COMMENTS ON “OF STUDIES”

What strikes me as the best in “Of Studies” is the sentence----- “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”. It opens my eyes to the method of selecting books and the means of reading.

Selecting right books to reading is what the antidote to the disease. If we want to improve our ability and broaden our horizon in some field, we should take the according books into account. Otherwise, reading blindly will get us nowhere. Thus when we choose a book from a great number of books, we should bear in mind which kind of books will meet our own meets and are suitable to us. The author delivers his viewpoint through the metaphor. He compares the reading to the process of eating. And he gives us a vivid picture of which kind of books is worth reading carefully and provokes us to considering the standard of selecting a book.

The way to read plays an important role in reading. In this sentence, the author gives us three ways---taste, swallow, chew and digest. They are symbols for three

levels. For the “Taste”, we just have a look at the book and there is no need to pay much attention to the certain sentence. Perhaps it is a good way to kill time. This is the lowest level of reading. Next is to “Swallow”, we just roughly read through the book and have a general idea of the theme or viewpoint. At this level, we can learn more than the previous. The most important one is the “Chew and Digest”. It means that we read between the lines rather than only focus on the literal meanings. Not only do we pay attention to the theme but also to the use of language and the well-organized structure. By this means we can make use of the book to the full extent. This kind of reading can make a great effect on our thoughts and writing skills.

Although this sentence is short, it reveals the right way to reading, which is worth chewing.

第二篇：life of pi 英文读后感

The power of faith

——impression of Life of Pi

Life of Pi, one of my favorite books, is what I’m going to introduce in my article today. I read it two years ago, just after watching its movie version which is directed by Ann Lee. Until now, my mind has still kept flashing back this fantastic story. The story itself is extremely attractive, the words of it are full of wisdom and the ending which is the best part of it is really thought provoking.

First of all, it tells a life story of the main character——Pi, an India boy grew up in a zoo and affected by three religions. At first, he decides to become an adherent of all three religions. And the most wonderful part is during a trip to Canada, when all his family died in a shipwreck, he drifted in the Pacific Ocean on a life boat with 4 animals included a tiger. In this incredible journey, he realized that what he had believed can’t save his life and the only thing he needed to trust was himself.

The story makes me know that the most important thing is not to despair. If every unfolding we experience takes us further along in life, then, we are truly experiencing what life is offering. I really the

sentences in this book, for example, I must say a word about fear, it is life's only true opponent, only fear can defeat life. It says that fear is a clever, treacherous adversary, it has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy, It goes for your weakest spot, which

It finds with unerring ease.

Like I said before, the ending is the best part of this novel. At the end of the story, Pi survived and was sent to a hospital. When asked what happened on the Pacific Ocean, Pi told them the version that has those animals. But people didn’t buy it, and made him tell the truth. So, Pi then offers them a second story in which he is adrift on a lifeboat not with zoo animals, but with the ship′s cook, a Taiwanese sailor with a broken leg, and his own mother. The cook amputates the sailor′s leg for use as fishing bait, then kills the sailor and Pi′s mother for food, and soon he is killed by Pi, who dines on him. Pi points out that neither story can be proven and neither explains the cause of the shipwreck, so he asks the officials which story they prefer: the one without animals or the one with animals. They choose the story with the animals. Pi thanks them and says: ″And so it goes with God.″

I must say the ending is really a punchline. Without it, the novel is just a normal fantasy fiction. It gives readers a lot of thinking about which one we should believe. Although I am not a adherent of any

religion, but this story makes me believe in god. I guess that’s why I love it so much.

Kevin