新手如何選擇一本適合自己的英文讀物？

To cultivate one’s taste in English prose, the most effective way is to read English books extensively. Yet one may be at a loss to choose the appropriate

books, especially as a beginner. I would like to share some of my experience.

在培養(yǎng)閱讀英文的興趣方面，最有效的途徑就是廣泛的閱讀英文作品。但是尤其對(duì)于初學(xué)者而言，在面對(duì)應(yīng)該選擇什么樣的讀物時(shí)很容易不知所措。在此呢，我希望可以分享一些自己的經(jīng)驗(yàn)來(lái)給大家一些指引。

My first English novel was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, recommended by many English teachers and professors as an ideal book for English learners. But my experience was somewhat disastrous. Stumbling along the lines, I had great difficulty in understanding the novel, let alone enjoying it. It’s not the vocabulary that troubled me, but rather the way Austen constructs sentences, and her way of thinking, which seemed too remote to me at that time. My fading enthusiasm was much recovered after reading Hemingway’s novel Farewell to Arms. No long and complicated sentences. And I particularly liked his concise and straightforward style. So my first suggestion is, as a beginner, you’d better choose contemporary novels instead of classical ones. You can easily engage yourself in reading, get fun out of it, and gradually build up confidence. I do not mean to exclude classical novels for ever. Actually, the second reading of Pride and Prejudicegreatly pleased me (probably the result of my improved English comprehension). It is only that classical novels are less accessible to beginners due to their language styles and social background. I’d like to recommend three contemporary novelists to you-Ursula Le Guin, Ernest Hemingway, and Doris Lessing.

我所讀的第一本英文小說(shuō)是簡(jiǎn)·奧斯丁的《傲慢與偏見(jiàn)》，這本書(shū)被許多英語(yǔ)老師和教授推薦給英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者。但是我個(gè)人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)卻比較悲催。在閱讀的過(guò)程中我連理解文章都非常困難，更談不上欣賞文章了。倒不是里面有很多生詞，更多的時(shí)候是簡(jiǎn)·奧斯丁的句法結(jié)構(gòu)，還有她的思維模式，總讓我覺(jué)得和我不在一個(gè)維度。而我的熱情是在讀了海明威的《永別了，武器》才重新回到我身邊的。這本書(shū)里沒(méi)有什么復(fù)雜的句子。我非常喜歡這種簡(jiǎn)約明快的文字風(fēng)格。所以我對(duì)于初步涉足英文閱讀的人的第一個(gè)建議就是，先讀一些當(dāng)代的文章而不是經(jīng)典的文章。你可以更為輕松的獲得閱讀快感，并且找到閱讀樂(lè)趣，最終慢慢的建立起自信。我并不是說(shuō)就完全不用去讀古典小說(shuō)了。事實(shí)上，當(dāng)我第二次拿起《傲慢與偏見(jiàn)》來(lái)讀的時(shí)候，閱讀體驗(yàn)非常不錯(cuò)(當(dāng)然也不排除是由于我的英文水平提高了的緣故)。主要的原因是因?yàn)楣诺湮恼聦?duì)于新手來(lái)說(shuō)由于它的年代和語(yǔ)言方式更為難以理解。我在此推薦3個(gè)當(dāng)代的小說(shuō)家給大家：厄休拉·勒奎恩，歐內(nèi)斯特·海明威還有多麗絲·萊辛。

However, reading novels is not the only way to improve your English. In fact, if you restrict yourself to novels you will miss a lot of treasures. English essays can at once inform you, entertain you, and refine your taste in English. The best example is Bertrand Russell’s work. Its language is plain, yet you cannot help feeling the elegance and the peculiar sense of humor. His simple language enables his philosophy within the reach of ordinary people. The same is true of George Orwell’s work. Here comes my second suggestion-essays are indispensable.

但是呢，閱讀英文小說(shuō)并不是唯一一個(gè)提升英文水平的辦法。事實(shí)上，如果你只讀小說(shuō)，就會(huì)錯(cuò)失一大塊寶藏。英語(yǔ)散文同樣可以在第一時(shí)間給你知識(shí)和娛樂(lè)，同時(shí)還提高你的英文閱讀品味。最好的例證就是伯特蘭·羅素的作品了。雖然說(shuō)他的語(yǔ)言本身比較平實(shí)，但是你依然能夠從他的語(yǔ)言當(dāng)中體會(huì)到那份優(yōu)雅和特別的幽默。他語(yǔ)言的簡(jiǎn)單明了使得他的哲學(xué)可以被大多數(shù)普通人所理解。具有相同特點(diǎn)的還有喬治·奧威爾。所以我的第二個(gè)建議就是——散文同樣是必不可少的。

My last advice is never follow others’ recommendations and opinions blindly, however famous or influential the person might be. Some days ago, I listened to the audiobook of Somerset Maugham’s autobiography The Summing Up. In a chapter he regards Edward Gibbon and Samuel Johnson’s style as pompous. Though I admire Maugham’s prose, I cannot agree with his view. Probably one can label Johnson’s work as pretentious, but definitely not Gibbon’s. In fact, his lucid style makes his works highly readable, and you can hardly believe they were written over 200 years ago. Therefore, we should be open to various ideas, but always think and determine for ourselves. As a saying goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. With that in mind, we are bound to find out our favorite writers through reading and develop our fine taste in English.

我的最后一個(gè)建議就是永遠(yuǎn)都不要盲目地跟隨那些所謂名人或者有社會(huì)影響力的人的建議和推薦。我記得以前，我聽(tīng)毛姆自傳《總結(jié)》的音頻書(shū)籍。在某一章，他認(rèn)為愛(ài)德華·吉布森和薩繆爾·約翰遜的風(fēng)格是非常浮華的。雖然我非常欣賞毛姆，但是我并不同意他的觀(guān)點(diǎn)。可能人們可以把約翰遜的文章說(shuō)成是浮華，但是吉布森的文章則絕對(duì)不能這么說(shuō)。事實(shí)上，吉布森的文字非常容易理解，以至于你都難以相信那是200年以前的作品。因此，我認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)該保持開(kāi)放的心態(tài)，但是保持對(duì)自我的忠實(shí)。就像一句老話(huà)所說(shuō)的，一個(gè)人的佳肴可能是另一個(gè)人的毒藥。有這句話(huà)在心中，我們就可以盡情的去尋找那些我們最喜歡的作者，并提高自己的英語(yǔ)閱讀品味。