Reading books brings with it numerous benefits giving people the opportunity to explore new worlds and meet new people both real and imagined. It expands our knowledge and understanding of the world around us and those far away.

To celebrate the wonderment of books and those that make them come to life, UNESCO established 23 April as World Book and Copyright Day in 1995. However, it got its start long before that in Spain.

Setting aside a day to celebrate books traces its beginnings to Spanish writer Vicente Clavel Andrés. In 1922 he proposed the idea as a way to honor fellow countryman author Miguel de Cervantes. Four years later the first celebration took place on 7 October, Cervantes’ birthday, but was moved to 23 April, the date of his death, in 1930.

In 1995, the UNESCO General Conference decided to pay admiration to authors and books world-wide as a way of encouraging everyone to access books. Choosing 23 April seemed a logical choice, besides being the date of Cervantes’ death, it also happens to be the date William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega died, among other famous authors. Additionally, several distinguished authors were born on 23 April making it a symbolic date in the world literature.

Annually since 2001, one city around the world is chosen to be the UNESCO World Book Capital for a year. The selected city is tasked with carrying out activities over its year-long designation(指定) to encourage “a culture of reading and diffusing(传播) its values in all ages and population groups in and out of the national borders”.

The initiative was put forward by Spain in 2001, and Madrid was designated the first capital, followed by Alexandria and then New Delhi. Following those designations cities are chosen each year by the Director-General of UNESCO in consultation with an advisory committee made up of representatives from international organizations representing authors, libraries and publishers. UNESCO has named Accra as the 2023 World Book Capital.

Never overlook the pleasure of reading a great work of fiction. 【小题1】 Men who read it develop their minds by not only educating themselves with new information but also learning how to think. Reading works of fiction makes a better man.

【小题2】 Reading literary fiction develops our vocabulary, strengthens our speech, and makes us a better writer. Literary fiction, rather than easy-to-read fiction, has the potential to expand our vocabulary because while it exposes us to new thoughts and ideas, it does so through plenty of grammatical styles, forms of wording and undiscovered words.

Fiction is culture. 【小题3】 Reading reveals different cultures and attitudes from a variety of people from various time periods and places. Each great work of fiction is beautiful and an important piece of culture that shapes the different cultures which treasure it.

Fiction develops our theory of mind. 【小题4】 A developed theory of mind allows a person to interact socially and use their cognitive abilities to read thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Studies have found that works of literary fiction can impact our theory of mind so that we may guess motives and thoughts in social situations based on experiences gained from fiction.

When we read literature, we’ll learn things about the world, others and ourselves. 【小题5】

“Why does grandpa have ear hair?” Just a few years ago my child was so curious to know “why” and “how” that we had to cut off her questions five minutes before bedtime. Now a soon-to-be fourth grader, she says that she dislikes school because “it’s not fun to learn.” I am shocked. As a scientist and parent, I have done all to promote a love of learning in my children. Where did I go wrong?

My child’s experience is not unique. Psychologist Susan Engel notes that curiosity — defined as “spontaneous (自发的) investigation and eagerness for new information” — drops greatly in children by the fourth grade.

In Wonder: Childhood and the Lifelong Love of Science, Yale psychologist Frank C. Keil details the development of wonder — a spontaneous passion to explore, discover, and understand. He takes us on a journey from its early development, when wonder drives common sense and scientific reasoning, through the drop-off in wonder that often occurs, to the trap of life in a society that denies wonder.

As Keil notes, children are rich in wonder while they are rapidly developing causal mechanisms (因果机制) in the preschool and early elementary school years. They are sensitive to the others’ knowledge and goals, and they expertly use their desire for questioning. Children’s questions, particularly those about “why” and “how,” support the development of causal mechanisms which can be used to help their day-to-day reasoning.

Unfortunately, as Keil notes, “adults greatly underestimate (低估) young children’s causal mechanisms.” In the book, Wonder, Keil shows that we can support children’s ongoing wonder by playing games with them as partners, encouraging question-asking, and focusing on their abilities to reason and conclude.

A decline in wonder is not unavoidable. Keil reminds us that we can accept wonder as a positive quality that exists in everyone. I value wonder deeply, and Wonder has given me hope by suggesting a future for my children that will remain wonder-full.