如何閱讀一本書

作者: Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren
摘要:
· 閱讀的層次:
1. 基礎閱讀
2. 檢視閱讀
3. 分析閱讀
4. 主題閱讀

· 如何做一個自我要求的讀者
回答四個幾本問題:
1. 整體來說，這本書到底在談寫什麼?
2. 作者細部說了什麼，怎麼說的?
3. 這本書說得有道理嗎? 是全部有道理，還是部分有道理?
4. 這本書跟你有什麼關係?

· 作筆記的方法:
1. 畫底線
2. 在畫底線處的欄外再加畫一道線
3. 在空白處做星號或其他符號
4. 在空白處編號
5. 在空白處記下其他頁碼
6. 將關鍵字或句子圈出來
7. 在頁碼的空白處做筆記

· 筆記的類型與閱讀層次
1. 結構筆記：檢視閱讀
2. 概念筆記：分析閱讀
3. 主題筆記：主題閱讀

· 檢視閱讀的方法
A. 有系統的略讀或粗讀
1. 先看書名頁，如果有序就看序。
2. 研究目錄頁。
3. 如果書中附有索引，也要檢閱一下。
4. 讀一下作者的介紹。
5. 挑幾個看來跟主題息息相關的篇章來看。
6. 最後一步，把書打開來，東翻翻西翻翻，念個一、兩段，有時候連續讀幾頁，但不要太多。

B. 粗淺的閱讀
§ 頭一次面對一本難讀的書的時候，從頭到尾先讀完一遍，碰到不懂的地方不要停下來查詢或思索。
§ 閱讀的速度: 因書因目的而調整。秘方:在閱讀一本書的時候，慢不該慢到不值得，快不該快到有損於滿足與理解。
§ 矯正眼睛逗留或倒退的卻失

· 分析閱讀的三個階段
A. 找出一本書在談什麼的規則
1. 依照書的種類與主題來分類。
2. 使用最簡短的文字說明整本書在談些什麼。
3. 將主要部分案順序與關聯性列出來。將全書的大崗烈出來，並將各個部分的大綱也列出來。
4. 確定作者想要解決的問題。

B. 詮釋一本書的內容規則
5. 詮釋作者的關鍵字，與他達成共識。
6. 又最重要的句子中，抓到作者的重要主旨。
7. 知道作者的論述是什麼，從內容中找出相關句子，在重新架構出來。
8. 確定作者已經解決了哪些問題，還有哪些是沒解決的。在判斷哪些事作者知道他沒解決的問題。

C. 像是溝通知失一樣的評論一本書的規則
I. 智慧禮節的一般規則
9. 除非你已經完成大綱架構，也能全是整本書，否則不要輕易評論。
10. 不要爭強好勝，非辯到底。
11. 在說出評論之前，你要能證明自己區別得出真正的知識與個人觀點的不同。

II. 批評觀點得特別標準
12. 證明作者的知識不足。
13. 證明作者的知識錯誤。
14. 證明作者不合邏輯。
15. 證明作者的分析與理由是不完整的。

· 主題閱讀的步驟
A. 觀察研究的範圍：主題閱讀的準備階段
1. 針對你要研究的主題，設計一份試驗性的書目。你可以參考圖書館的目錄、專家的建議、與書中的書目索引。
2. 瀏覽這份書目上所有的書，確定哪些與你的主題相關，並就你的主題建立起清楚的概念。

B. 主題閱讀：閱讀所有第一階段收集到的書籍
1. 瀏覽第一階段被認可與你主題相關的書，找出最相關的章節。
2. 根據主題創造出一套中立的詞彙，帶引作者與你達成共識------無論作者是否實際用到這些詞彙，所有的作者，或至少絕大部分的作者都可以用這套詞彙來詮釋。
3. 建立一個中立的主旨，列出一連串的問題------無論作者是否明白談過這些問題，所有的作者，或者至少大多數作者都要能解讀為針對這些問題提供了他們的回答。
4. 界定主要及次要議題。然後將作者針對各個問題的不同意見整理陳列在各個議題之旁。你要記住，各個作者之間或之中，不見得一定存在某個議題。有時候，你需要針對一些不是作者主要關心範圍的事情，把他的觀點解讀，才能建構出這種議題。
5. 分析這些討論。這得把問題和議題按順序排列，以求凸顯主題。比較有共通性的議題，要放在比較沒有共通性的議題之前。各個議題之間的關係也要清楚地界定出來。

注意: 理想上，要一直保持對話式的疏離與客觀。要做到這一點，每當你要解讀某個作者對一個議題的觀點時，必須從他自己的文章中引一段話來並列。

Newsweek: A Plan of Attack for Piece

Newsweek, Jan 12, 2009, p.28-p.31
This is a cover story of n the current situation in Mideast written by Daniel Klaidman.
War is diplomacy in the Middle East. It is still true today as Israel continues its attack on Hamas in Gaza, that were prompted by Hamas missile strikes on Israel. On Dec. 27 2008, Israeli ground forces began to move in Gaza. This military action was not just a reaction but also a calculation. Olmert, the prime minister of Israel, first wants to stop missiles which Hamas was sending into Israel and to force to renewal of the ceasefire. Second he wants to crush Hamas completely.
Looking for ”peace process” has been failed many times. There are many difficult details to be worked out: the exact border of a two-state compromise; the fate of Palestinian refugees; the future of Jerusalem. President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will face these challenges.

Companionship of Books

By Samuel Smiles

A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity of distress. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the love they each have for a book. The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he, in them.

A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out, for, the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temple and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors’ minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page.

Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.

Vocabulary:
· turn one’s back upon sb.: 背棄某人
· in time of… : 處於…時期
· adversity: n. 逆境、患難
· adverse: a. 敵對，不利的
· distress: n. 困難；痛苦、苦惱　＆ vt. 使痛苦、始苦惱
· amuse ：v. 娛樂、使開心
· console: vt. 安慰、慰問
· affinity: n. 喜愛、吸引力
· sympathize: vi. 同情；看法一致、有同感
· urn: n. 甕 ;此處指寶藏
· enshrine: vt. 置於神櫃內；祀奉；此為”珍藏”
· essence: n. 本質
· immortality: n. 不死、不朽性
· by far + 最高級性容詞: 最最
· vividly: adv. 鮮明地，歷歷在目地
· as + adj./adv. + as ever: 非常地
· grieve : vi. 悲傷 (常與 over 並用) & vt. 使悲傷
· in a / some measure = to a certain degree

The Happy Door

By Mildred Cram

Happiness is like a pebble dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle of ripples. As Stevenson has said, being happy is a duty.

There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures who are extremely happy.

Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others.

Being unhappy is like an infectious disease; it causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem, at first glance, ridiculous: If you don’t feel happy, pretend to be!

It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.
Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.

Being happy, once it is realize as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.

Vocabulary:
· ever-widening: a. 不斷擴張的
· a sort of = a kind of
· invalid : n. 病弱的人 & a. 無效的
· failure: n. 失敗的人事物(C) ；失敗(U)
· dividend: n. 股息(此 引申”好處”)
· accomplishment: n. 成就；才藝
· strive (for N / to V) : (努力爭取/ 努力；奮力)
· strive, strove, striven
· infectious: a. 傳染性的，易傳染的
· be infected with…: 感染
· embittered: a. 難受的
· embitter: vt. 使苦; 使難受
· cure sb of 疾病
· so …as to V = so … that + S+V
· instead of Ving, S+V = rather than V, S+V 非但不…，反而….
· be rewarded with: 被用….來酬謝/獎賞
· in reward for = as a reward for 來酬謝…；作為….的獎賞
· be of service to sb = be of help to sb
· throng: vt.聚集、擠滿 n. 群眾
· be thronged with = be filled with = be crowded with
· a throng of 一群….

Advice to a Young Man

By Robert Jones Burdette

Remember, my son, you have to work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, you must work. If you look around, you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their life without work are the men who work the hardest. Don’t be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It is the interval that kills, my son. The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers; it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.

There are young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them. It does not know their names, even. Nobody likes them; the great, busy world does not know that they are there. So find out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world. The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be with you.

Vocabulary:
· wheel-barrow : 單輪手推車
· It is beyond one’s power to V: 從事….超過某人的能力，某人無能力….
· (be) on the sunny/ shady side of thirty: 不到三十多歲/三十多歲
· appetite: n. 食慾
· solidity: n. 堅硬，穩固
· slumber = sleep
· be apt to V: 易於…，有…傾向

Research papers for Dummies

· Clarify the goals of a research project
· Knowing the basic parts of a research paper
· Distinguish between different types of research papers
· Understanding the steps involved in writing a research paper

1. Decide what to write about
2. Conduct a survey of source
3. Take notes, round one
4. Create a thesis statement or topic sentence
5. Take notes, round two
6. Prepare to write
7. Write, round one
8. Write, round two
9. Place the finishing touches

We're Just Beginning

By Charles F. Kettering

“We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite…”
I do not know who wrote these words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.
We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.

I want the future to be better than the past. I don’t want it contaminated by the mistakes and errors with which history is filled. We should all be concerned about the future because that is where we will spend the remainder of our lives.

The past is gone and static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new frontiers, in our homes and in our businesses, if we will only recognize them. We are just at the beginning of the progress in every field of human endeavor.