纽约英语口语网新版
麦哲伦英语
第 100 课:Habit of Reading 阅读的习惯

I read a lot of history, a little philosophy, and a good deal of science. 我读了很多历史书,一些哲学书和大量的科学书籍。

My curiosity was too great to allow me to give much time to reflect on what I read;我的好奇心太大了,使我根本就没有多少时间来反思我读的内容。

I could hardly wait to finish one book, so eager was I to begin another. 我几乎等不及看完一本书,就急切地开始读下一本。

This was always an adventure, and I would start upon a famous work as excitedly as a reasonable young man would go in to bat for his side or a nice girl goes to a dance. 阅读总是一个探索的过程,我总是兴高采烈地开始读一本名著,就像是一个有理智的小伙子急着要替自己的一方去击球,或者一个漂亮的女孩急着要去参加舞会。

Now and then journalists in search of copy ask me what the most thrilling moment of my life is. 经常会有寻找新闻题材的记者问我,我一生中最激动人心的时刻是什么。

If I were not ashamed to say, I might answer that it is the moment when I began to read Goethe's Faust. 我可以大言不惭地说,是我开始读歌德的《浮士德》的时候。

I have never quite lost this feeling, and even now the first pages of a book sometimes send the blood racing through my veins. 我从来就没有失去过这种感觉,即使是现在,翻开一本书的前几页有时也会使我热血沸腾。

To me reading is a rest as to other people conversation or a game of cards. 对我来说,阅读就是休息,就像其他人会选择闲聊或者打牌。

It is more than that; it is a necessity, and if I am deprived of it for a little while I find myself as irritable as the addict deprived of his drug. 不只如此,阅读是我生命中的必需。一刻不能阅读,我就会烦躁不安,就像一个瘾君子没有了毒品。

I would sooner read a timetable or a catalogue than nothing at all. 如果没有东西可读,我就会去读时刻表或者产品目录之类的东西。