Suppose you have two friends, A and B, both of whom have been learning English for some years. Both are clever young men, and both are anxious to acquire a good knowledge of the language. But now they have got very different results from the several years of study: A can write short letters and read easy news items but cannot read any passage in the classics, while B can read here and there in some classics but cannot write short letters or read easy news items. Reader, which of your two friends would you prefer to be like?

     I believe you would prefer to be like A rather than B. You should. I am sorry to find that among Chinese learners of English there seem to be more like B than like A. The trouble lies chiefly in what is read.

     Well, what do you read. I mean to ask what you take as your chief reading matter. Is it a novel or a volume of essays written more than a hundred years ago? If it is, my advice to you is to change it for something else. Your chief reading matter must have been written far less than a hundred years ago, a few weeks ago if possible, must have been written in simple English, and must have been written by an Englishman or American.

     I am not going to give a list of books here. But I think I have to make some general remarks. Your chief reading matter need not be a literary masterpiece. Nor need it be written by a famous author. A volume of short pieces of narration or exposition is better than a novel or some long argumentative essays.

     You must have noted that in the above I have talked about only what your chief reading matter should be. You have a book or two for your chief reading matter. You should also read something else, which may be a little more difficult, but which still had better not be a classic of more than a hundred years ago.

NOTES

1. passage （一段）文字

2. rather than 而非

3. should=should prefer to be like A rather than B

4. lie chiefly in... 主要在于...

5. literary masterpiece 文学杰作

6. argumentative essays 辩论文

7. had better not... 最好不...

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