Dear Haiqing,

　　I hear you are very unhappy these days because your parents can’t afford to buy you some brand-name shoes and garments you like very much. And I write you this letter to share with you what I think about this matter.

　　To begin with, beauty is just skin deep. Don’t you think it silly to pay so much attention to your appearance? He is a shallow person who judges others by their appearance; in the same sense, he is a shallow person who thinks that a brand-name garment can add to his glamour. So please, just forget about those brand-name things. What really matters is not whether you wear brand-name shoes or garments but whether your clothes fit you. As a student, you have to wear the school uniform on the weekdays and to be honest, you look very smart in it. Then why do you have to bother to buy the expensive brand-name things?

　　Secondly, I know your parents are both average workers. Hard as they work, they don’t earn much. Despite this, they do their best to give you a lot of things on demand. Look at the callus on their hands and wrinkles on their faces, how can you have the heart to ask for more than they can afford, which will surely break their hearts? Remember, parents don’t owe us expensive summer camps; they don’t owe us Sony Walkman; nor do they owe us Nike shoes, If you really want those fancy things, you should take a part-time job to contribute to their purchase rather than ask your parents for money to add to their already heavy burden. Don’t you think so?

　　Thirdly, we have such a wide variety of things available these days which are both nice and inexpensive. What’s the point of paying much more for those brand-name things that are not much better? My friend, take my advice, and you’ll be a wiser consumer as well as a more considerate child to your parents.

　　Poverty, sometimes, is a good thing. It can test a person’s character and it makes a man out of a boy faster than anything else. Keep working hard, and you are bound to be able to afford those things in the near future. Now you may as well focus on your study. Anyway, wouldn’t it be funny for a would-be achiever to be so preoccupied with brand-name things all day long?

　　Keep in touch.

　　Yours

　　Huangping