The Test

Natalie Hess

查理在一本詩集里發現了一些用鉛筆記下的讀詩筆記，美妙的文字使他迫切地想見到筆記的主人。他費盡周折，終于得以和文字的主人通信，從而建立了深厚的友誼。經歷了戰爭的硝煙，他們終于有了見面的機會。可是當他們見面時，查理卻發現文字的主人不像她的文字那樣美妙。查理會如何面對這個人呢？

CHARLIE WAS A STUDENT at the University of Indiana. He studied hard and often went to the library to read books. One day he found a book of poems. Its pages were torn， and in the white spaces by the poems there were notes written in pencil. Charlie enjoyed reading the poems， but more than anything， he enjoyed reading the notes written in pencil by the poems. The person who wrote them seemed very smart， and the writing was perfect. Charlie wished he knew the person; even just to see what the person looked like. He imagined the person to be very good-looking， just like the writing. Then one day， on one of the last pages of the book， Charlie found a note with a name under it. The name was “Stella Richardson”. “Maybe this is the name of the person who has written all these wonderful things in pencil，” Charlie thought. He looked up the name “Stella Richardson” in the student directory （姓名住址薄）.

It took Charlie a few weeks to find out information about Stella. He had to ask many people and go many places. Stella was no longer a student at the university. He found out that she had moved to New York， and when he got her address， he wrote her a long letter. Stella wrote him back. Her writing was even more beautiful than her notes in the book of poems. Soon， Charlie was writing Stella once a week， and through letters they learned many things about each other. Charlie felt like he had known Stella forever. He couldn't wait to meet Stella and he decided that he would take a trip to New York to see her.

But Charlie's plans quickly changed. World War II had started， and Charlie was sent away with the army. He was sent to France， where he lived and fought as a soldier for three years.

It was difficult and expensive to send letters from France， but for three years Charlie and Stella continued to write each other. In his letters， Charlie told Stella everything that was happening to him， and Stella wrote back wonderful letters that helped Charlie make it through the war. When the war was over， Charlie wrote Stella to tell her that he was coming home. The army was sending him through New York， and he hoped he could meet Stella at the train station. Stella wrote that she would be wearing a red rose in her hair so Charlie could recognise her.

Charlie dreamed of red roses on his way back from France. He was so excited. Finally， he would meet the person who he felt was his best friend. When Charlie got off the train in New York， he saw a young woman with lovely green eyes and thick， curly brown hair. He thought she was beautiful， and he wished she were Stella， but there was no red rose in her hair. Charlie looked and looked at all the people in the station. Finally， he saw an elderly woman standing alone. There were wrinkles across her face， and her hair was gray like the colour of the train. She looked up at Charlie， and then Charlie noticed a red rose.

Poor Charlie felt very sad and disappointed. This was not the woman he dreamed about. But this was the woman who， for many years， never stopped writing him such wonderful letters. Charlie knew that he loved the way she wrote. He loved the way she thought about things， and he decided that she could be a good friend to him， even if she wasn't what he had imagined.

Charlie walked up to the woman and introduced himself. “Hello，” he said. “I'm Charlie， and you must be Stella. May I take you out to dinner？”

The elderly woman smiled. “You seem like a very nice young man，” she said， “But I am not Stella， and I don't quite understand what this is all about. A young woman just walked by and asked me to put this rose in my hair. She told me that if someone named Charlie asked me out to dinner， I should tell him that Stella is waiting for him in the corner drugstore. She said that it was an important test.”

And so Charlie had passed the test of a lifetime — the test of love！