From a child I was fond of reading

河北张家口一中 闫洪伟

精彩导读

本杰明·富兰克林是美国杰出的文学家、政治家、思想家、发明家，被称为“美国之父”。阅读为他一生打下坚实基础，他最大的遗憾是在渴求读书的时代，找不到合适的书读。为此他选择12岁就到哥哥的印刷厂做学徒，借以接触到丰富的书籍资源。他读书是重塑并形成个人能力的过程。让我们一起共读富兰克林的自幼爱读书的心路历程。

?体裁 人物传记 文章词数 4 6 3 难度指数 ★★★题材 名人故事 建议用时 8′

From a child I was fond of reading，and all the little money that came into my hands was everlaid outin books.Pleased withThe Pilgrim's Progress，my first collection was of John Bunyan's works inseparatelittle volumes.I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R.Burton'sHistorical Collections；At a time when Ihadsucha thirst forknowledge，more proper books had not fallen in my way.There was a book of Defoe's，calledAn Essay Upon Projects，and another of Dr.Mather's，calledEssays to Do Good，which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking thathad an influence on my life.

In 1717 my brother James returned from England with apressand letters to set up his business in Boston.Although I was twelve years old，I decided toserve asan apprentice（学徒）till I was 21.Then I made progress in the business quickly，andhad access tobetter books.Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night，when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the morning，lest it should be missed or wanted.

About this time I met withThe Spectator.I had never before seen any of them.I bought it，read it over and over，and was much delighted with it.I thought the writingexcellent，and wished，if possible，toimitateit.With this view I took some of thepapers，and，making shorthintsof each sentence，laid them by a few days，and then，without looking at the book，tried to complete the papers again，by expressing each hintat length，and as fully as it had been expressed before，in any suitable words that should come to hand.Then IcomparedmySpectator withthe original，discovered some of my faults，and corrected them.But I found I wanted a stock of words，or a readiness in recollecting and using them.Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse（韵文）；and，after a time，

when I had pretty well forgotten the prose（散文），turned them back again.

I also sometimes mixed my collections of hints，and after some weeks tried to reduce them into the best order，before I began to form the full sentences and complete the paper.This was to teach me methods in thearrangementof thoughts.By comparing my work afterwards with the original，I improved a lot，which encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be an English writer.My time for these exercises and for reading was at night，after work or before it began in the morning，or on Sundays，when I stayed in the printing-house alone.

Reading check

What good qualities should we learn from Benjamin Franklin according to the text？Please write a review for the passage.

Language study

Ⅰ.Words in the context

文中词条p r e s s（P a r a.2）（P a r a.3） 纸；试卷 文章；论文 I r e a d a p a p e r o n t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n y e s t e r－d a y.我昨天读了一篇关于美国独立战争的文章。生义例句T h e i n v e n t i o n o f t h e p r i n t i n g p r e s s i s o f g r e a t s i g n i f i－c a n c e.印刷机的发明有重大意义。p a p e r基本含义按压；催促引申含义印刷机

Ⅱ.Vocabulary

1.separateadj.分开的；不同的

2.lestconj.唯恐；以免

3.excellentadj.卓越的；优秀的

4.imitatev.模仿；仿效

5.hintn.暗示；迹象

6.arrangementn.整理；安排

7.lay out花（钱）；铺开；设计；阐述

8.have a thirst for渴望

9.have an influence on对……有影响

10.serve as担任；充当

11.have access to有权使用；接近

12.if possible如果可能的话

13.at length充分地；详尽地；终于

14.compare...with把……与……相比

Ⅲ.Difficult sentence

By comparing my work afterwards with the original，I improved a lot，which encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be an English writer.

翻译：______________________________________________________________

【点石成金】本句主句是I improved a lot。By comparing my work afterwards with the original为方式状语。主句之后的which引导定语从句，先行词是前面整个主句，从句中in time不是“及时”的意思，而是“经过一段时间后”。