Chapter 37 What books to read to increase and improve your vocabulary

You can start with Bennett's "How to Make the Most of Your Twenty-Four Hours of the Day"; let Emerson be your constant companion; devote yourself to two of them—the Bible and Shakespeare; Look through the dictionary before going to bed. You can start with Bennett's How to Make the Most of Your Twenty-Four Hours of the Day.This book will stimulate you as much as a cold bath.It tells you a lot about what interests you -- about yourself.It shows you how much time you waste every day, how to stop this waste, and how to use the time you save.The book is only 103 pages and can easily be read in a week.Tear 20 pages out of the book every day and put them in your pocket.Then shorten the time to read the newspaper every morning to ten minutes, instead of the habitual twenty or thirty minutes.

President Jefferson said: "I have changed the habit of reading newspapers to reading the works of the ancient Roman historian Taisitas and the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. I find that I am much happier than before." If you learn from Jefferson , cut the newspaper reading time at least in half, and you will find yourself happier and smarter than before in a few weeks, do you believe it?Wouldn't you rather give it a try and spend the time you save reading a better book of greater value?While you're waiting for the elevator, the bus, the meal delivery, the date, why don't you pull out those 20 pages you carry with you and read them?

After you read the 20 pages, put them back in the original book, and tear off the other 20 pages again.When you've finished reading the book, put a rubber band around the cover to keep the pages from falling out.Wouldn't it be better to finish a book in this way than to leave it untouched on the shelf? After reading "How to Make the Most of the Twenty-Four Hours of a Day", you may be interested in another book "The Human Machine" by this author, so try it.This book can help you deal with others more tactfully, and help you develop the advantages of poise and poise.These books are recommended not only for their content but also for the way they are presented, they are sure to increase and improve your vocabulary.

A few more helpful books: Here are two of the best American novels ever written, The Octopus and The Peach Pit by Frank Norris. "The Octopus" describes the turmoil and human tragedy in California, and "The Peach Pit" describes the open and secret struggles of the Chicago Stock Exchange stock market brokers."Miss Daisy" by Thomas Hardy is the most beautiful novel ever written.Hillis's "The Social Value of Man" and Professor William James's "A Talk with a Teacher" are two good books worth reading."Elf, Shelley's Life" by the famous French writer Maurois, "Harold's Heart Journey" by Byron and "Riding a Donkey" by Stevenson should also be included in your must-read list inside.

Let Emerson be your companion wherever you go.Go read his famous commentary "Self-reliance" first, and let him whisper these smooth sentences in your ear: Speak frankly about the beliefs hidden in your heart, it must be of universal value.The innermost often becomes the outermost—our first thoughts are beamed back to us through the trumpet of the Last Judgment.The great merit of Milton and others is that they go beyond books and traditions, and say not only what people say, but what they think.Everyone should learn to capture the light that flashes in their own hearts, and don't have to pay attention to the enlightenment of the so-called sages and wise men.Yet people unknowingly give up their thoughts simply because they are their thoughts.In the works of genius we often see thoughts we have cast aside: they come back to us with a distant nobility.Great works of art constitute no more influential lessons than those whose teachings, with good temper and uncompromising attitude, come naturally to our heads, instead of coming, as we do most of the time, from the depths of our hearts. The voices from here are set aside.Otherwise, tomorrow a stranger with excellent sensibility will say everything we think.We will be forced to humiliate others for our own opinions.

Everyone learns at some point in his education that envy is ignorance and imitation suicide.Whether you are good or bad, you must accept it.Although the world is merciful, each person must work hard on his own land in order to reap a good harvest.The power in him is a new thing in the natural world. No one knows what he can do except himself. Only after he tries it himself will he know. We saved the best authors for last.Who are they?Someone asked Sir Henry Owen to provide a book list, listing the 100 best books in his opinion. He said: In the face of these 100 good books, I will only concentrate on studying two of them-the "Bible" and Shakespeare .Sir Henry was quite right when he said that you must drink from these two great sources of English literature, and drink often, and as much as you can.Put aside the evening paper, and say: "Come here, Shakespeare, and tell me to-night about Romeo and his Juliet, and about Macbeth and his ambition."

What kind of reward will you get in doing so?Before you know it, gradually—but it is inevitable—your rhetoric will become beautiful and elegant.You begin to exude the glory, beauty and nobility of these spiritual companions.The great German writer Goethe said: "Tell me what you talk about, and I can tell what kind of person you are." The reading plan I suggested above actually takes very little willpower, just a little saved time and $5 each for popular editions of Emerson's essays and the complete works of Shakespeare. How did Mark Twain cultivate himself to acquire the ability to master language and writing deftly and proficiently?In his youth, he traveled from Missouri to Nevada in a stagecoach.The journey was long and painful, and food for both passengers and horses had to be carried—sometimes even water.Excess weight represents the difference between safety and disaster, so luggage is charged per ounce.Under such circumstances, Mark Twain carried a thick and complete "Webster's Dictionary" with him.This big dictionary accompanied him across the mountain roads, across the desert, and through the fields where bandits and Indians were infested.He hopes to become the master of words, and with extraordinary courage and common sense, he is diligently doing the necessary work to achieve his goal.

Both Pitt and Sir Chatham read the dictionary twice, every page, every word.Browning insisted on reading the dictionary every day. Nicolai and Hay, who wrote biographies for Lincoln, got a lot of fun and inspiration from the dictionary. They said that Lincoln often "sat in the evening sun" and "read the dictionary until he Until I can't read the handwriting."These examples are not special.Every great writer and speaker has had the same experience. President Wilson's English proficiency is very high.Some of his works - parts of the declaration of war on Germany - also have a place in literary history.He claimed that the way he learned to use words was:

"My father never allowed anyone in the family to use inaccurate words. Any child who used a wrong word must be corrected immediately, and any new words must be explained clearly. And he encouraged each of us to use new words in daily life. in the conversation so that it sticks in my mind.” A New York orator, known for his tight sentence structure and concise and beautiful diction.In a recent talk, he revealed the secret to his precise and powerful use of words.Whenever he found an unfamiliar word in conversation or reading, he immediately copied it on the memo.Then before going to bed at night, look through the dictionary to find out the meaning of that new word thoroughly.If you don't come across any new words during the day, read a page or two of Fernard's "Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions", study the exact meaning of each word, and use the most appropriate synonyms in the future.A new word a day—that was his motto.This also means that he added at least 365 expressive tools a year.All these new words are recorded in a small notebook, and they are taken out for review whenever there is free time.He found that after a new word was used three times, it became part of the eternal lexicon.

Using a dictionary is not only about knowing the exact meaning of a word, but also about finding out where it came from.In English dictionaries, the history and origin of each word are usually listed in parentheses after the definition.Don't think that these words that are spoken every day are just dull and indifferent voices. In fact, they are full of colors and have a romantic life.For example, "Call the grocery store and ask them to bring you some candy."Even in two plain sentences like this, we still use many words borrowed from different scripts. "Telephone" (to make a phone call) is composed of two Greek words, Tele means "distant", and "Phone" means "voice". Grocer (grocer) is borrowed from a word Grossier with a long history in French, and French evolved from the Latin Gross-Arius, which means retail and wholesale merchants. Sugar (sugar) comes from French, French is derived from Spanish, Spanish is borrowed from Arabic, and Arabic is born out of Persian. The word Shaker in Persian is the evolution of the word Carkara in Sanskrit, which means "candy". .

Another example: you may work for a certain company or own a company.The company Company comes from an ancient French word Companion (partner); and Companion is composed of Com (and) and Pani (bread).Your partner Companion is the person who shares bread with you, and a company Company is composed of a group of partners who want to earn bread together.Your salary Salary refers to the money you use to buy salt—the ancient Roman soldiers could receive some allowances for buying salt, and then one day a soldier called his entire income Salarium (buying salt money), which became an advertisement What was once a slang word ended up being a very respected English word.You are holding a book Book in your hand now, the real meaning of this word refers to a kind of tree Beech (beech).Because a long time ago, the Anglo-Saxons carved their words on the trunk of the beech tree, or on the table top made of beech wood.The Dollar (Unit: Yuan) in your pocket actually means Valley (Valley).Because the earliest coins were minted in the valley of Shri Droazim in the 6th century. Look at the two words Janitor (gatekeeper) and January (January), both borrowed the surname of a blacksmith in the ancient country of Etruria in western Italy.This blacksmith lived in Rome and specialized in making locks and bolts for a particular type of door.After his death, he was worshiped as a pagan god with two faces that could see in two directions at the same time, representing the opening and closing of doors.Therefore, the month between the end of one year and the beginning of another is called January or Janus (the blacksmith's surname).When we speak of January (January) or a Janitor (janitor), we are tantamount to honoring a blacksmith.He lived 1,000 years before Jesus was born and married a wife named Jane. Similarly, July (July), the seventh month of the year, is named after the ancient Roman Julius Caesar.In order not to let Caesar be more beautiful than before, Emperor Augustus named the next month August (August).Moreover, there were only 30 days in August at that time. Emperor Augustus was not reconciled that the month named after him was one day less than the month named after Caesar, so he took one day from February and added it to August. inside.The traces of this ego are evident on your calendar.Really, you will find that every word has such a fascinating history. Please try to find the source of these words from the dictionary: Atlas (atlas), Boycott (resist), Cereal (cereal), Colossal (huge), Concord (harmony), Curfew (curfew), Education ( Education), Finance (finance), Lunatic (crazy), Panic (panic), Palace (palace), Pecuniary (money), Sandwich (sandwich), Tantalize (temptation).Finding out the stories behind them will make them more colorful and interesting.You will feel more taste and fun using them.