A letter written to a 12-year-old girl in Lithuania was delivered in December, almost 51 years after it was sent by a pen pal in Poland. “I thought that someone was pranking me,” said Genovefa Klonovska after being handed the letter, which included a handmade colored rose and two paper dolls.

The letter, together with 17 others, fell out of a ventilation hole (通风口) this summer, dirty and wrinkled, as a wall was taken down in a former post office on the suburb of Vilnius. Jurgis Vilnius, owner of the building immediately called the post office. “I’m so happy they got interested,” said he.

Street names and their numbering have changed in Vilnius, and post office workers spent months looking for the right houses and talking to current renters and neighbors, tracking down where the recipients moved to. Only five were found. In several cases children of late recipients were handed a lost letter.

“We felt a moral duty to do this,” said Deimante Zebrauskaite, head of the customer experience department at Lithuania Post.

One lady compared the experience to receiving a message from a bottle thrown into sea. People were emotional. “Some felt they saw a part of daily life of their deceased parents,” Zebrauskaite said.

In the letter to Klonovska, sent from Koezary in Poland and stamped in 1970, a girl named Ewa complains buses no longer reach her village, so she has to walk in minus 23 degree Celsius cold, and asks for pictures of actors.

Now in her 60s, Klonovska has no memory of Ewa. She probably wrote Ewa after finding her address advertising for pen pals in a newspaper, and the relationship ceased after the letter got undelivered.

“So good that the letter didn't matter much. The loss was not life-changing,” said Klonovska “What if they delivered a lost letter from a suitor (求婚者) to his love, and their wedding never happened?”

Failure is likely the most tiring experience one ever has. There is nothing more exhausting than not succeeding. 【小题1】

In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it was either too boring or too difficult. And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel. Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical, not something in our muscles and bones. 【小题2】

Years ago, I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors. Applying my own rule, I determined to write them alphabetically, never letting myself leave out a tough idea. And I always started the day’s work with the most difficult task of essay-writing. The experience proved that the rule works.

【小题3】 Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that, however hard we work, we fail again and again. In such a situation, I work as hard as I can   then let the unconsciousness (无意识) take over.

When planning Encyclopedia Britannica, I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its articles. Day after day, I kept coming up with solutions, but none of them worked. 【小题4】One day, mentally exhausted, I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself, not with me. Relieved, I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep. 【小题5】 In the weeks that followed, the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind proved correct at every step. Though I worked as hard as before, I felt no fatigue. Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing.

Human beings, I believe must try to succeed. Success, then, means never feeling tired.

We say this a lot, but we think it’s worth repeating: It’s important to get involved in your kids’ media lives - and your kids will love it too. 【小题1】 what’s a good way to stay involved with your kids’ media picks and create an opportunity to discuss them? Host a family movie night! Some tips for making it work:

Schedule it. 【小题2】 Turn off cell phones and avoid multitasking during the show.

【小题3】 If you’ve pot little kids, pre-select a group to choose from. Avoid watching the same movie over and over again. If you’ve got teens, tell them you’ll watch anything they choose as long as they return the favor when it’s your turn. Obey a “no complaining” rule.

Choose a location (场所). Hang a sheet in the backyard, prepare the necessary equipment, and sit on beach chairs to enjoy a classic like The Wizard of Oz. 【小题4】

Talk about it. The next day, make time to chat about what you watched. Kids might be interested in learning more about Hollywood’s history. 【小题5】 Talking with kids about how movie characters handled fictional situations can be a way to form your family’s values or get kids to open up about their lives.