I discovered the worth of super-slow reading years ago.

Previously, if I had been really interested in a book,

I would race from page to page, eager to know what came next.

Now, I decided, I had to become a miser with words

and stretch every sentence like a poor man spending his last dollar.

 I had started with the practical object of making my book last.

 But by the end of the second week

I began to realize how much I was getting from super-slow-reading itself.

Sometimes just a particular phrase caught my attention, sometimes a sentence.

I would read it slowly, analyze it,

read it again-perhaps changing down into an even lower gear-and then sit for 20 minutes thinking about it before moving on.

 I was like a pianist studying a piece of music, phrase by phrase, rehearsing it,

 trying to discover and recreate exactly what the composer was trying to convey.

几年以前，我发现了超慢速阅读的妙处。

在那之前，我要是对一本书真感兴趣，

就会一页一页拼命往后翻，急于想知道下文的究竟。

但是现在，我决定当一个文字的守财奴，

把每个句子当作穷汉身上的最后一块钱，让它尽量延长。

我开始的目标很实际，就是想把自己读一本书的时间拉长一些。

但过了两个星期，我开始领略超慢速阅读本身给我的教益。

吸引我注意的有时是个别的短语，有时是整个句子。

我会慢慢地读，慢慢地分析，

然后再回头重读一遍--这次速度可能放得更慢--之后静坐冥想20分钟，

这才接着往下读。我就像一个钢琴演奏家在品味一段音乐，

一个乐段一个乐段地领会，接着练习一番，

尽可能挖掘并准确重现作曲家要表达的内容。