作者简介：Caryn Schwartz，智梦外籍主管，瓦萨学院英语文学与中文专业，成功辅导学员录取：瓦萨学院，圣路易斯华盛顿大学，莱斯大学，圣母大学，埃默里大学，卡内基梅隆大学，南加州大学，加州大学洛杉矶分校等美国名校。同时，Caryn热爱中文，在大学期间就到青岛参加语言文化交流。

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翻译：敏杰

Controversial Statement #1: There is no such thing as a person who doesn’t like to read—only people who aren’t reading the right things.

矛盾论1：世界上不存在不喜欢读书的人，只存在没有读对书的人。

I am a book junkie—always have been. One of my greatest luxuries is to sit down with a fantastic book and do nothing but read until I’m finished with it. I love books. However, I do not love all books. In fact, I hate some books. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In the Rye makes me want to punch a wall. I had toread Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness three times for three different classes,and each occasion only served to deepen my revulsion for the text. I just never got the big deal about Lord of the Rings. So sue me.

我是一个嗜书如命的人，一直都是。对我来说最奢华的一件事情就是拿一本好书坐下，什么事情都不干只读书，直到把那本书读完为止。我爱书。但是我并不爱所有的书。实际上，我厌恶一些书。《麦田里的守望者》中的霍尔顿·考尔菲德就让我想捶墙叫好。约瑟夫·康拉德的《黑暗的心》让我不得不读它三遍获得三个不同的层次，每一次读只是越来越加深我对这本小说的厌恶。我也从来没把《指环王》当回事，所以起诉我吧！

BUT—and this is a big but—I take pleasure from the fact that other people love these books. My Heart of Darkness is another person’s East of Eden (a basically perfect novel, in my eyes), and my East of Eden is bound to be someone else’s Heart of Darkness.That’s one of my favorite parts of literature: its sheer variety.It’s because of that variety that I simply don’t believe people when they tell me: “I hate reading.” It’s certainly possible to hate books—believe me, I know—but it’s important to never confuse your aversion to a particular book with hatred for all books. Everyone, and I mean everyone, can find something that they enjoy reading. If you don’t believe me, email me for some book recommendations and prepare to eat your words!

但是——注意这是个巨大的转折——我会因为其他人喜欢这些书而感到愉悦。我眼中的《黑暗之心》会是别人眼中的《伊甸园之东》（我个人认为是一本很好的小说），我眼中的《伊甸园之东》注定会成为别人眼中的《黑暗之心》。这是我最喜欢文学的一部分：文学纯粹的多样化。正是因为这样的多样化我才不会单纯地去相信有人说他们讨厌读书。当然也有可能讨厌书——相信我，我知道的——但重要的是你不能因为某本书而模糊了你讨厌的界限从而讨厌所有的书。任何人，我指的是任何人，都能够找到让他们享受阅读的东西。如果你不相信我，那你就发E-mail给我我会给你一些推荐的书，你准备收回你所说的话吧！

Controversial Statement #2: reading anything—anything at all—is better than reading nothing.

矛盾论2：看任何书——是任何书——都比不看书好

That’s right, anything. Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, you name it. I think they’reall a better use of time than watching TV. I’m not saying these are irreproachable titles by any means. After all, we call them guilty pleasures for a reason. But that concern aside, I believe in reading as recreation.It should be something we do for fun, and if those are the books we have fun reading, then we should read those books.

是的，任何书。《暮光之城》、《格雷的五十道阴影》，不管什么，只要你想得到，我认为对于利用时间，看这些书比看电视更好。无论如何我并没有说这些书的标题是无可指责的。别忘了，我们称之为罪恶的愉悦是有原因的。但是另外我坚信看书是一种娱乐方式。它应该是我们用来享受快乐的。如果那些书能够给你带来快乐的感受，那你就应该去读那些书。

Of course, it doesn’t hurt my argument that many readers who start out reading only lowbrow fiction eventually go on to bigger and better literary endeavors.And this, too, I know from personal experience. From the ages of about nine to thirteen, my bookshelf was filled with quintessential trashy romance novels. They weren’t exactly appropriate reading material for preteen me, but they certainly got me hooked on reading for fun. Flash forward ten years and here I am—a bonafide English major with many of the classics under my belt.Not every Harry Potter fan will go on to morechallenging literature, but even the ones that don’t will have had the experience of truly reading for fun.

当然，这并不动摇我的观点：许多读者都是刚开始只看低俗小说，经过一番努力继续看更好更伟大的文学巨著。这，我也从自身经验了解这种情况。在我9岁到13岁期间我的书架上放满了无聊的典型言情小说，这些对于那时青春期前的我来说并不是合适的阅读材料，但是这些书的确让我迷上了看书这种娱乐方式。一晃十年过去了，现在我是一个真正的英语学者，还著有许多经典著作。并不是每个哈利·波特书迷会继续去读更具挑战性的文学作品，但至少那些不去读文学作品的人们已经得到真正的阅读可以得到快乐的经验。

Controversial Statement #3: overall, literature is more useful in “the real world” (a.k.a.post-grad life) than even the most nuanced understanding of chemical engineering.

矛盾论3：总的来说，与对化工最细微深入的理解相比，文学在“现实世界”（又名：毕业后的生活）更加有用。

Out of my three statements, this one is probably hardest to defend. After all, a freshly minted engineering grad is almost certainly going to have a higher starting salary than a literature major. However,it’s important to remember that literature is about more than simply reading; it’s also about one’s capacity for analysis and critical thinking. It comes as no surprise, then,that law and medical schools are accepting more and more students with nontraditional backgrounds. Medical school admissions officers know that a student who majored in biology is going to have a solid foundation in the sciences, but what about the communication skills doctors rely on to speak with their patients? What about the ability to synthesize and compare many different perspectives, which doctors must do before making a diagnosis? The ever-popular field of finance is the same way; rather than preventing you from landing a job at that prestigious investment bank, a familiarity with literature and its accompanying abilities could make you stand out from the pack of econ major applicants.

从我三个论点来看，这句话可能是最难不被反驳的。一个新鲜出炉的刚毕业的工科学生几乎肯定比一个文科出身的学生拿到更高的起薪。但是，请记住，文科不仅仅是单纯的阅读。它也和一个人的分析能力与辩证思考能力有关。不要惊讶，现在法律学院与医学院正在招收更多没有传统相关背景的学生。医学院的招生官认为，专业与生物相关的学生的确在理科方面有着坚实的基础，但是医生所依赖的与病人交流上的能力呢？从各个角度综合比较的能力呢？下诊断之前医生应该先做哪一个呢？日益流行的金融领域也是同样的道理。我并不是阻止你在那著名的投资银行里找一份工作，对文学的熟悉以及随之而来的能力能让你在一堆经济专业的应聘者中脱颖而出。

I’m not saying English is the right major for everyone, or even for most people.But literature is right for everyone. Literature teaches us a hugely applicable set of life skills, and that is something everyone can appreciate.

我并没有说英语对所有人，或者说是大多数人来说是一个正确的选择，但是文学对每个人来说都是受益匪浅的。文学赋予我们一个非常适用于生活的能力，这是我们每个人都可以欣赏到的。

文中生词

‍book junkie ：嗜书如命

irreproachable‍ ：If you say that someone's character or behaviour is irreproachable, you mean that they behave so well that they cannot be criticized.无可指责的

lowbrow ：easyto understand or appreciate rather than intellectual and is therefore perhapsinferior.低级的，浅薄的

quintessential ：典型的

【智梦简介】

智梦是一家专注美国本科留学的教育咨询机构。

我们的使命：

“智梦教育团队深知留学申请关系到学生及其家长的前途和未来，我们将竭尽所能帮助每一位智梦学员发掘其潜在的特质，以开放透明的申请方式，让他们能不留遗憾的争取到自己的理想学校。与此同时，培养他们成为诚实守信、独立思考、德才兼备的国际化人才。”

我们的愿景：

“智梦教育将成为一所发掘学术兴趣，培养学术能力，塑造具有公民意识的新时代留学生的学校。”