Dear Yuan,

These days general computer skills are a general requirement for professional staff. A lot of computer experts are self-taught. Having said that, we have some IT support here in Melbourne, although I normally don’t ask them for any help throughout the entire year because you need to fill in a lot of request forms just to get them over to help. 

I can understand the frustration of the lack of IT support in Fengshan. That is perhaps another reason why you’ll need to rely on yourself. I remember aremark by a respected home-mate from Guilin, who used to be a very high-ranking official with Chiang Kai-Sek (Jiang Jieshi) in Taiwan, and who helped me a lot when I first arrived in Australia in 1987. She said to me: “Always bear in mind that you are the only person in the world that can help yourself. Don’t count on others.” This remark gave me a lot of strength and courage to go on to achieve what I have achieved so far. I think this would apply to you. 

I’ll try to find some books for you, good ones that you can read from time to time. These days there are a number of good books on the web, but we need to find that. Books are relatively affordable in China. In Australia, books are terribly expensive. A book will normally cost about 100 Australia dollars. So each time when I go back to China for fieldwork, I would buy some books and bring them back to Australia. If you need any particular books from China, I can ask Luo Jie of Uncle Li in Beijing (Little Uncle’s classmate, who is also a good friend of mine) to get them for you. But I’ll definitely try and find some book for you from Australia, too. 

How is your laptop? Is it still working? I’ll see if I could get hold of one for you when I go to Beijing in November. 

Best wishes,

Uncle
 
Vocabulary:
staff            n. 职员
Melbourne         (地名)墨尔本
frustration       n. 挫折
remark          n. 言辞
count on         依靠（depend on）
relatively        adv. 相对而言地
fieldwork        n. 考察
definitely        adv. 明确地，肯定地
 
Answer questions according to the above：
1. According to Uncle’s email, what kind of problem might Yuan has?
 
2.  What contributed to Uncle’s achievement?
 
3. What’s uncle’s suggestion about improving Yuan’s computer skill?
 
4. What’s the difference between books in China and those in Australia?
 
Background Information:
毋庸置疑传统的信函往来越来越被电子邮件交流所取代，虽然不同的电子邮件系统提供的用户界面千差万别，但是标准的电子邮件都是由以下几个主要要素组成的：
To （收件人栏）—— 输入收件人的电子邮箱地址
Cc （抄送栏）—— 输入接受抄送文件的人的电子邮箱地址，并且收件人知道此抄送信息。
Bcc （密件抄送栏）—— 输入接受抄送文件的人的电子邮箱地址，而收件人不知道此抄送信息。
Subject （主题栏）—— 输入邮件的简短文章概括介绍。收件人能在其信箱中的邮件列表中清晰浏览此内容。
Message text area （正文栏）—— 输入邮件文章内容
Attachments （附件栏）—— 输入邮件附带的附件信息

在邮件开头的加上问候语能使信件读上去更加的友好和人性化。很常见的E-mail中的问候语和称呼如：
Hello, Mike, 
Greetings!
Hi, Jason,

英文e-mail写作开头应采用倒金字塔的写作方式，即重要内容写在前面，随着叙述的一步步展开，重要性渐渐减弱。这种方式的关键在于，在紧张、有限的版面内尽快地把信息传达给读者。

书写英语E-mail时可以不必拘泥正式信函的格式要求，罗嗦的格式套话往往会减弱邮件信息的强度。因此使用简单的结束语再添加上名字和缩写就已足够。现在常用的简单结束语方式如：Thanks、Regards，甚至用缩略的结束语THX(Thanks), TTFN(ta ta for now)也足以用为邮件的结尾了。
 
Key:
1.       the lack of computer skills and IT support.
2.       a remark by a home-mate who once helped him that people should depend themselves.
3.       His suggestion is to read books and help himself.
4.       The price. (Books in China is relatively affordable and those in Australia is terribly expensive)