Patricia and I shared a common thread. We spent this Christmas without our mothers. She lost her mother three months ago.

My comments:

A thread is the long thing string of cotton or silk used to sew or weave clothes.

I realize that few young people ever do needle work and so I can understand sewing or weaving is somewhat an abstract concept to them.

This, incidentally, reminds me of how difficult it is sometimes to talk to the young generation, telling them, for example, how delicious pork used to taste.

Anyways, in needle work, the threads are used as a link, linking up different pieces of cloths.

A common thread between people, therefore, is a common link, something they share, something they have in common.

In the above example, both persons spent Christmas without their mothers. That is their common link, meaning that on this point, they are identical, exactly the same.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.