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A Profound Quote from Alberto Manguel

 

台灣變質的教育制度下,學生把讀書看做是耗費精神腦力的一件事,天天得應付各種大小考而不得不念書,甚至是一種追求功名的手段而不得不努力去讀。事實上,讀書應該是一件充滿魔力的事情,能夠為一個人開啟不同的眼界,見識到各種多采多姿的世界。阿根廷籍作家 Alberto Manguel 說過下面這段話:

 

At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a bookthat string of confused, alien ciphersshivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader.

——Alberto Manguel

 

string

(n.) a sequence of similar items

alien

(adj.) very different from what you are used to, esp. in a way that is difficult to understand or accept

cipher

(n.) a system of scret writing; code

shiver

(v.) break into small pieces; shatter

irrevocabe

(adj.) not possible to revoke; not able to be changed, reversed or recovered

 

在你幼年時充滿魔力般的一刻,一本書的紙頁上,那一串難以理解又陌生的書寫中,碎裂成(一個個)有意義的(區塊)文字。字詞向你傾訴話語,捨棄它們的(內蘊的)秘義——剎那間,五花八門的世界完全敞開。你變成了一位讀者,無法再變回去。

 

universe 一般當成是不可數名詞,指「宇宙」。在這裡用複數 universes ,意指「各式各樣的世界」(a variety of worlds),也就是各種不同的書可以帶給一個人不同領域的景物、知識、氛圍。

 

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