自幼愛讀書

山東 李全忠

讀書，是一種挑戰、一種情結、一種傳承。讀書，將“我”和孩子們緊緊聯系在一起，讓我們走向更光明的未來。

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When I was a very young girl, I was totally unaware of my big headache. In the 5th grade, my teacher put the homework assignments up on the blackboard. Since I couldn't see any assignment message, I didn't do the work. I told her there was no assignment on the blackboard. It turned out that, of course, I was wrong.

As time went by, more and more reading assignments and requirements surfaced. To read I had to place the book mere inches from my face, which gave me severe headaches. I began avoiding reading as often as possible. It wasn't easy but I was able to continue until I turned 13 without reading. By the time the problem was resolved, I was reading at a 4th-grade level and very slowly.

It was that year that my father purchased a book for me. You have to understand that for my father to buy me something was such a rare occurrence that I prized the book even though I didn't want to read it. It was The Call of the Wild by Jack London. I was hooked. I began devouring（如饑似渴地讀） books after that. Yet I still read very slowly and had a terrible time catching up on all the reading required for high school.

When my children were young， I read to them. We had a special reading time each day. The moment we finished a book, I would begin another one. Even when the four of them were reading for themselves, I still continued the practice. When my son was in high school, he thought he was too old to be read to. So he began to read alone. However, he kept his door open so he could still hear the book and before the chapter was over, he had crept （悄悄移動） out and joined us in the back of the room. I found that there is something magical about the human voice and it draws my kids in. That was my method to get my children to fall in love with books.

Like fastened bonds, books not only closely connected our early years' reading but also opened a more brilliant future before us.

Reading Check

1. What does the underlined phrase “my big headache” in Para. 1 probably mean?

A. My young age. B. My vision problem.

C. My teacher's criticism. D. My homework assignment.

2. What changed my reading process when I was young?

A. My teacher's instruction. B. An operation on my eyes.

C. Father's expectation on me. D. Reading a book by Jack London.

3. How did the author get her children to read books?

A. By reading to them. B. By establishing a book club.

C. By giving more requirements. D. By sharing her own reading story.

4. In what order is the text organized?

A. Time. B. Places. C. People. D. Events.

Language Study

On the surface of the water floats a hook, which is a prize I won in the fishing competition.

1. surface n. 表面；表層；外表

2. hook n. 魚鉤

3. prize n. 獎品

在此句中，它們雖“容顏”未改，卻“性”“情”大變！ 回到文中瞧一瞧，一切變化可知曉。 學以致用，等你來挑戰！

Match the underlined words in the following sentences with their proper meaning.

1. Joe dived deep into the water and then surfaced after a while.

2. Toole, who had disappeared for nearly a decade, surfaced again in the town last week.

3. Jason always sleeps in at weekends. He never surfaces before midday on Sundays.

4. All the ads are designed to hook the potential consumers.

5. The company's shoes are highly prized by fashion-conscious youngsters.

A. To rise to the surface of water

B. To get out of bed, especially late

C. To become known about or easy to notice

D. To succeed in making someone interested in something

E. To think that someone or something is very important or valuable

F. To suddenly appear somewhere, especially after being gone or hidden for a long time

Cultural Background

Jack London

杰克·倫敦（Jack London，1876年1月12日—1916年11月22日），原名約翰·格利菲斯·倫敦（John Griffith London），美國現實主義作家。 他一共寫過19部長篇小說、150多篇短篇小說和故事、3部劇本等，主要作品有小說集《狼的兒子》，中篇小說《野性的呼喚》《熱愛生命》《白牙》，長篇小說《海狼》《鐵蹄》《馬丁·伊登》等。