As a young boy, I sometimes travelled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mail carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.

In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when I was a boy it was such fun to stick your fingers through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.

On Dad's final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. “Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route, ”he used to say, “and a story at every one.”One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.

Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read, “Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs.” Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the ground, but the mail was always delivered. On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young girl wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few buttons on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to $32, 000.

A dozen years ago, when I travelled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad's

death, the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.

As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green, and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.

I made a turn at the corner and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.

At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes. “What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas？” he asked.

“The letters？”

“I guess you never knew.”

“Knew what？”

“Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad who answered all those letters every year.”

I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn't hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old oak table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.

For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.

第二篇：20xx高考英语话题作文写作指导+佳作欣赏(2)

话题写作（二）

家庭、朋友和周围的人（Family, Friends and People Around）

话题体裁

我们生活在同一个世界上，社会大家庭、我们的小家庭、亲密的朋友和周围的其他人都支持、帮助和关心过我们，我们的关系相当密切，我们之间发生着许许多多难忘的故事，因此该类话题的写作也体现在各类题材中，如用记叙文讲述故事、用说明文解释关系，用议论文论证关系，甚至用应用文如书信等表达感情。

话题内容

话题属于个人与家庭成员（主要是父母）、朋友和周围的人的故事和关心的描述和介绍。该话题常涉及的内容有：1。家庭成员和亲戚的关系，包括：祖辈与子孙之间的关爱、尊重或代沟问题，父母与子女之间的关心、教育或溺爱问题、兄弟姐妹相互帮助、相互理解或矛盾和摩擦问题；与其他亲戚或家属之间的交流、交际问题等；2.朋友间的问题，如帮助、关心、理解、支持或误解、矛盾的解决等问题；3.其他人如邻里之间、师生之间、同事之间以及其他社交活动中发生的关系与故事等。在写作过程中，一般是要根据题目要求，或描述故事经过、过论证人物关系或解释说明原因与现象。

话题词汇

该类话题写作中常用的词汇可参考：

1. 家庭成员之间关系的重点词汇：

Take good care of关心，爱护；be strict with/in对…严格;considerate考虑周全；spoil宠坏，溺爱；easy-going温和宽容的；show respect to表示尊重；live in a harmonious family together共同生活在和谐的家庭中

2. 朋友之间故事或关系的词汇：

Make friends with结交朋友；be close friends是亲密的朋友；help and care with each other互相帮助，互相关心；share happiness and sadness with同甘共苦；misunderstanding误解；conflict矛盾

3. 与周围的人的关系和故事的描述词汇：

Hospitable好客的，招待周到的；get on/along well with与…相处融洽；more than my teacher不仅仅是我的老师；offer enthusiastic service提供热情服务；quarrel争吵；fight打架；look down upon蔑视；laugh at嘲笑

话题句型

在描述此话题时可参考的句型有：

1．The harmonies of each family are very important in the development of the whole society and the human beings, which is also of great help to keep our society’s steady and further development.

2. In a harmonious family, members should get along well with each other. Tolerance is very important, ever to the great wrong done to each other.

3. Basically, the old should be taken good care of and the young should be well brought up. Besides, husband and wife should respect and love each other, which is helpful to form more and more harmonious families

4.We should get along well with our friends. Helping and understanding are very important and we - 1 -

should be tolerant with each other as well.

5.All in all, a friend in need is a friend indeed and friends should share pleasure and sadness with each other.

6.He is more than a teacher. He is also my good friend, supplying me with both knowledge and care. 话题作文

母亲节来临之际，某国际网站发起“子女与父母的关系”的大讨论，许多的中外学生都纷纷发帖表达自己的观点。请你用英语写一篇120-150词的短帖，发表你的看法。内容包括：父母和子女的关系;父母在子女学习、生活、事业中的作用；父母在社会上的地位；子女应如何对待和回报自己的父母。

写作指导

本话题作文要求就“父母和子女的关系”发表自己的观点和看法。从提示要点来看，除了描述父母与子女的关系外，重点说明父母对于子女的帮助与关心，以及他们应该得到的回报。根据生活常识，结合自己的体会，可以参考如下几个要点：

1. 父母是我们的第一任老师，教会我们要在生活中明辨是非，在学习中不断进步。

2. 生活中父母是我们的好朋友，帮助我们建立家庭、成就事业，不图任何回报。

3. 由以上分析总结出父母的地位和应该受到的待遇。

4. 表达自己的观点和看法；孝敬父母，回报他们的养育之恩。

5. 这样做的好处：有助于建立和谐家庭，享受幸福家庭生活

佳作欣赏

Parents should always be remembered for providing us not only with love and support when we were young but also with help and guide when we grew up and began to work..

Parents are always the best teachers in our study both at our lessons and in our life. They help us to tell good from bad and make greater progress in every field. In addition, they are our best friends in our daily life. They are willing to help us build up our own family and business without asking for anything in return.

Therefore, parents are the greatest people in the world. They should be loved and respected in every family. In my opinion, we should do whatever we can to support and take care of them, especially when they are too old to earn their living. Only in this way can we build more harmonious families and live happily together with our parents.

一试身手

假如你叫Mary,你的笔友Jane写信给你，说最近她无意中在很多人的面前开了她一个朋友的玩笑，那个朋友生气了，这使她很尴尬。Jane为此非常烦恼。请你个Jane写一封120词左右的回信，告诉她你也曾经有过类似的经历，但是通过和朋友的交流，取得了相互谅解，最后和好如初。请你结合自己的亲身经历，就怎么样处理这类问题给Jane提一些建议。信的开头以为你写好，不计入总词数。

Dear Jane,

How are you? I’m sorry to hear that you now have some problems with your friend

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