American Men and Women
Shi Zhecun

Various newspapers of late carry letters from readers reflecting social conditions or more often requesting solutions to knotty problems in life. I am fond of reading them because they mirror the life and thought of people of all descriptions.
The same is true of foreign newspapers. Some of them have set up special columns with special columnists in charge of answering questions. An American woman journalist named Ann Landers was once put in charge of such correspondence for over 800 newspapers respectively. Known as "Ann Landers' Column", it became extremely popular with readers. Every day, the first thing that attracted the attention of readers, totaling at least 30 million, would be this special column.
Landers' letters, later appearing in several collections, have been selling like hot cakes. Several years ago, my old friend Qian Gechuan sent me from the US two collections of Landers' letters that he had selected and translated for the benefit of Chinese learners of English. The letters were originally written in present-day English with up-to-date idioms and colloquialisms, many of which have not yet been compiled into dictionaries.
There were in the two collections altogether 200 letters to and from Landers, of which about 80% were sent by American young men and women asking for her advice on problems of marriage, love, ways of society, etc. The problems confronting them were entirely different from those of Chinese young people. Many were quite unimaginable to us. Now let me cite two striking examples for the information and chit-chat of my readers. Meanwhile, they may also serve to put our youth on the alert.
Here is the story of a 30-year-old American woman. At the age of 20, seeing all her girl friends already married, she worried about herself some day becoming an old maid and therefore quickly married a man whom she had known for barely two months. Eleven months later, they had a baby and began to lead a cat-and-dog life. And when the husband suggested swapping wives with another man for pleasure, she agreed. And they joined a club where male members could have sex with each other's wife. Then it happened that she refused to go to bed with a man chosen by her husband because he was not to her liking. She then wrote to Landers for advice.
An American girl married a poor man and managed to see him through college with money she earned my manual work. After 18 years of married life, they had three kids. Now the husband has become better off and she, instead of going out to work, stays home to keep house. Every time, however, when she goes out to have her hair done at a hairdresser's, the man will be glum and silent for three days. The reason is, she is jobless and therefore has no right for a hairdo at his expense. So she wrote to Landers with this question, "What right have I as a jobless wife and mother?"
Landers wrote back to each of the two women, telling them how to best deal with the situations. But sometimes, unable to give a direct answer in her reply, she would instead resort to some witty or humorous remarks, thus generating even more letters from readers.
American young people often show a devil-may-care attitude towards problems of love and marriage. A reader wrote to tell the following little story. A fifth-grade pupil wrote in a composition on "monotony", a subject assigned by the teacher, "In America every man is supposed to have only one wife. That's what we mean by monotony."