From a child I was fond of reading

河北張家口一中 閆洪偉

精彩導讀

本杰明·富蘭克林是美國杰出的文學家、政治家、思想家、發明家，被稱為“美國之父”。閱讀為他一生打下堅實基礎，他最大的遺憾是在渴求讀書的時代，找不到合適的書讀。為此他選擇12歲就到哥哥的印刷廠做學徒，借以接觸到豐富的書籍資源。他讀書是重塑并形成個人能力的過程。讓我們一起共讀富蘭克林的自幼愛讀書的心路歷程。

?體裁 人物傳記 文章詞數 4 6 3 難度指數 ★★★題材 名人故事 建議用時 8′

From a child I was fond of reading，and all the little money that came into my hands was everlaid outin books.Pleased withThe Pilgrim's Progress，my first collection was of John Bunyan's works inseparatelittle volumes.I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R.Burton'sHistorical Collections；At a time when Ihadsucha thirst forknowledge，more proper books had not fallen in my way.There was a book of Defoe's，calledAn Essay Upon Projects，and another of Dr.Mather's，calledEssays to Do Good，which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking thathad an influence on my life.

In 1717 my brother James returned from England with apressand letters to set up his business in Boston.Although I was twelve years old，I decided toserve asan apprentice（學徒）till I was 21.Then I made progress in the business quickly，andhad access tobetter books.Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night，when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the morning，lest it should be missed or wanted.

About this time I met withThe Spectator.I had never before seen any of them.I bought it，read it over and over，and was much delighted with it.I thought the writingexcellent，and wished，if possible，toimitateit.With this view I took some of thepapers，and，making shorthintsof each sentence，laid them by a few days，and then，without looking at the book，tried to complete the papers again，by expressing each hintat length，and as fully as it had been expressed before，in any suitable words that should come to hand.Then IcomparedmySpectator withthe original，discovered some of my faults，and corrected them.But I found I wanted a stock of words，or a readiness in recollecting and using them.Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse（韻文）；and，after a time，

when I had pretty well forgotten the prose（散文），turned them back again.

I also sometimes mixed my collections of hints，and after some weeks tried to reduce them into the best order，before I began to form the full sentences and complete the paper.This was to teach me methods in thearrangementof thoughts.By comparing my work afterwards with the original，I improved a lot，which encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be an English writer.My time for these exercises and for reading was at night，after work or before it began in the morning，or on Sundays，when I stayed in the printing-house alone.

Reading check

What good qualities should we learn from Benjamin Franklin according to the text？Please write a review for the passage.

Language study

Ⅰ.Words in the context

文中詞條p r e s s（P a r a.2）（P a r a.3） 紙；試卷 文章；論文 I r e a d a p a p e r o n t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n y e s t e r－d a y.我昨天讀了一篇關于美國獨立戰爭的文章。生義例句T h e i n v e n t i o n o f t h e p r i n t i n g p r e s s i s o f g r e a t s i g n i f i－c a n c e.印刷機的發明有重大意義。p a p e r基本含義按壓；催促引申含義印刷機

Ⅱ.Vocabulary

1.separateadj.分開的；不同的

2.lestconj.唯恐；以免

3.excellentadj.卓越的；優秀的

4.imitatev.模仿；仿效

5.hintn.暗示；跡象

6.arrangementn.整理；安排

7.lay out花（錢）；鋪開；設計；闡述

8.have a thirst for渴望

9.have an influence on對……有影響

10.serve as擔任；充當

11.have access to有權使用；接近

12.if possible如果可能的話

13.at length充分地；詳盡地；終于

14.compare...with把……與……相比

Ⅲ.Difficult sentence

By comparing my work afterwards with the original，I improved a lot，which encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be an English writer.

翻譯：______________________________________________________________

【點石成金】本句主句是I improved a lot。By comparing my work afterwards with the original為方式狀語。主句之后的which引導定語從句，先行詞是前面整個主句，從句中in time不是“及時”的意思，而是“經過一段時間后”。