第一篇 作者 彭景南（耶鲁大学）

Peng Jingnan: Reading

In Junior Two I read The Kite Runner. That was the first time a book moved me. And maybe because of that, I suddenly realized with pain that I had read so few. So I started reading. I read some novels that I don’t really understand in Junior Three and Senior One.

In Senior Two I encountered Milan Kundera. His sentences give out a blinding light of wisdom and beauty. Still, I don’t really understand them, but I prostrated before them. I wanted to be as wise and poetic as he is.

As more reading sharpened my critical thinking skills, I read Milan Kundera again. I find myself on an operation table, and the blinding light which had captivated me became knives. They cut into me and revealed the stupidity, ugliness and pain inside. I was hurt, but I learned to accept what I am, and found that I still love and need Kundera’s books.

This experience convinced me of the importance of reading great books multiple times. So I did. In second reading, Snowball seems more bent on power than I once thought; the Meursault I encounter at 16 is not the Meursault I encounter at 17. One can never finish reading a great book.

  Books, I still don’t understand them fully, but in reading them, I feel certain truths about myself and the world. These things guide me when I am confused, and save me when I am afraid.

第二篇 作者 李劲澄（布朗大学）

阅读

荧屏上的画面已经很大程度上代替了阅读，但是那些画面没有营养、转瞬即逝。我们需要的是能够扩充我们的知识面、精炼我们的语言、提高我们的思想水平、给我们乐趣的阅读。我们应该挑选最好的书，用最合适的方法读，这样才能有最大的收获。

阅读不是用来消遣和打发时光的，就阅读西方的文学经典来讲，它们可能有些晦涩，但是读懂它们却是一种乐趣。英语水平的提高是毋庸置疑的，阅读可以扩大单词量，增强语感，提高写作水平。文字是语言最重要的一部分，学好任何一门语言都需要大量阅读。同时，阅读经典也会让我们具有鉴别能力，知道什么是好文章什么是胡乱写出来的文章。当然，同样重要的是，阅读经典就像欣赏艺术作品一样，经常有意想不到的收获。比如幽默的语言、浩大的想象力，读到这些的时候我也许会笑出来、也许会感叹，无论怎么样，我可以紧张焦虑的心态里走出来，很放松很从容的应对每天的学习和生活。而且经典是作者的人生经历凝练出来的，阅读经典就好像积累经历，可以让我更了解我自己，找到自己的方向。这最后一点也是我坚持阅读真正的动力。

第三篇   作者 马佳琪 （人大附中）

A SHORT SHORT ESSAY ON READING

Maria J Ma

 What is reading?

Have you ever questioned yourself before, what really is reading? To pronounce the typed words one by one, to let the index finger follow the printed letters row after row, or to turn over to the next sentence, chase the meanings page by page?

(Personal opinion comes…)

Asking ‘what is reading’, for me, is like asking ‘what is love?’ Everyone knows it, yet people may hold completely different opinions. “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes.” We all know this quote. So why are there a thousand Hamlets?

I have my answer- because when we read a book, it’s not the story we are reading, it’s our souls we are looking at.

A book is a bridge to your soul, a mirror to look at ourselves alone and clearly. Sometimes, when we read, we feel the surge of excitement like lightening running through the whole body, and there’s this passionate feeling that comes out from what seems nowhere and sends you mind wheeling around, working so fast it won’t stop—that’s when you found yourself in a book.

Some people say and believe that we read to find agreement, to find ideas in a book that we have, and I suppose it’s merely a small part of reading. Of course we seek agreement in reading, yet we also get brand new ideas and weave the whole web of linked thoughts to make our theories more accomplished. That’s the charm of reading. And to dig your personalities, to realisemore, to meditate and become more thoughtful, that is the goal.

A book is like a TARDIS, a portal through time and space.  And reading enables a person to be what he or she truly is: a book, a story. Reading, at the same time, can be writing. It’s the creation of your own story through a different pair of eyes and narrated in the words of another mind. 

So open a book, talk to your soul, tell your story.

第四篇  作者 黄紫云（实验中学）

I sat still in my chair, stunned, when I was given this topic. I exerted every effort to find a suitable answer, but I just couldn’t and ended up pacing around my room, clenching and unclenching my fists, frustrated. All of a sudden, I came up with the idea that reading means differently for me in different periods.

At the age of 5 or 6, she’s like a mother to me talking in a muted, consoling tone, when I was alone at home.

At 7 or 8, she’s like my closest friend whom I shared secrets.

At 9 or 10, she’s like a mentor who bought me not only fun but also knowledge at the same time.

At 11 or 12, she’s like a companion I would stay up with all night holding a flashlight in bed, fearing of being caught by my parents.

At 13, she’s like a stranger, unfamiliar and a little annoying. I got into a new environment and forgot all about her while indulging myself in things which only give me short, temporal, so-called happiness.

And now, at 14, she’s the entire world, my entire world­­­­­­­­­­­­. No one understands me when I am yelling out loud; no one cares about me when I am shouting and screaming desperately; everybody laughs when I sink into melancholy; everybody is solemn when I feel amused. I was like a outsider who pretend to be social, nevertheless, she’s always by my side.

It is the real tranquility that enchants me.

I can eventually get rid of the hurly-burly of everyday life, of wasting time on the merest trifles, of being interrupted from concentration, of being instructed to do this and to do that.

It is the inner peace that absorbs me.

Reading prevents me from being detracted from my original purpose and goals while it keeps me on the right track and reminds me to make introspection into my own mind to question myself the meaning of my life, my existence.

Reading a great book is like having a conversation with the most profound wisdom and the greatest minds of all time and cultures, not just regular chats you have with some friends, but kind of spiritual inspiration and it is strange unsettling, the connection between me and the people even hundreds of years ago, that I can see thing through their eyes and still being myself.

I love the feeling when the border between the world in the books and reality blurs, that I become a part of it and I play a role in it, that I create my world in it and it mine.

Reading doesn’t just mean ‘something’ to me, but it’s already an in-separate part of me.

第五篇 作者陆家屹(人大附中)

Why reading?

The first English book I have ever read was Dahl‘s Charlie and the chocolate factory. Actually, I simply began English reading because of curiosity, as I had watched the movie of Charlie and the chocolate factory beforehand and was curious to see the original work. More than satisfying my interest this small book aroused it. So then, the original simple curiosity turned into a longing for more interesting stories. Words after Words, sentences after sentences, pages after pages, books after books, so much passed under my eyes until I suddenly realised that these books are not only stories for us to entertain.

There is something mysterious and exciting buried somewhere in books for us to discover; something which shows the true meaning behind the pantomimes. I can’t tell what it really is as I have not read enough, but I am sure that something is there. Hesitate not and come with me! Open the book in your hand and find the treasures within!

第六篇  杨照雨（人大附中）

To me reading is the lamp which is kindled by its ray, to guide my steps to where the dawn is. In reading I shall be able to survive from being a satellite rather than a system, a microphone rather than a speaker. I hear so that I may speak. Ergo I hold books in a tight embrace, to be bathed in radiance of the past, to feel awe when people in former days say that which lies close to my own soul, to define me as I am, to see, to seek, and to live. Then reading will lead me out of darkness and into the original glory of life.

                                      Yang Zhaoyu

第七篇  王安迪（耶鲁大学）

What reading means to me

    To me, reading is a great joy but not an entertainment. I enjoy reading, more precisely reading classic because I consider this to be a critical way to improve myself mentally. I think there is no more exciting thing than reading books which were written by the most outstanding and notable human beings with great effort. These classics are the pride of mankind and the wisdom of nature acquired by delicate observation and long-time meditation. I read the books. I converse with the author. I learn the knowledge. I have an insight into the love and the truth. That’s what reading means to me and that’s sufficient for me to fall in love with books.

第八篇  王乔伊（Andover高中）

What does reading mean to me

 Although I can not compare to many Joyboomers who read a lot of books,I think reading gives me a lot----not only the excitement,but also spiritual encouragement.Since Oscar defined movies and travelling as a kind of reading,I’d like to share my experience of watching a movie,called Dead Poem Society.

 This is not a Hollywood adventurous movie,but a warm and touching one.The idea throughout the movie is the conflict between dream and reality.Students in a extremely strict school wanted to fought to follow their dreams,but finally the story ended with a tragedy.What inspired me most is the words a unique poem teacher told students:Carpe diem (a Latin words which means chase your own dream).I just suddenly thought of my own life.Being told to choose a job which can offer you a good salary,I surprisingly find out I’m not living my life for MY dream,but living for money.Meanwhile,I also figured out I don’t live for score,too.By listening to my inner voice,I began to do something about going green and protecting the environment.Then everything seems to be clear and easy.That’s why I always regard this movie as my principle of my life.

 I think it’s clear about the question above.Reading can help you find out the true meaning of life,give you a guide line as well.No matter what the book is,it’s worthy reading if you can hear the echo,can resonant with the writer.Reading means looking into a mirror,and recognize yourself again and again.We live to read.

第九篇  李悦诚（北大附中）

What Reading Means to Me

Reading is a big part of my life. It seems certain to me that people cannot live well without books. If you are tired of reading, you are tired of living. Just as Oscar says, ‘We live to read’.

Firstly, reading makes me knowledgeable. I admire scholars completely. When I ask them where they gain their knowledge and they almost have the same answer-- books. I love books from then on and this is an unchangeable motivation of reading. I find something I don’t know or don’t understand in books. This arise my interest to read another, and another. Sometimes I don’t agree with the author and develop a brand new idea of mine. I want to go deeper into it, so I read another. Reading is an opportunity to communicate with the great minds, to debate with the wiser, and to discover myself. 

Secondly, reading makes me joyful. I am concentrated in books when reading that I almost forget the time. This is the best condition of reading. I won’t waste a fine afternoon with sunshine on my face and spring breeze in the air by reading a book. It’s becoming clear that the statement ‘no journey without books’ is true. The more you read, and the journey will be more and more meaningful.

See, reading is everything. ‘If you are cold, books will warm you. If you are too heated, books will cool you. If you are depressed, books will cheer you. If you are too excited, books will calm you’. Just like that.