【英语世界】放慢速度!

Slow Down

As the old saying goes,“What is learned in the cradle carried to the grave. ” How often I wish I could read a story leisurely and patiently, word by word as I did when I was eight years old or even younger. As a little girl with fervent desire to seek knowledge, my motto had been,“Soon ripe, soon rotten. Soon learn, soon forgotten.” So I preferred spending lots of time on repeatedly reading a lovely story through and through. At that time, maybe some other children about my age thought of me as a deranged person. However, I just let myself do what I liked, saying nothing.

But, then, the quick fix lifestyle today is getting more and more popular. One can not put back the clock. Efficiency means life or death. Therefore, I can not avoid changing my reading habits. Usually, I do not have enough time and energy to read a lovely story word by word. I have no other alternative but to enjoy a pre-digest instead, especially when I am too busy. As a result, I am forced to lose a chance to linger over every word of classic novels or the latest best sellers.

Do not get me wrong. I am not saying every work is worth reading word by word. Sometimes, perhaps reading in this way is just a waste of time and energy. But I am saying that it will be really a big pity when I run into a wonderful work I have no time and energy to enjoy it, that is to say, I can only read it superficially. In addition, some works are easy to understand and not worth spending too much time reading thoroughly. For those works, we might discard the dross and select the essence as well. Sometimes, it is the truth that “You may know by a handful the whole sack.”

Why not slow down and enjoy a lovely story like an innocent child?

放慢速度

俗话说：“在摇篮里学的东西会带进坟墓。”我多么希望自己能够像8岁甚至更年幼的时候那样，悠闲、有耐心、逐字逐句地进行阅读。作为一个有着强烈求知欲的小女孩，我的座右铭曾是：“学得快，忘得快。”所以我喜欢花大量的时间去反复地阅读一个可爱的故事。或许那个时候，一些同龄的孩子会把我当作神经病。不过，我坚持我喜欢做的事，没理会他们。

但是，话说回来，现在快节奏生活方式越来越普遍了。时光不会倒流，效率就意味着生命。因而我不得不改变我的阅读习惯。现在的我通常没有足够的时间和精力去逐字逐句地阅读一个可爱的故事。所以我别无选择，只能享受浓缩版，尤其是太忙的时候。无奈，我失去了推敲经典小说或最新畅销书中每一个字的机会。

不要误解我的意思。我不是说每一部作品都值得逐字逐句去阅读。有时候，这样的阅读方式反而是浪费时间和精力。我是说当我邂逅一部伟大的作品时，却没有时间和精力去细细品味，或者说，我只能大致地浏览一番，对我来说实在是个大遗憾。而有些作品比较易懂，也不值得花太多时间去深究。对于这样的作品，我们不妨取其精华，去其糟粕。“见微知著”或许是对的。

因此，何不放慢速度，做一个天真的孩子，去享受一个可爱的故事呢？