My English

This is a heart-breaking topic for me. When I graduated from university, I knew only the first seven letters of the English alphabet -A to G-which I used as ordinal numbers like 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or I, II, III, IV.... Like many of the university students from factories, communes and the PLA, I had not been taught any foreign language. While I was working I was preparing to take the exam for post-graduate studies. For this purpose I asked my elder sister to teach me English. Being a professional English translator, she was extremely dissatisfied with me, a highly motivated pupil. "You are the slowest student I've ever taught," she once remarked. Later, I attended night school, the Open University, and crash courses, spending nearly all my spare time on English. After failing twice, my name finally appeared on the list of successful candidates. However, it was quite a pity that in my later days, as I seldom had the opportunity to use my English, it began to fade away bit by bit. Today I've almost completely forgotten it. I feel as if I should apologize to my former self for not living up to expectations.