You might think that I don’t want to spend my summer reading, 妳可以認為是我不願意在暑假閱讀but that’s not the problem但不是這樣的: I love reading我愛閱讀. On the first day of my summer holidays this year,今年暑假的第壹天 I went to the library 我去了圖書館and got “A Gathering of Old Men” by African-American writer Ernest Gaines.借了壹本非洲裔美國歐內斯特·蓋恩斯寫的《壹批老男人們》 I enjoyed it very much我非常喜歡這本書. I read all the magazines that my parents subscribe to and spend about 30 minutes every day with the morning paper我讀了父母訂閱的所有雜誌並且每個天花30分鐘晨讀. So why do I hate summer reading for school那為什麽我不喜歡在暑假讀學校布置的閱讀任務呢? Because the books on summer reading lists are often slow-going and just uninviting因為暑假閱讀單上的書都毫無意義且枯燥乏味. Teachers and librarians don’t understand that summer reading can be entertaining as well as educational老師們和圖書管理員們都忘記了閱讀不能只是教育作用還應該有趣味性. They choose books that a friend of my mother’s calls “spinach books”我媽媽的壹個朋友把他們挑的書稱作“綠色書籍”: good for you對妳有益, but not much fun to take in但無多大樂趣. Every summer每個暑假, I read them我都閱讀, hate them and get bitter about the experience但我實在不喜歡那些書，那種經歷太痛苦了.
This bitterness started three years ago when I was about to begin high school這種痛苦的經歷從三年前我上高中就開始了. As preparation, my English teacher told me to read “The Age of Innocence” by American author Edith Wharton作為準備，我的英語老師讓我讀美國作家伊迪絲·華頓的《純真年代》 . I’m sure there are many people who enjoyed “The Age of Innocence”我知道有很多人都喜歡《純真年代》—some might even say it’s their favorite book甚至有人會說那是他們最喜歡的書.
But I don’t think any of these people read it as a 14-year-old boy on his summer vacation但我想這些人不是在他們14歲的暑假讀的.
“The Age of Innocence” is the story of a forbidden romance in New York 100 years ago《純真年代》是壹個100年前發生在紐約的被禁忌的愛情故事. At 14歲的時候, my only experience with romance was my love for baseball我唯壹浪漫的經歷就是對籃球的愛好. I couldn’t imagine being in love, much less being in love in 1900我無法想象在1900年代是怎樣的愛. “The Age of Innocence” was totally different to my life《純真年代》於我的生活完全不同.
Most of my required summer reading has been like that—books written in a style that plays up the adjectives and plays down the verbs我暑假讀得最多的書大多是用形容詞和動詞寫的. I guess teachers don’t think exciting plots make for “good literature”我猜老師們並不認為令人興奮的情節毫無文學趣味. To me, though, a good writer describes events and characters in a way that makes the reader want to know what happens next. 然而，對於我來說，壹個好的作家就是可以描寫可以讓妳有興趣繼續讀下去的故事情節。
If I were making up a summer reading list如果讓我做壹個閱讀計劃, it would include “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” by George V. Higgins絕對不會包含喬治-希金斯的《線人》, “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe湯姆-烏爾夫的《太空英雄》, and “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer或者的喬恩·科萊考爾《荒野生存》. These are all books that have literary value but這些書都很有文學價值, just as important但重要的是, can also entertain kids on vacation不能給孩子們的假期帶來快樂. If the teachers could stand a little fun in the books they assign, my Augusts would be a lot more enjoyable。如果老師們能給孩子列點有樂趣的書，我的八月或許會更愉快的吧~~
終於完了……裏面列的這些書都是經典之作，很多被翻譯成中文，也有的被拍成電影。犯罪懸疑系列