If you have a counsellor at school, I'd seek the counsellor's advise. In college (Cornell), I got on the daily newspaper and ended up as editor of it. It enabled me to do a lot of writing and gave me a good journalistic experience. You are right that a person's real duty in life is to save his dream, but don't worry about it and don't let them scare you. Henry Thoreau, who wrote Walden, said, I learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. The sentence, after more than a hundred years, is still alive. So, advance confidently. And when you write something, send it (nearly typed) to a magazine or a publishing house. Not all magazines read unsolicited contributions, but some do. The New Yorker is always looking for new talent. Write a short piece for them, send it to The Editor. That's what I did forty-some years ago. Good luck.
Sincerely,
E. B. White
September 15, 1973
亲爱的R小姐：
17岁的年轻人常常觉得未来似乎是可怕的，甚至是令人沮丧的。你应该读一读我1916年前后的日记。
你问我关于写作的事——我是如何写作的。写作并没有什么诀窍，如果你喜欢写作并想要写作，那么你写就是了，不要管你在哪里，你在干其他的什么事，也不要管是否有人注意到你。在任何作品发表之前，我必须完成50万字（很大一部分是日记），只在圣尼古拉斯那里发表了几篇短小的文章。如果你想写关于情感、夏末、成长等方面的内容，那么就开始写吧！大多数作品并没有一个“蓝图”，我的大部分随笔就没有情节结构。它们就像森林中的藤蔓那样，是我思维深处意识的流动。你可能会问“谁会关心这些呢？”每个人都会关心的。你也可能会说“这些已经被人写过了”，那么所有的内容以前都被人写过了。
我上过大学，但并非一离开高中就进大学，这中间相隔了6到8个月。有时，从学业中解放出来，给自己一个短小的假期，这会有意料不到的效果。我有个孙子，中断了一年学业，在科罗拉多州的阿斯本找了一份工作。他在那里，边滑雪边工作地过了一年。他现在是科尔比学院一年级的新生。但是，我不能、也不会建议你作同样的决定。如果你的学校里有辅导员的话，你最好寻求他的建议。我在上大学（康奈尔大学）时开始在一家日报实习，最终成为日报的编辑。它促使我进行大量的写作，并积累了良好的新闻工作经验。
你那样说是正确的，一个人生命中真正的职责是保持他的梦想。但不要因此而忧虑，也不要被它们吓倒。写《瓦尔登湖》的亨利·梭罗说：“我至少从自己的实验中知道：如果一个人满怀信心地朝着自己梦想的方向迈进，百折不挠地去实现他梦想中的生活，他将会取得平凡生活所意想不到的成功。” 100多年后，这句话仍然被人们广为传诵。因此，请你充满信心地前进吧！当你写好作品后，把它（打印好的清样）寄给杂志社或者出版公司。并不是所有的杂志社都接受未经预约的投稿，但其中一些是接受的。《纽约客》就一直关注新涌现出的人才。投稿的时候附上一封写给编辑的短信，我40多年前就是这样做的。祝你好运！
真诚的
E．B．怀特
1973年9月15日
询证函
询证作为审计中一种常用的程序和方法，它包括查询和函证。
查询是审计人员对有关人员进行书面或口头询问以获取审计证据的方法。函证是指审计人员为印证被审计单位会计记录所载事项而向第三者发函询证的一种方法。
formidable [f:midbl] adj. 可怕的；令人敬畏的；难对付的
This is a formidable task.
这是一项很艰巨的工作。
heed [hi:d] n. 留心；注意；听从（劝告或警告）
Take heed will surely speed.
小心谨慎是成功的保证。
interval [intvl] n.（时间上的）间隔；间隙
The interval between major earthquakes might be 200 years.
大地震之间的间隔时间可能有 200 年。
unsolicited [nslisitid] adj. 未经要求的；自发的；自我推荐的
Many Americans do not appreciate unsolicited offers.
大多数美国人不欢迎未经请求的忠告。
如果你喜欢写作并想要写作，那么你写就是了，不要管你在哪里，你在干其他的什么事，也不要管是否有人注意你。
你那样说是正确的，一个人生命中真正的职责是保持他的梦想。但不要因此而顾虑，也不要被它们吓到。
如果一个人满怀信心的朝自己梦想的方向迈进，百折不挠的去实现他梦想中的生活，他将会取得平凡生活所以想不到的成功。
Sometime it works out well to take a short vacation from the academic world.
work out：计算出
I have a grandson who took a year off and got a job in Aspen ,Colorado.
take... off：起飞；匆匆离去；急忙离开
弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫致罗伯特·塞西尔女士
Virginia Woolf to Lady Robert Cecil
弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫（1882—1941），英国小说家、评论家，也是一位女权主义者。她的主要作品有长篇小说《海浪》、《黛洛维夫人》、《到灯塔去》、《幕与幕之间》等和评论集数种。伍尔夫被看做是引导现代主义潮流的先锋，人们甚至认为她革新了英语本身，有人在一篇评论里说她将英语“朝着光明的方向推进了一小步”。她在小说中尝试运用意识流的写作方法，试图描写人们心底的潜意识。她在文学上的成就和创造至今仍有很大影响。
My dear Nelly,
I meant to thank you before for your letter, which is the first letter I have ever had about my literary productions, and therefore very delightful! You can't think what vain beasts writers are—but Nessa will tell you. I don't think the artist is so much tempted that way, because all her or his, work is done in the open, and is therefore always criticized, whereas a poor wretch of an author keeps all his thoughts in a dark attic in his own brain, and when they come out in print they look so shivering and naked. So for other people to like them is a great encouragement. Not that a review deserves praise, it is necessarily rather dull work reviewing I think, and I hate the critical attitude of mind because all the time I know what a humbug I am, and ask myself what right I have to dictate what's good and bad, when I couldn't, probably, do as well myself!
Please think over in your own mind some serious subject that wants writing about, and tell me when we next meet. I am a lady in search of a job at present—that is a good large ambitious subject to which to devote the next ten years of my life. I asked somebody who knows about such things, and he advised history of some kind, and added "When you're 70, you will begin to put it on paper" . Really I can't guarantee that I shall be in a fit state for putting it on paper, when I am 70; but these little considerations didn't seem to occur to him where such a thing as history is concerned.
