Leo Luo

I flipped1. flip: 快速翻动。to the final page and began to read. My eyes instinctively2. instinctively: 本能地。slowed down as each sentence brought me closer to the end of the book. My brain burned to reach those last words that would wrap up the entire story, but my heart begged me to savour this moment.3. 我的大脑很想尽快读到最后几句总结全书的文字，但是我的内心却恳请自己享受这一阅读时刻。burn to: 这里指“特别想要”；wrap up: 这里指“概括”；savour: 尽情享受。At last, after undertaking an odyssey through the lives of characters that almost leapt off the page and moments that revealed timeless truths of human nature, I was not ready for the story to end.4.最后，在体验过书中那些活灵活现的主人公的奇幻历程和那些揭示人性的永恒真理的瞬间之后，我简直不希望书中的故事就这样结束。undertake: 从事，进行；odyssey:奇幻旅程；leap off: 跳出。But as all good things must come to an end, I eased the back cover over the final page and closed the book with a contented sigh.5. ease: 小心缓慢地移动；sigh: 叹息。Tilting my gaze to the ceiling, my mind flashed through all that I had learned through the bundle of paper and ink in my hands, and smiled.6. 手捧着书，我的目光转向天花板，书中的内容在我的脑海中一一闪过，我轻轻地笑了。tilt: 使倾斜； flash through: 掠过，在（某人的心头）闪过。Nothing beats a great book.

Although the computer is becoming the medium of both communication and entertainment in the modern era, there is something to be said about the value of reading great books,speci fically the classics. Not only have these books withstood the test of time, but also the critiques of countless readers over the years.7. withstand: 经受，承受；critique: 批评。To read such a piece of writing is to enter an ongoing conversation about the human experience with some of the greatest minds that ever lived.

“真正的艺术来源于心灵的创造”，文学名著正是如此。本文作者曾经很排斥阅读经典文学名著，认为那些书既乏味又厚重，但是在偶然阅读了一本经典名著《美丽新世界》后，作者从书中获得了关于社会和人性的深刻感悟。在充满了快餐读物的今天，让我们一起重温这些人类精神的财富吧！

Whether that is through serious novels or lighthearted stories, reading great books embodies8. embody: 体现。the art of questioning by presenting audiences with insights into what it means to be human.

I espouse so much about the virtue of reading great books that it seems ironic that not so long ago,9. espouse: 支持，赞成；virtue: 优点。I did not even know what it even meant. To my 14-year-old impressionable self, a great book was one that exhaled a fragrance full of imagination and adventure as I cracked it open.10. 14岁的我正值敏感的时期，对于我来说，一本好书就是当你打开它时，它会散发出充满想象力和奇遇的馨香。impressionable:敏感的，易受影响的；exhale: 发散；crack:打开。It would plunge me into worlds of dragons and magic that would allow me to escape the real world and all of its crushing truths for just a few precious hours.11. plunge sb. into: 使某人陷入；crushing: 毁灭性的。Most of these books were pop fiction,written all in the last five years or so. I avoided the classics like the plague: those books were boring, not to mention enormous.12. 我曾经像躲避瘟疫一样排斥这些经典文学作品：这些书不仅乏味，还都是大部头。plague: 瘟疫，灾祸。It was not until I chanced upon a copy ofBrave New Worldby Aldous Huxley,which I found abandoned in a classroom desk, did I decide on a whim to give classic books a try.13. Brave New World: 小说《美丽新世界》，英国作家阿道司·赫胥黎所著，是20世纪最经典的反乌托邦文学之一。这部作品主要刻画了在机械文明下的未来社会中，人的“人”性被机械剥夺殆尽，接受种种安于现状的教育，热爱机械化的工作与生活方式；……