After she had been in the class six weeks or so and we had become good friends, I very tentatively suggested that, since she was a skillful rider and loved horses, she might like to read National Velvet. I made my sell as soft as possible, saying only that it was about a girl who loved and rode horses, and that if she didn't like it, she could put it back. She tried it, and though she must have found it quite a bit harder than what she had been reading, finished it and liked it very much.
她在这个班上学习了大概六周后，我们成了好朋友。我试探地向她建议：既然她喜欢马，而且骑马的水平还不错，她可以读一读《玉女神驹》。我尽可能委婉地提出这个建议。我只告诉她那是一个关于一个热爱马并常常骑马的女孩的故事；如果她不喜欢读，她可以放回去。她去读了，也许她觉得这本书比她先前读的书要难点，但是她读完了，而且挺喜欢。
Apparently she decided to believe me. The first book she read was Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, not a hard book even for most third graders. For a while she read a number of books on this level. Perhaps she was clearing up some confusion about reading that her teachers, in their hurry to get her up to "grade level," had never given her enough time to clear up. After she had been in the class six weeks or so and we had become good friends, I very tentatively suggested that, since she was a skillful rider and loved horses, she might like to read National Velvet. I made my sell as soft as possible, saying only that it was about a girl who loved and rode horses, and that if she didn't like it, she could put it back. She tried it, and though she must have found it quite a bit harder than what she had been reading, finished it and liked it very much.
显然，她打算照我说的办。她读的第一本书是瑟斯博士写的《格林奇偷走圣诞节》，这本书对大多数三年级的学生都不算难，更不要说这个年级的孩子了。有一阵子，她读的都是这个难易度的书。也许她是在消除对阅读的一些困惑，而以前她没时间去做，因为老师总是催促她看这个年级“该看的书”。她在这个班上学习了大概六周后，我们成了好朋友。我试探地向她建议：既然她喜欢马，而且骑马的水平还不错，她可以读一读《玉女神驹》。我尽可能委婉地提出这个建议。我只告诉她那是一个关于一个热爱马并常常骑马的女孩的故事；如果她不喜欢读，她可以放回去。她去读了，也许她觉得这本书比她先前读的书要难点，但是她读完了，而且挺喜欢。
During the spring semester, she really astonished me, however. One day, in one of our many free periods, she was reading at her desk. From a glimpse of the illustrations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, "It can't be," and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick, in the edition with woodcuts by Rockwell Kent. When I came close to her desk, she looked up. I said, "Are you really reading that?" She said she was. I said, "Do you like it?" She said, "Oh, yes, it's neat!" I said, "Don't you find parts of it rather heavy going?" She answered, "Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part."
春季的那一学期，她的表现可真的让我吃惊了。一天，在我们的自习课上我看到她坐在课桌前看书。我瞥了一眼书中的插图就知道这是一本什么书了。我心想：“不可能吧。”我走过去仔细一看，她果然在读《白鲸》，是配有罗克威尔·肯特的木刻画的那个版本。我走近她的课桌，这时她抬起头来。我问她：“你真的在读这本书吗？”她说，是的。我又问：“喜欢这本书吗？”“嗯，是的。这本书很好。”她答道。“你不觉得有些地方很难吗？”我又问道。“有啊，不过，看不懂就跳过去，挑有意思的地方看。”她这样回答。
This is exactly what reading should be, but in school, reading is not always an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. Why should we insist that every child should read the same book and get the same scrap of "understanding" out of it?
真正的阅读就该如此。但是上学时，阅读不见得总是有趣或让人喜欢。拿上一本书，钻进去，读有趣的部分，跳过不好的部分，尽可能从书中得到点收获，然后再去读其他书。为什么非要让每个孩子读一样的书，作出同样没有意义的“理解”呢？
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