As we grow old, we realize that we have so little time to read and there are so many great books that we’ve yet to get around to. Yet rereaders are everywhere around us. For certain fans, re-reading The Lord of the Rings is a traditional practice annually. One friend told me that Jane Austen’s Emma can still surprise him, despite his having read it over 50 times.
New sudden clear understandings can be gained from the process of re-reading. Journalist Rebecca Mead, a long-time English woman in New York, first came across George Eliot’s Middlemarch at 17. Since then, she has read it again every five years. With each rereading, it has opened up further; in each chapter of her life, it has resonated (引起共鸣) differently. Mead evidenced the large number of ways in which really good books not only stand the test of repeated reading, but also offer fresh gifts each time we crack their spines. These kinds of books grow with us.
Scientists have also recognized the mental health benefits of re-reading. Research conducted with readers in the US found that on our first reading, we are concerned with the “what” and the “why”. Second time round, we’re able to better appreciate the emotions that the plot continues to express. As researcher Cristel Russell of the American University explained, returning to a book “brings new or renewed appreciation of both the great book and its readers.”
It’s true that we often find former selves on the pages of old books (if we’re fond of making notes on the pages). These texts can carry us back to a time and place, and remind us of the kind of person that we were then. We’re changed not only by living experience but also by reading experience. More than the movie director, the writer calls upon our imaginations, using words to lead us to experience mixed feelings in literature.
Re-reading a book takes up more time, but as Mead confirms, the rewards make it extremely worthwhile.
【小题1】The two books are mentioned in Paragraph 1 mainly to________.| A．attract the attention of readers | B．introduce the topic of the passage |
| C．provide some background information | D．show the similarity between rereaders |
| A．recite them | B．reread them | C．recall them | D．retell them |
| A．reading benefits people both physically and mentally |
| B．readers mainly focus on feelings on their first reading |
| C．we know ourselves better through rereading experience |
| D．writers inspire the same imaginations as film directors do |
| A．call on different understandings of old books |
| B．focus on the mental health benefits of reading |
| C．bring awareness to the significance of rereading |
| D．introduce the effective ways of rereading old books |
