My idea is to arrange 20 relatively simple English original books according to the difficulty of reading, from easy to difficult. I think the step of choosing books is very important, much more important than reading methods and reviewing words. The difficulty of the English original we choose directly determines whether we can continue reading. I have seen too many people who have just started reading the original work watch The Great Gatsby, and they are scared away by those abnormal new words and long sentences without reading a few pages. It's a pity that they never touched the original English again.
Therefore, I list 20 original books for reference according to the degree of difficulty (some original books have been recommended in this article), and briefly write out reading methods and suggestions at the end of the article.
0 1
Who moved my cheese?
Who moved my cheese? 》
I believe everyone has heard of this book, Short Chicken Soup for the Soul, which tells a simple truth in the form of fable. The original English version is very simple and short. If you have a CET-4 foundation, you can finish it in an hour or two, which is really an excellent choice for an introductory English original.
02
The Little Prince
The Little Prince
The little prince, which is popular all over the world, can't be called the original English in a strict sense, because the original is written in French. But the English version of the second book is really suitable for getting started. The language is simple and the space is short. You can read it in almost one day. I believe many friends have seen the Chinese version. Deserts, foxes, roses, snakes and all kinds of strange planets have become sad adult fairy tales and rare good books.
03
Charlotte's Web
Charlotte's Web
This book has been recommended before, giving people a comfortable feeling to read, and because it is a fairy tale, the language is relatively simple. Personally, I prefer the artistic conception of "American rural pastoral style" created by this book. Rainy days, quiet pastures, sleeping animals and small fish jumping out of the water are beautiful.
04
The Chronicles of Narnia
This series has also been awarded by the British writer C? s？ A series of fantasy novels written by Lewis. Because it is children's literature, its length is short, its plot and language are simple, and it is very suitable as an entry choice for English original works. There are seven books, and I only read the first four. Personally, I think the plot of this set of books is relatively young. If you read too much, you will get bored. Just read one or two to feel the difficulty.
05
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This book was written by roald dahl, a British writer of children's literature. The plot is interesting, the language is humorous and the imagination is rich. When you were a child, did you fantasize that you could own a house made of chocolate? Take a look at this book and satisfy your fantasy. In a word, this book feels comfortable and smooth to read. I finished it in half a day at a time.
Besides this one, roald dahl's other works are also highly recommended, so you can search and have a look.
06
The magical journey of Edward Duran
Edward's wonderful journey
Push hard! Push hard! ! Push hard! ! !
This book is really nice, ok! ! !
Friends who have seen the Korean drama You from the Stars should be familiar with this book. Yes, this book is a pillow book taught by both actors and actresses. Actually, I read the book first and liked it very much. Then I heard that it was also a pillow book for a Korean drama man, and I thought, this man has such high taste (praising himself in disguise)? Then I'll watch this Korean drama.
I always thought that Korean dramas were all watched by girls, so I didn't watch Korean dramas very much. But this drama really poisoned me. Its spiritual core is in perfect harmony with the book Edward, and I have to say that the skill of the screenwriter is really too strong. Therefore, I strongly recommend that anyone who has seen this Korean drama, or has not seen it, should look for this book.
07
Cheating daughter
Cheating daughter
This is the first original English book I have ever read, and now it seems that it may not be the most suitable for getting started. Because of the long space and protracted plot, it is easy to kill people's patience and is not suitable for people who have just started to contact the original. And the plot is really bloody, the man and the woman fell in love, and then found out that they were actually brother and sister! Then, I found it wrong, not brother and sister! The man and the woman finally thought they could be together, and a third party came in. Later, the third party was killed by the man and the mother. No wonder the author is called Qiong Yao of England.
08
The Bridge to West Asia, Trabue
Bridge to Terabithia
This book has also been recommended, so I won't say much. The remake of the movie with the same name is also very good. I recommend searching.
09
Flipped
Flipped
This is also strong! ! !
This book is also my favorite, and I wrote a recommendation article for it. Explain the unique troubles and heartache of adolescence in male and female tones respectively. There were frictions and misunderstandings in the process of growing up, but in the end we put aside our prejudice and understood each other. Communicate the truth of growth with interesting first love stories. After reading it, I also feel heartache. I don't know how long it's been since I read such an enjoyable book.
10
Happy Prince and Other Stories
Fairy Tales of Happy Prince
Wilde's fairy tales. In fact, the overall difficulty of this book is not great, which is more suitable for a week's difficulty, but because of Wilde, he always likes to write all kinds of exotic flowers and fruits, and uses some very uncommon words when describing the scenery. If you don't check these words, it doesn't actually affect the overall plot, but reading Wilde's fairy tales is to feel the aestheticism in his works. It is a bit reckless to simply understand the general plot without feeling the aestheticism between the lines. So after careful consideration, I put this book in the ranks of two-star difficulty.
1 1
When I talk about running, I'm talking about
What do I talk about when I talk about running?
I also like this book very much. Haruki Murakami's Essays on Running, Writing and Life is not the original in English, because the original is written in Japanese. Although it is a translated version, it is really surprisingly smooth and concise to read, and the style of writing is as light as water, without any sense of disobedience. The author conveyed his philosophy of life to readers in a humorous and relaxed tone. After reading it, it was like drinking a bottle of cold beer, which was comfortable and refreshing.
Although I am not a fan of Haruki Murakami, I really admire him. He insisted on long-distance running and writing for more than 20 years, with amazing perseverance, self-discipline, concentration, strictness and temperance, all of which he brought. It's really a pity to see it. On the other hand, my work and rest are irregular and my self-control is not strong. I really need to learn from him.
The most favorite and classic sentence in the book: "Pain is invisible. Suffering is dispensable. " This sentence shows the beauty of English undoubtedly, concisely, symmetrically and meaningfully. And the artistic conception is profound. Even after running a marathon for more than 20 years, the body will still feel extremely painful in the later stage of each time. Although the pain is inevitable, it can be avoided subjectively.
12- 14
a walk to remember
a walk to remember
The Notebook.
Notebook.
Dear John
Resignation letter
These three books were written by Nicholas Sparks, so they are introduced together. This writer is called "the king of pure love novels" in America. His books are pure love stories, very delicate. What about this kind of book? People who like it will like it very much, but people who don't like it can't understand it.
Notebooks should be known to more people, because the remake of the same name is very famous and is often listed as one of the most tearful movies. The summer after the college entrance examination, I finished reading the Chinese version in an Internet cafe in Beijing. After I went to college, I found the English version and read it. I experienced some things during this period, and I got some new insights when I saw it for the second time. This is a good book. These three books have all been made into movies. You can look for them if you are interested.
Nicholas Sparks still has many works, if you like, you can find them all, and your reading ability and vocabulary will definitely go up a step.
15
Anger of angels
(No Chinese name)
The author of this book is Sheldon Sidney, known as Jin Yong of America, who is good at writing suspense reasoning subjects. The writing of the novel is easy to understand and there are not many long and difficult sentences. It prefers to use small words and idioms composed of small words. There are quite a lot of works. If you like this style, you can read all his books and your reading ability can be improved.
16
Animal Farm
livestock farm
This book is also introduced, the representative work of George Orwell. There should be very few people who haven't read such a famous book, so I won't say much.
17
Seven short physics classes
Seven Minimalist Physics Courses
I personally like this book very much. This is a popular science novel on physics. The book is very short, only about 90 pages. In such a short space, the author condensed the scientific essence of quantum mechanics, relativity, particle physics, thermodynamics and other fields into seven lessons, and explained human cognition of physics for centuries.
What is more commendable is that although it is a popular science of physics, the author writes it as beautifully as poetry, and takes us into the vast romance of the universe with the same brushwork as literary works. Not surprisingly, our world, this universe, is the most beautiful thing, so we should write it in the best language.
18-20
He Wei trilogy
Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
Jiangzhen "Jiangcheng"
State-driven "Exploring China"
Peter. Peter Hessler, Chinese name He Wei, is a Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker. These three books record his experiences and feelings when he lived in China at the end of last century. I personally like these three books. Speaking of it, as an American who grew up under western prejudice against China in the last century, it was really difficult to see China without colored glasses, but He Wei did it. After reading his book, you can feel that He Wei is integrated into the local life as a whole, but to some extent, he stays out of it and observes and records China with a calm style and attitude. But this observation is not blind prejudice, but temperature and humanistic care. Look at his writing, it's really hard for you not to like him.
Especially when I was reading Jiangcheng, because I was studying in Chengdu, the description of Chongqing written by He Wei in the last century simply made me feel the same. On the one hand, many things haven't changed much, as if those words were written not twenty or thirty years ago, but a few days ago. On the other hand, Sichuan and Chongqing have changed and developed with each passing day in the past twenty or thirty years. I think if He Wei comes here again one day, there will be many regrets.
Read He Wei and look at our motherland from another angle.
Above, a * * * introduced 20 books, which I have read and recommended to everyone. That's enough to start. Don't confine yourself to my articles, but use the Internet. Douban and Zhihu also have many excellent original recommended books in English. I may recommend some regularly in the future, and this article is not to be continued.
Well, there's actually nothing complicated. As said at the beginning of the article, you should first choose a book that is equal to or higher than your own level, and then slowly advance to more difficult books.
Of course, even if you choose a good book, there will still be new words. There is a saying called "dialysis". What is dialysis? It means that some words are not searched, and some words are separated by searching. It is best to control the degree of searching for a new word every page or every two pages. Don't look up new words as soon as you meet them, which is inefficient and discourages enthusiasm.
But personally, I don't think it is necessary to insist. If you think it doesn't matter if you don't look up some words, don't look them up. Or there are a few pages where you think those new words are very important, so it's no harm to look them up more. It is important not to let "looking up words" excessively affect your reading experience.
As for the words found, be sure to review them! It is recommended to put it in the app, push the European code, and then make your own review plan, so I won't say much.
What tools are better for reading? Of course, the first one is our lovely kindle!
What's better about Kindle is that you can look up new words by clicking on them, and the searched new words will automatically help you collect them in your own new word book, which is convenient to cry! But! This is not the most convenient. There is a computer-side software called kindle mate. How powerful is this software? It can export the new words you found in kindle in batches, so that you can directly import the new words into Eurodictionary. It's so touching.
Of course, if you don't have a kindle, you can use your mobile phone. But the kindle is more like a paper book.
After reading dozens of original books in this way, your reading ability and vocabulary will definitely be greatly improved, which is an encouragement to you.
Above, thanks for reading