Global Times - Weekend

Step by step

▶ Reading teaches me to reach goals quickly and steadily

- By Zhang Yiming The author is a student at the Beijing National Day School

Ithink my reading life is a bit like practicing archery – each shot gets closer and closer to the target over time, and eventually I score a bull’s eye.

I started reading when I was so little that I can’t really clearly remember what I had read. All the books I read at that time were fairy tales and comics, which were chosen by my parents.

Those books didn’t exert much influence on me, but they have built up some virtues I have now, such as honesty, kindness and so on.

When I was at primary school, I found one of my classmates holding a book about elementary science, and I was like “Wow, you’re able to read that?” I looked at the page he was reading, and was fascinated by the content. It said, “How does the toilet flush?” I realized that I’d never thought about this common phenomenon in daily life. The book led me into a completely new but also interestin­g field.

Finally, I asked my mom to buy me the same book that night. It was the first time I asked for a book rather than a toy.

As I grew up, my selection of books changed, from fully illustrate­d books to ones without pictures. From The Cartoon Guide to Biology to Faces in the Crowd, and then to The True Story of Ah Q, these books in my bookcase are evidence of my growth.

The Cartoon Guide to Biology is a humorous book about the profound subject of biology. It covers a lot of interestin­g topics such as inviting people to look into the world of DNA study. Those profound knowledge was delivered in an amusing way, which has ignited my passion for the science world.

The novella the True Story of Ah Q was written by renowned Chinese author Lu Xun. Lu Xun is also known as Zhou Shuren. He was one of China’s greatest writers and is still praised by many young people as an idol. Reading the author’s book taught me a lot, and I’ve learned to be a young person who can think critically about the world as well as to be always brave and upright.

I still remember that reading about the Harry Potter book collection was a fad that lasted for more than a year.

I tried to follow it, but later I found that the book was not the type of book for me, so I stuck to my own taste for books.

Then, I accidental­ly read a part of The Three-Body Problem written by Liu Cixin. I found it so attractive that I bought the whole series and finished it within two months.

I have read a lot of sci-fi stories and have been obsessed with great sci-fi movies since then, and they have inspired my interest in math, physics and biology.

So I have continued to read more such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Science of Interstell­ar.

Thanks to my growing interest in these subjects, my performanc­es in math and physics have greatly improved.

Books are good companions in my life. What I’ve read has a big influence on my reading orientatio­ns, daily life and studies, and helped me reach my goals quickly and steadily. Without reading, I may not be who I am now.

 ?? Photo: IC ?? A wall painting depicts Lu Xun at the Lu Xun Native Place in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.
Photo: IC A wall painting depicts Lu Xun at the Lu Xun Native Place in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.

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