My Reading History

I would like to say that I’m not actually a reader now because I only read when I’m available but I used to be fond of reading Mandarin novels before majoring in Applied Foreign Languages. First of all, when I was young, I used to love reading novels about martial arts, such as 倚天屠龍記or神鵰俠侶. The reason why I loved this kind of genre was that I was inspired by one of my favorite elementary school teachers. Second, when talking about those novels, I could feel the passion easily inside me. On the contrary, since I was getting older, all the available time had been occupied with textbooks or examinations. Therefore, I admit that I’m gradually not becoming a reader.

However, I’ve majored in AFL since I was a senior high school student. There was a novel named The Diary of Anne Frank I cherished most. It was because that was the first tragic and impressive novel I’ve ever read. Throughout the story, I was impressed by the efforts and the eagerness to survive in that harsh condition. Although the time has passed, I’ve still memorized words that were branded inside my heart.

When I was younger, my teachers and parents all forced me to read books in order to get good grades or to have better achievements. Therefore, I couldn’t enjoy reading and reading did not even touch the edge of my habits at that time either. In addition, it occurred to me that reading was not originally what I should read but what I want to read. As time goes by, I’ve experienced how reading could change one’s personality and hobby surprisingly.

To be honest, reading was originally a bad impression for me, because what I was told was that reading was the tool to make myself become achieved. Not until I met a teacher when I was a fifth-grader in elementary school did I realized that how the concept of reading became so snobbish. She was the teacher who inspired me not only through reading but also writing calligraphy, and I learned a lot from her. The reason why I started to read because she kept persuading me that picking up a book and drown myself into the plot the author created was not as difficult as I thought. Eventually, I was even in a habit of writing diaries about what I had read at the end of the day. I really appreciate what she had done for me.