Getting Started-Listen And Read
The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
Mark: Hi, Nam. Your book must be very interesting. What are you reading?
Nam: I'm reading a really good book in English called Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram.
Mark: Dang Thuy Tram? Who is she?
Nam: She was born in Hue in 1942. She studied medicine in Ha Noi, and volunteered to join the army at the age of 24, working as a surgeon during the resistance war against the US.
Mark: That's when she started her diary, isn't it?
Nam: Yes. She wrote her diary while she was working in a field hospital in Quang Ngai Province. The diary contains personal accounts of her experiences during the war and shows her love for her family and country.
Mark: Wow! It sounds interesting. Is she still alive?
Nam: Unfortunately, she was killed by the enemy while she was doing her duty in the jungle in Quang Ngai Province. She was only 27 then.
Mark: Oh, that's really sad. But how did people find her diary?
Nam: An American soldier found it and saved it from being burnt. Then more than 30 years after Tram's death, a copy was returned to her mother. The diary was published in Viet Nam in 2005. It has also been translated into several other languages.
Mark: That's amazing!
Nam: Now she is considered a national hero for devoting her youth and whole life to saving other people's lives in the war.
Mark: Can you lend me the book when you finish reading it? I'd like to read it myself.
Nam: Sure!