2 . Visiting a library may not seem fun or interesting, but the ones below might be the most beautiful and attractive around the globe.

Widener Library, Massachusetts, the United States

As Harvard’s flagship library, the Widener Library was built in 1912. The library was named after Harry Elkins Widener, a 1907 Harvard graduate who donated 3, 300 books, invaluable paintings and money. The length of shelves reaches 91 kilometers. Today, it is known as a “silent library”, with two floors of quiet study rooms and five floors of underground literary resources.

Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra, Portugal

The Biblioteca Joanina was named after its founder, King John V of Portugal, who started building the library in 1717. The library, located at the University of Coimbra, houses 300, 000 book collections. Many of the books were printed before the 1800s. The library is a huge tourist draw because of its decorative dark-wood arches and shelves.

Trinity College Old Library, Dublin, Ireland

Located in the center of Dublin, the Trinity College Old Library was constructed in 1712. With its two stories of dark-wood arches, the library is not only one of the world’s oldest libraries, but one of the most famous ones. The Long Room in the library is 65 meters long, filled with 200, 000 books and sculptures of great writers associated with the college.

Tianjin Binhai Library, Tianjin, China

Unlike the other libraries on our list, this one is practically new. As a cultural landmark of Tianjin, the Binhai Library officially opened to the public in 2017. Its breathtaking design was described by Time magazine as a “ziggurat” and has received a lot of attention from the public. The 33, 700 square-meter building can hold 1. 35 million books. Built in just five years, it has become a tourist attraction since it was finished.

The capacity for empathy — to first identify and then understand and share in someone else’s feelings — is largely held as a virtue. Yet, there is a knowledge problem that makes being naturally empathetic a struggle. Why? As poet John Keats put it, “Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.”

So how can someone else’s perspective (视角) and emotions ever become real enough for us to develop empathy? Reading fiction may provide an answer.

Studies show that when you read fiction, it not only activates the language processing center of the brain but also increases global flow in the brain. It speeds up the part involved in physical movement and areas of the brain linked to sensory experiences. In other words, reading fiction lights up the brain in ways that copy the neural (神经) activities of the experience you’re reading about. For example, if you read a well-written passage about a character hiking through the wilderness, your brain reacts as if you’re on that hike.

To really cultivate empathy, you need to be internally more aware of and connected to those around you. And again, reading fiction is associated with just such a skill. One study, which assesses one’s ability to determine someone else’s emotions based on their facial expression alone, showed that fiction readers scored higher than non-readers and readers of nonfiction. The researchers assumed that reading fiction allows people to practice taking on someone else’s perspective and thus improves their social awareness. This suggests that reading fiction improves one’s theory of mind and emotional intelligence.

The takeaway lesson is simple: If you want to build empathy, try reading more fiction, more often — especially fiction by and about people whose experiences are different from your own.

When I was seven years old, I caught a cold and had to stay at home. My parents had   to work, so my neighbor came over to look after me. She read many different books to me     1     (patient), including adventures set in ancient times, travel stories, family dramas, historical novels, etc. To my joy,     2     (listen) to each book made me feel like watching a movie, but better because books gave much more details than movies. She started my interest in reading. Next year, after graduating from college, I     3     (have) a job teaching English. I hope that I can transfer the love of reading to my students.

5 . The sign on the librarian’s desk read: “Readers Wanted for Project Read Aloud.” Sherene stared at it as the librarian stamped the book that she had selected for her weekly reading fare with a return by date.

“What is Project Read Aloud?” Sherene asked.

“Here’s the brochure about it. There’s a form inside to fill out if you want to become a reader. There is no pay, by the way,” the librarian said with a smile.

Sherene walked home. She loved living within walking distance of her town’s public library. She loved to sit in one of the overstuffed reading chairs in the reading room with the smell of books all around her and lose herself in a book. She had moved away after high school and had recently moved back. The library and fond memories of her childhood had drawn her back to this small town.

Once home, she sat down to read the brochure, which said, “Project Read Aloud seeks to provide the opportunity of hearing stories read aloud in a comfortable setting.” That is a fine goal, she thought.

Sherene filled out the form. She loved reading aloud. When she was a child, she read aloud to her teddy bear. Later, when she grew up and became a teacher, she read aloud to her students many times throughout the day. Since her retirement, she read aloud only to herself and Boots, her cat. It would feel so good to have a human audience once again to share stories with.

A couple of days later, Sherene sat in the now empty small theatre in the library, preparing the first story she was going to read. Soon, the audience began to wander in and find their seats. The theatre was half full in half an hour. Sherene stepped to the edge of the stage and introduced herself. She explained the origin of the story, opened the book and began to read. She wove the tale masterfully creating voices for the characters, pausing for emphasis, and taking the listeners into another world.

When Sherene read the last words of the story, there was a momentary silence as it all sank into the listeners and then a burst of enthusiastic applause. At that moment, understanding did grow in the town through the sharing of stories.

6 . Technology seems to discourage slow, immersive reading. Reading on a screen, particularly a phone screen, tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. So online writing tends to be more skimmable and list-like than print. The cognitive neuroscientist Mary Walt argued recently that this “new norm” of skim reading is producing “an invisible, game-changing transformation” in how readers process words. The neuronal circuit that sustains the brain’s capacity to read now favors the rapid absorption of information, rather than skills developed by deeper reading, like critical analysis.

We shouldn’t overplay this danger. All readers skim. Skimming is the skill we acquire as children as we learn to read more skillfully. From about the age of nine, our eyes start to bounce around the page, reading only about a quarter of the words properly, and filling in the gaps by inference. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans. So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. “Quite a few critics have been worried about attention span lately and see very short stories as signs of cultural decline,” the American author Selvin Brown wrote. “No one ever said that poems were evidence of short attention spans.”

And yet the Internet has certainly changed the way we read. For a start, it means that there is more to read, because more people than ever are writing. If you time travelled just a few decades into the past, you would wonder at how little writing was happening outside a classroom. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. An online article starts forming a comment string underneath as soon as it is published. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people’s words as something to be quickly harvested as fodder to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, desperate to be heard.

Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a social good and source of personal achievement. But this advocacy often emphasizes “enthusiastic”, “passionate” or “eager” reading, none of which adjectives suggest slow, quiet absorption.

To a slow reader, a piece of writing can only be fully understood by immersing oneself in the words and their slow comprehension of a line of thought. The slow reader is like a swimmer who stops counting the number of pool laps he has done and just enjoys how his body feels and moves in water.

The human need for this kind of deep reading is too tenacious for any new technology to destroy. We often assume that technological change can’t be stopped and happens in one direction, so that older media like “dead-tree” books are kicked out by newer, more virtual forms. In practice, older technologies can coexist with new ones. The Kindle has not killed off the printed book any more than the car killed off the bicycle. We still want to enjoy slowly-formed ideas and carefully-chosen words. Even in a fast-moving age, there is time for slow reading.

7 . GREAT BOOKS TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is a shortened list of books sponsored by the magazines TIME and TIME for Kids that are suitable for primary schoolers. To make the list, we considered how age-appropriate the material was, and whether the tone and story line left the reader feeling engaged and empowered rather than anxious or confused.

Experts recommend the youngest kids to read books that explore the beauty and fragility (脆弱) of nature. When developing an appreciation for the world around them, they can switch to books that show the cause and effect of how humans treat our planet, and why it’s important to respect the environment. For older primary school kids, picture books can illustrate how our use of fossil (化石) fuels contributes to global warming. Most of the books on the list also offer lessons about how children, families, schools, and communities can make a difference.

THANK YOU, EARTH: A LOVE LETTER TO OUR PLANET By April Pulley Sayre This photography book shows to us plants, animals and landscapes in vivid colors and descriptions. From up-close images of insects to pictures of mountain ranges, the pages introduce children to the planets’ diversity in a simple but effective way.	THE LORAX By Dr. Seuss Thanks to its rhyme, and whimsical illustration, this classic tale is suitable for young children who can grasp the scarcity of natural resources, and also older kids who can see a danger in valuing profits over long-term environmental harm.
WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS By Carole Lindstrom A tribute to native tribes that are protecting the planet, this book vividly shows the harms of oil pipelines. Kids will see the value of community action, while adults will recognize the story of the native tribes Standing Rock Sioux’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.	POLAR BEAR, WHY IS YOUR WORLD MELTING? By Robert E. Wells This book introduces the greenhouse effect with illustrations showing how sunlight gets trapped. It then explains fossil-fuel energy, and our reliance on it for electricity and transportation. The pages are full of science.

8 . In 2009 in a small town, Todd Bol came up with an idea to share his mother’s love of reading with others. Bol’s mother had been a teacher who had loved reading. He decided to build a wooden box and fill it with books. Bol placed the box of books on a post in his front yard with a sign that read “Free Books”. Soon his neighbours noticed this tiny model of a “schoolhouse”. They began taking the books and replacing them with books of their own. The tiny library allowed people the opportunity to “check out” books day or night.

Bol’s friends and neighbours wanted little libraries of their own. Bol built several and gave them away. One of his friends, Rick, believed that Bol’s little libraries could benefit more than just local friends and neighbours. With these ideas in mind, Bol and Rick came up with a plan to build over 2,500 Little Free Libraries around the world. They believed that books should be available to all people, no matter where they live or what their background is. To help achieve their goal, Bol and Rick created a website that provides information about the Little Free Libraries and how people can establish little libraries of their own.

Thanks to Bol and Rick, the Little Free Libraries are encouraging people to read more. They didn’t just provide books. They also helped build friendships and a sense of belonging among community members. As more and more people visited Bol’s little library, they began talking with one another. They shared thoughts, ideas, and stories. They got to know one another. Everyone loved the little library. After all, as Bol says, “It’s a magic box with books. People tell us all the time that they’ve met more people in a week than they have in a lifetime.”

Today there are more than 25,000 Little Free Libraries around the world, and they can be found on almost every continent.

9 . Reading doesn’t come naturally to people, but most of us have learned how. Eighty-six percent of the world’s population is literate(有读写能力的)，and this rate has been increasing for centuries. Literacy makes it possible to navigate a world filled with books, websites, text messages, road signs and more.

Could a growing number of people participate in today’s world without reading or writing at all? Technology makes it possible. Most of our devices now talk to us and take spoken commands. Smart cars ask for a destination and then give directions.Smart virtual assistants listen for requests to report the weather, play a song, set a timer, order groceries, and much more. Software can also read text aloud or turn speech into text. These interactions aren’t perfect-the software still makes silly mistakes. But it’s getting better and better. It’s possible to imagine a future world where all of our communication with our devices and each other is spoken.

But reading and writing are powerful tools.For one, most people read faster than they speak. A podcaster or audio book narrator speaks at around150to 160 words per minute, while a strong reader can cruise through a text at 300 to 400 words per minute. That’s twice as fast! Research has also found that people remember more information and stay more interested when they read as opposed to listen. Learning to read also creates new connections in the brain. In her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf writes that with the invention of reading, human beings “rearranged the very organization of our brain, which in turn expanded the ways we were able to think, which changed the intellectual evolution of our species.” Would we really choose to give up that progress?What do you think? Do you hope people keep on reading and writing, or will technology make literacy obsolete(淘汰的)?