A short response to a highschool student

舞者

I hope you do not mind my posting this in public, as I feel that this message (as amended) might be important for many of the high school students who love literature here.


You asked me for recommendations of books or magazines for the purposes of improving your English and hopefully reading literature in English someday.

There are so many resources on the internet...it has to be something in which you are interested, otherwise you will not read on.  Think of something you would like to read, and do a "google" search, if it does not have a copyright issue, you might be able to find it.  The key is to persist and contantly learn and practise, rather than what you read--no single book or magazine will improve your English overnight.

If I was a high school student, I would focus on my study first and make sure that I get into a top university (which I did years ago).  It is more important than you could realise at this stage of your life.  The literature dream is important to the soul, which can be pursued later.  It is also alright to persue it along your study, yet not at the expenses of your current study.

It is very important that you get yourself to a place that leads to a more expansive world....The world is magnificent, yet you must acquire the necessary skills, means and resources to explore it.

I hope this helps.  We could discuss again if it is necessary.

mu

REALLY good suggestions! I absolutely agree with this,"If I was a high school student, I would focus on my study first and make sure that I get into a top university".

And I'm sure it'll help those Chinese students who deeply love literature. But I still wannna know your recommendations of books to highschool students and those beginners? :)

舞者

原帖由 牧场看守人 于 2006-2-26 17:11 发表
But I still wannna know your recommendations of books to highschool students and those beginners? :)

Find a topic in which you are interested, and some titles you would like to read, and read them.  Modify the scope of interest along the way.

You can start here, Little Prince http://korczak.com/Exupery/englisch/0.html, and write a report in English afterwards to post here.  I am only half joking.  I will read it tonight too, but probably will not write a report .

mu

I'm not convinced that Le Petite Prince is for those new to literature(surtout the highschool students), in such cases it apears to be something silly and homiletic

舞者

Did anyone actually read it?  

I did--my suspicion is that the tone and the impression readers get could be different from the Chinese translation.  I read 未明's book review in Chinese (on the Chinese translation), and there was no sadness in the English version (at least I did not personally feel sadness).

There are quite a number of profound revelation about life.  For example, the important things are invisible to the eyes, but can only be seen with heart; for example, "taming" is a process of establishing a personal relationship--my reading is that there is no inherent meaning in a thing (or anything per se, for that matter), the meaning lies in the mentality with which we approach that thing/people or establish a relationship with that thing/people--when we establish a "personal relationshp" through sharing a part of us in a thing/person, that thing/person start to have "meaning" to us (as illustrated by Little Prince's "taming" of the Fox and indulging of the Rose); for example, "owning" is to be of service, rather than possessing (which was illustrated by Little Prince's relationship with the Rose); for example, there is a hidden treasure in everything, however destitute to the eyes, and there COULD be a star in everyone's heart (should we choose so).

It is a beautifully cheerful tale to me, in my current state of mind, which through Little Prince insists on seeing the star and smile in everything.  Only through the child inside us, the fantastical untainted innocence, are we redeemed in this "adult" world full of "control" (the King), the "obsessed who loses sight of what is important" (the Business man), the "split" (the Geographer), the "escapist" (the Tippler), the "ignorance" (the Conceited man), and the "Busy-ness" (the Lamplighter).

What I disagree with 未明is that the Fox was not Little Prince's first love, he was Little Prince's teacher.

伊莎朵拉

I am a college  junior student ,thankyou for your good advice ,yet I have't reed "little prince".

I am not a hard working person,so lazy that I only want to read but no write.So I amsorry there may lay some mistake in my writing.

顾念

i find it very important to read book review, cause i read the translattion of the little prince, but nothing was left after i finish reading it, i just find it write sth in other angle.
i have to insist on reading the review, so that i could be informed of sth i never notice, which would be interesting

Vincentlover

thank you for the suggestions and they are quite helpful though i'm no longer a highschool student
among those "Littles", i mean Little Prince, Little Princess, Little Lady, Little Stuart, Little Chicken etc lol ..Little Prince is my favourate, as you said the revelations can be a bit hard to understanded as well as a variety of similes can be found anywhere in this book. As for me the relationship with the Rose is somehow boring, just the same as popular love tale books sold on the first stage of any bookshore, it shows a female namby-pamby writing style (and for this reason i don't appreciate most of Saint-Exupery's works) but i find the posterior tales rather charming, tales of a drunk, a king and very last the death of the little prince. It has someting to do with a slightness of heart, which is similar to Anderson's fairy tales, they're no longer tales but poetry

aimee

Thank you for your suggestions.I'm a high school student who has a deep love for literature.Although sometimes i find it hard to balance my love for literature and my school work,however,i fully realise the importance of getting myself into a top university,so that i can learn as many things as i can and appreciate literature in better way.