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1、About+the+Good+Books+Response+to+Sesame+and+Lilies 世 界 文 艺 文 艺 生活 LITERATURE LIFE 72013-05 About the Good Books Response to Sesame and Lilies 黎 奇 武 虹 内蒙古大学 外国语学院,内蒙古 呼和浩特 010070 Abstract:Sesame and Lilies is a cluster of lectures delivered by John Rusn.This essay focuses on “lecture I”,in which Rusk
2、in puts forwards his point of view about good books.What actually is a good book?W hat are their functions,in terms of improving personal characters and exerting influence on society? The essay mainly discuss about these questions. Key words:books;personal improvement;social function 中图分类号:I106 文献标识
3、码:A 文章编号:1005?5312201315?0064?01 Its self-evident that books play an indispensable role in our daily life now.You can even judge a person to some ex? tent by the books he or she reads.In that case,choosing good books is a primary and task for a person,and also a hard one concerning the vast universe
4、 of volumes.In Ruskin s opinion,good books can be divided into two categories: good books of the hour and good books for al time.The good book of the hour isthe useful or pleasant talk of some person whom you cannot otherwise converse with,printed for you.”Th ey are usually informative,fact?telling
5、or emotion-pro- voking ones.Ruskin thinks that this kind of book is impor- taut to our lives,but its not true book.He even asserts that “they are not books at al,but merely letters or newspapers in good printFrom his point of view,a good book contains original and valuable ideas,and thus can last fo
6、r a long time. And this kind of book is usually hard to grasp and can only be understood by a smal number of people. From a certain perspective,his standard for a good book is valid.Assuredly,a good book must contain original ideas and profound thoughts,which provoke readers into thinking about seri
7、ous issues.But thats not the only scale to measure a good book.And a good book,in terms of any respect,is not necessarily a reward to just a handful of people. There is no doubt that the essential part of a book is the ideas in it,and they also reflect the value of a book.An idea,no mater how perfec
8、t and impressive it is,that cannot be spread is worthless.Thus,the pivotal role of a book is to sDread a certain set of idea and then,afect the course of history and promote the advancement of society.In that case, the book is connected with the real world.If the idea of a book can only be understoo
9、d and accepted by a few members 0f a society。then the value of the book is suspicious,for the chance of it prevailing among a large part of the members of society and bring some substantial changes to society is rather slim.Based on this deduction,one of the standards to judge a good book is that it
10、 must be close to peoples life and close to peoples heart. In Sir Philip Sidneys work The Defense of Poesy.he put forward two functions of reading:teaching and moving.A good book can not only teach US,but also can move us to act.To achieve this goal,the book must create resonance for readers.When th
11、ey read the book,it occurs to them “it rings my bel”.And it can instruct readers to apply the idea to their everyday life.And then,the mission of a book has ful- filled an idea has taken root in ones heart and been applied to the reality.And as regards the language,it should not be so obscure for re
12、aders,for a book is to enlighten readers,but not to eonfuse them. Its unfair to put the “good book of the hour”into the category of“non?real book”.They may nourish young heart longing for knowledge,they may inspire a frustrated person to regain confidence an d they may lead you to a completely new w
13、orld.The profound“real books”that are very limited in nun? ber is just the rarest pearls on a crown.Not everyone needs to dive into the dark and deep sea of knowledge;they can also appreciate the amazing immensity of knowledge by swim- ming in the shalow area of the sea. There is no sole standard to
14、 judge one vague.Accord? ingly,a good book cannot be judged by an absolute view. Some books may not last for a long time,but as long as they have exerted impacts on people in certain phase of history,it has its value. References: 【1John Ruskin.Sesame and Lilies【M】.Yale university press,2002. 2Sir Philip Sidney.The Defense of PoesyM】.University of Ne? braska Press.1970.
