Back to the Classics

Leo Luo

I flipped1. flip: 快速翻动。to the final page and began to read. My eyes instinctively2. instinctively: 本能地。slowed down as each sentence brought me closer to the end of the book. My brain burned to reach those last words that would wrap up the entire story, but my heart begged me to savour this moment.3. 我的大脑很想尽快读到最后几句总结全书的文字，但是我的内心却恳请自己享受这一阅读时刻。burn to: 这里指“特别想要”；wrap up: 这里指“概括”；savour: 尽情享受。At last, after undertaking an odyssey through the lives of characters that almost leapt off the page and moments that revealed timeless truths of human nature, I was not ready for the story to end.4.最后，在体验过书中那些活灵活现的主人公的奇幻历程和那些揭示人性的永恒真理的瞬间之后，我简直不希望书中的故事就这样结束。undertake: 从事，进行；odyssey:奇幻旅程；leap off: 跳出。But as all good things must come to an end, I eased the back cover over the final page and closed the book with a contented sigh.5. ease: 小心缓慢地移动；sigh: 叹息。Tilting my gaze to the ceiling, my mind flashed through all that I had learned through the bundle of paper and ink in my hands, and smiled.6. 手捧着书，我的目光转向天花板，书中的内容在我的脑海中一一闪过，我轻轻地笑了。tilt: 使倾斜； flash through: 掠过，在（某人的心头）闪过。Nothing beats a great book.

Although the computer is becoming the medium of both communication and entertainment in the modern era, there is something to be said about the value of reading great books,speci fically the classics. Not only have these books withstood the test of time, but also the critiques of countless readers over the years.7. withstand: 经受，承受；critique: 批评。To read such a piece of writing is to enter an ongoing conversation about the human experience with some of the greatest minds that ever lived.

“真正的艺术来源于心灵的创造”，文学名著正是如此。本文作者曾经很排斥阅读经典文学名著，认为那些书既乏味又厚重，但是在偶然阅读了一本经典名著《美丽新世界》后，作者从书中获得了关于社会和人性的深刻感悟。在充满了快餐读物的今天，让我们一起重温这些人类精神的财富吧！

Whether that is through serious novels or lighthearted stories, reading great books embodies8. embody: 体现。the art of questioning by presenting audiences with insights into what it means to be human.

I espouse so much about the virtue of reading great books that it seems ironic that not so long ago,9. espouse: 支持，赞成；virtue: 优点。I did not even know what it even meant. To my 14-year-old impressionable self, a great book was one that exhaled a fragrance full of imagination and adventure as I cracked it open.10. 14岁的我正值敏感的时期，对于我来说，一本好书就是当你打开它时，它会散发出充满想象力和奇遇的馨香。impressionable:敏感的，易受影响的；exhale: 发散；crack:打开。It would plunge me into worlds of dragons and magic that would allow me to escape the real world and all of its crushing truths for just a few precious hours.11. plunge sb. into: 使某人陷入；crushing: 毁灭性的。Most of these books were pop fiction,written all in the last five years or so. I avoided the classics like the plague: those books were boring, not to mention enormous.12. 我曾经像躲避瘟疫一样排斥这些经典文学作品：这些书不仅乏味，还都是大部头。plague: 瘟疫，灾祸。It was not until I chanced upon a copy ofBrave New Worldby Aldous Huxley,which I found abandoned in a classroom desk, did I decide on a whim to give classic books a try.13. Brave New World: 小说《美丽新世界》，英国作家阿道司·赫胥黎所著，是20世纪最经典的反乌托邦文学之一。这部作品主要刻画了在机械文明下的未来社会中，人的“人”性被机械剥夺殆尽，接受种种安于现状的教育，热爱机械化的工作与生活方式；abandoned: 被遗弃的；on a whim: 一时兴起。

Reading that novel shattered my shell of fantasy and brought me into the realm of questions about the human condition.14. 阅读这本小说打碎了我幻想的外壳，使我对人类社会产生了质疑。shatter: 打碎，破坏；realm: 领域，范围。Brave New World was simply the start of my journey. Although I de finitely cannot claim that I am well-read in terms of classics, I have begun to realize what a great book truly embodies. There are books, mostly pop fiction,which are read and then forgotten on the bookshelf, forever to remain a title with a dusty spine15. spine: 书脊。. And then there are the classics, which generations of readers pass on to their progeny16. progeny: 子孙，后裔。. Perhaps the reason lies in how these books lure fundamental questions about human nature into their pages and express them through prose that blossoms with each re-read.17. 原因可能在于这些经典文学作品引出了关于人性的根本问题，并渗透于字里行间，使人每次重读这些作品都能对这些问题有更深刻的认识。prose: 散文，这里指“文章”；blossom:发展。It is a re fined art that does not celebrate speed, but patience and contemplation.18. re fined art: 高雅艺术；contemplation: 沉思。Work through a couple paragraphs, stop.

Think. Then re-read and sigh in admiration of the language. I was fortunate enough to have the time to read three classics that have demonstrated the power of the pen over any sword.

The first classic that I read this year that comes to mind isTo Kill a Mockingbird19. To Kill a Mockingbird: 《杀死一只知更鸟》，由美国作家哈珀·李所著，小说探讨了各种不同形式的偏见，也探讨了关于童年和成熟的过程。因为故事从一个孩子（Scout）的角度来讲述，作者可以在讲述事情时不带有明显的个人意见，把它们留给读者去理解和得出结论。, by Harper Lee. She sets her story in the town of Maycomb in the American state of Alabama during the aftermath of the Great Depression.Told from the perspective Scout Finch, the daughter of Atticus Finch, a respected lawyer in community, the story followed Scout as she recounts the experiences that de fined her childhood years. From pulling pranks to witnessing a courtroom trial that ended based on ingrained racism instead of concrete proof, these experiences shaped Scout as she comes to realize that there may be space in the world for more than one right answer or point of view.20. 从爱搞恶作剧到目睹了一次以根深蒂固的种族歧视而并非切实证据告终的法庭审理，这些经历让斯科特开始意识到这个世界上可能有不止一个正确答案或是观点。pull prank: 搞恶作剧；courtroom trial: 法庭审理；ingrained: 根深蒂固的；concrete: 具体的。Perhaps the theme of the novel was expressed through the most memorable character: Atticus Finch. Throughout the entire novel, he stood as a symbol of morality and justice, whether that was undertaking a doomed trial defending a black man or while raising his children to become independent thinkers.21. 在整部小说中，他都是一个美德和正义的化身，无论是他挺身而出为一个黑人进行早已有了定论的庭审辩护，抑或是他将自己的孩子们培养为能够独立思考的人。doomed: 注定的。His iron conviction stemmed from the philosophy that he taught his children, and pervaded the whole book:22. conviction: 信念；stem from: 源自，来自；pervade: 弥漫，遍及。“If you truly want to know someone, walk in their shoes for a day.” Simple words, but as I reached the last pages, a single tear rolled down my eye as this moral returned to conclude this magni ficent tale showcasing the bounds of human goodness and hatred. This was a sombre tale, but nonetheless explores the question of whether humans can truly empathize with one another, and thereby find peace.23. sombre: 阴沉的，忧郁的；empathize:感同身受。

Yet not every classic must be as grave asTo Kill a Mockingbird. The novelThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, written by Mark Twain, demonstrated that classics could convey truths just as profound and not lose a sense of levity.24. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: 《汤姆·索亚历险记》，是美国作家马克·吐温在1876年发表的作品，通过描写主人公汤姆·索亚的冒险经历，讽刺和批判了美国当时的社会习俗和学校教育；levity: 轻松，活跃。Set in the period right before the Civil War in America, Tom Sawyer brought to life the titular character and his shenanigans in sleepy town in Missouri.25. titular: 有名无实的；shenanigan: 恶作剧；Missouri: 美国密苏里州。Although the actual storyline of this classic might seem random26. random: 随意的，任意的。,but it is exactly this lack of order that captures the freedom and innocence that childhood represents. But perhaps the greatest aspect of this novel was the ability of Twain to integrate even the minutest details of human behaviour into his characters, from the way our minds jump from one panic to another when we are in love to the righteous anger we feel when we are rejected.27. 这部小说最成功的一点可能就是马克·吐温将人类行为的每个细节都融于笔下人物的写作功力，从我们被爱时内心的阵阵惶恐到被拒绝时所感到的义愤。minute: 微小的，此处为最高级；righteous anger: 愤慨，义愤。That is Twain’s contribution through his classic: holding a mirror up to human traits that still ring true today.

While the lessons of some stories, such as those mentioned above, are timeless, the lessons of others can radically change with the passage of time.When I first read Mary Shelley’sFrankensteinat the beginning of this school year, I interpreted the story as a warning against the dangers of tampering with science without a clear moral conscience.28.Frankenstein:《弗兰肯斯坦》，是英国诗人雪莱的妻子玛丽·雪莱在1818年创作的小说，被认为是世界第一部真正意义上的科幻小说；tamper with sth.: 胡乱摆弄，故意破坏。The corruption and downfall of both the monster and the scientist struck a chord within me,29. corruption: 堕落；monster:怪物；strike a chord: 打动心弦。especially considering the enormous strides that science is making today. Without a moral guidance, the scienti fic achievements that could save lives could be used to end them just as easily, as seen through the development of both the nuclear bomb and nuclear energy. But as I discussed my thoughts with a professor, he helped me see that I had failed to view the novel through the lens of history. As the novel was written in the middle of the 19th century, it dealt more with the idea of religious heresy30. heresy: 异端，异教。than scienti fic morality. Shelley was attempting to warn against the human propensity to hubris by illustrating the consequences of trying to play God and bring life to where there should not have been life.31. propensity: 倾向，偏好；hubris: 傲慢。Such is the power of a classic. It can reconcile viewpoints that span generations,32. reconcile: 调和；span: 跨越。uniting the young and old in a discourse that can inspire endless discussion.

《杀死一只知更鸟》

Perhaps in the future, physical books will become obsolete33. obsolete: 过时的，淘汰的。. Computers will be personalized and accompany us at all times, even more than the smartphone does nowadays. The opportunities for entertainment at our fingertips would

be endless. In spite of all this, I would hope that people would still make time to undertake the challenge of reading classics. Not only are they connections from the past to the present, but more importantly a window into the everlasting questions on human nature and what being human really means.