Books are essential in various ways that go beyond enriching your mind or entertaining you. They stimulate your senses and promote good     1     health.

While the internet and television are useful in their own ways, nothing can compare to a great book. Books inspire your     2    , give you new ideas,     3     your way of thinking, provide solutions, and share     4    . At every stage of your     5    , you can find a relevant book that will add value to your personal and professional life.

Antoine de Saint­Exupéry, who     1     aeroplanes when he was young, was a French writer.    2     by his plane crash, he published The Little Prince, one of the bestselling books. The narrator (叙述人) of the story is a     3     person. He is not used to those adults who are too     4     without imagination to understand his drawings by themselves. The failure of Drawing Number One and Two made him     5     and choose another profession     6     a painter. On his all­alone journey, the little prince meets different kinds of people. From these people he gets a     7     that the grown­ups are very odd (古怪的). Maybe it’s more     8     for us to imagine, and for more to think over.

Choosing the Right Book

“Never apologize for your reading taste. ” Betty Rosenberg

How many books can you     1     in a 90-year lifespan? If I’m 32 (I am), that leaves 58 (hopefully good) years in my life. And if I read, on average, 20 books per year, that gives me 1,160 books to pore over (仔细阅读) the next several decades. The number may seem like a lot, but considering that there are nearly 130 million books out there and another 600, 000     2     books released every year, 1, 160 books means that I will be able to get through 0. 000003 percent of all published books by the time I hit 90. Then how does a reader decide which one to pick up? This question often occurs to me both because of my work as a librarian and because I am a reader myself.

The first rule is to read what you like. This may seem like odd advice to begin with because isn’t it     3    ? Not really. Far too many people allow their reading to be guided by the tastes of others. They limit themselves to bestseller lists or the latest publishing     4     to read the “right” books. How many people’s love of reading has been spoiled by attempts to cram (塞满) themselves with literary tomes (巨著), as if they are the pinnacle (顶峰) of one’s reading tastes?

It is also important to understand why you read. Reading for entertainment results in very different choices than reading for growth. It can be tough to     5     between the “fun” books and “knowledge” books. For the sake of clarity, in the list below I run through four questions to help you think through which     6     a book might fall into:

Is the book classified as nonfiction?

Is the author known for their writing style?

Is there a central idea the author is attempting to prove?

Has the book laid     7     to one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards?

If you can answer “yes” to any one of these questions, the book falls into the “knowledge” type.     8    , upon completion of a book, you may find that it has shifted from one category to the other, which is fine. These guidelines still serve as a framework for helping you think through the types of books you want to dedicate your time to.

Reading is a wonderful journey full of     9     variety. Try things out! Once you have settled into your reading groove (节奏), select something totally different for a change. Betty Rosenberg’s quote always     10    in my mind. I prefer to enjoy my reading, and you should too!