I must have always known reading was very important because the first memories I have as a child deal with books. There was not one night that I don’t remember mom reading me a storybook by my bedside. I was extremely inspired by the elegant way the words sounded.

I always wanted to know what my mom was reading. Hearing mom say, “I can’t believe what’s printed in the newspaper this morning,” made me want to grab it out of her hands and read it myself. I wanted to be like my mom and know all of the things she knew. So I carried around a book, and each night, just to be like her, I would pretend to be reading.

This is how everyone learned to read. We would start off with sentences, then paragraphs, and then stories. It seemed an unending journey, but even as a six-year-old girl I realized that knowing how to read could open many doors. When mom said, “The C-A-N-D-Y is hidden on the top shelf,” I knew where the candy was. My progress in reading raised my curiosity, and I wanted to know everything. I often found myself telling my mom to drive more slowly, so that I could read all of the road signs we passed.

Most of my reading through primary, middle and high school was factual reading. I read for knowledge, and to make A’s on my tests. Occasionally, I would read a novel that was assigned, but I didn’t enjoy this type of reading. I liked facts, things that are concrete. I thought anything abstract left too much room for argument.

Yet, now that I’m growing and the world I once knew as being so simple is becoming more complex, I find myself needing a way to escape. By opening a novel, I can leave behind my burdens and enter into a wonderful and mysterious world where I am now a new character. In these worlds I can become anyone. I don’t have to write down what happened or what technique the author was using when he or she wrote this. I just read to relax.

We’re taught to read because it’s necessary for much of human understanding. Reading is a vital part of my life. Reading satisfies my desire to keep learning. And I’ve found that the possibilities that lie within books are limitless.

Reading is not just an important professional skill.It is also a way to enjoy creative andinspiring works of literature that enrich our life experiences.In order to build your readinghabit and enjoy your reading to the fullest,begin practicing good reading skills.For example:

Read for content.

【小题1】 Don’t ignore its supporting reasons.When building up reading skills, it can be helpful to read with a pencil in hand to take notes or underline the key idea of each paragraph.

【小题2】

When encountering unfamiliar words or ideas,often the literary,historical,or socialcontext of the text can offer clues as to what the character or writer is talking about.This mayrequire a small amount of outside research to become informed on the different levels ofcontext presented by a text.

Look up unfamiliar words.

Merriam Webster online is a wonderful and thorough resource for defining unfamiliar words.Simply underline or make a list of unfamiliar words.When you reach a good stopping point,return to each word and look it up,re-reading the sentence it appeared in. 【小题3】

Become familiar with literary devices.

Some common examples of literary devices that most people are familiar with aremetaphors(暗喻),similes,personification(拟人),etc. 【小题4】.There are many more literaryelements to consider,with more advanced or less-known devices such as saying,mood,andmore.

Don’t rush

Reading for learning and enjoyment is never a quick run. 【小题5】.Do not get discouragedif you are a slow reader,especially at first.Each day,as you read,your mind will take thereading strategy it learned before and apply them again,often with greater efficiency.

In the winter of 1664-65, a bitter cold fell on London in the days before Christmas. Above the city, an unusually bright comet (彗星) shot across the sky, exciting much prediction of a snow storm. Outside the city wall, a woman was announced dead of a disease that was spreading in that area. Her house was locked up and the phrase “Lord Have Mercy On Us” was painted on the door in red.

By the following Christmas, the virus that had killed the woman would go on to kill nearly 100,000 people living in and around London — almost a third of those who did not flee.

In The Great Plague (瘟疫), historian A. Lloyd Moote and microbiologist Dorothy C. Moote provide a deeply informed account of this plague year. Reading the book, readers are taken from the palaces of the city’s wealthiest citizens to the poor areas where the vast majority of Londoners were living, and to the surrounding countryside with those who fled. The Mootes point out that, even at the height of the plague, the city did not fall into chaos. Doctors, nurses and the church staff remained in the city to care for the sick; city officials tried their best to fight the crisis with all the legal tools; and commerce continued even as businesses shut down.

To describe life and death in and around London, the authors focus on the experiences of nine individuals. Through their letters and diaries, the Mootes offer fresh descriptions of key issues in the history of the Great Plague: how different communities understood and experienced the disease; how medical, religious, and government bodies reacted; how well the social order held together; the economic and moral dilemmas people faced when debating whether to flee the city; and the nature of the material, social, and spiritual resources supporting those who remained. Based on humanity (人性), the authors offer a masterful portrait of a city and its inhabitants attacked by — and daringly resisting — unimaginable horror.