Reading is Always Beneficial | Reading Reflections on Freshman Reading Activity (Including List of Gift Winners)

As the autumn breeze carries the refreshing scent of osmanthus flowers, it’s t9he perfect time to read by the lakeside. Ever since Vice President Yang Yixin recommended the precious freshman reading list to us, it has captured the attention of many freshmen, inspiring them to read and share their reading reflections. Among the many books, WKUers seem to particularly enjoy Educated：A Memoir, which has been borrowed multiple times by several readers. Meanwhile, Flowers for Algernon, A Woman Makes a Plan and Selected essays by Wang Zengqi consistently arouse freshmen’s thought, sparking numerous reflections and insights that they enthusiastically share.

Wenzhou-Kean University Library chooses some outstanding reflections to promote, hoping that all students can find the pleasure in books and make reading a habit, accompanying them in their journey through life. Now, let’s read the reflections of our freshmen together (More reading reflections will be present in SLAC 3F Atrium).

LI Yue 《生活，是很好玩的》

“睡起秋色无觅处，满阶梧桐月明中。”我的家乡有许多梧桐，空气里腥咸的海风伴着梧桐的枝叶荡起了故乡的气息。是啊，林深时见鹿，海蓝时见鲸，情深时见万物。汪曾祺笔下的梧桐是风情万种，又似是记忆里特别灵净的东西。那些特别干净和灵气的东西，只要他们出现过，就有些不一样了，在某一刻你会依然在心底某个地方闪烁微光——这就是深情。何谓顺遂？枯荣有时。看花木一年四季、周而复始的一生，看到不同草木在各自时区的轮回。汪曾祺就是带着深情看这梧桐，看这万物。冷眼旁观，热心惊赞，收拾精神，自做主宰。他用笔下的一棵梧桐将生活的小浪漫氤氲开来，更是告诉了我们——学会生活，应该是每一个人的课题。有的时候，生活就是这样，你复杂，生活就是迷宫，你简单，生活就是童话。何妨不像一棵梧桐，在春夏肆意，在秋冬安宁，冷冷清清的风风火火，感受生活的纹理，体验生活的乐趣。

LI Wanming 《学会提问》

我觉得《学会提问》这本书很适合刚进入温肯的新生，它引导我们学习批判性思维，而这正是我们需要的，我们都是刚从中式教育转换到美式教育，很多东西我们可能都还在适应，不断思考，不断猜测，不断提问。如果没有办法掌握这些，我觉得很难能够融入到WKU的课堂。《学会提问》从零开始教起，告诉我应该经常问为什么，因为别人的结论也不一定就是正确，下一步就要进行客观评价，然后再在别人正确理论基础上形成自己的理论。在这个中间还会有互动性提问，需要你进行思考，对你这一章的学习进行检验。从一开始不断的提问，到如何简单的辨别他人结论的漏洞、谬误，再到如何让自己的论证结构更加严谨，论点更具有说服力。

我个人觉得第一章和第六章非常有意思。第一章对我们的认知进行推翻，提出了很有趣的理论。“我们生活在嘈杂、混乱的世界”，专家的理论并非可靠，即使有大量的数据，但这个数据的来源也可能会是非常不可靠的。我觉得第六章对数据的分析就显得尤其重要，因为当一个人要证明自己的论点时，必定要有数据或实验的支撑，那么我们倾听的时候就应该先思考一下是否合理。这本书告诉我应该对事物保持一个中立的态度，因为一切都是未知的。我很喜欢苏格拉底说的那句话“我唯一知道的事就是我一无所知”。但当我们一无所知的时候，更应该对任何事情保持一颗好奇心，时刻的问自己为什么，而达芬奇就是一个充满好奇心的人，他的成就不仅仅在绘画，还有天文、地理、生物各种方面他都有所涉及，他对动物的四肢，身体机能感到好奇，于是他花费大量时间去观察，他根据动物所创造的各种工具在当代也很实用；他对人体机构感到好奇，他就对尸体进行解剖，最终完成了《维特鲁威人》的画作。充满好奇是第一步，而进行行动是至关重要的一步。在生活中，行动是自己去实践，体验；在辩论中，行动是提出自己的观点并做出解释，提供数据。我认为这本书不应该只读一遍，而应该反复去读，然后运用到实际，按照书本介绍的方法、步骤一步步去做。当然我觉得这个时候你也可以进行提问，书本提供的方法就是最好的吗？有没有更好的呢？有些地方是不是可以改进呢？以上就是我对《学会提问》的理解和心得，《学会提问》真的是一本很有用的工具书！

SHI Jiayi 《The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down》

I first encountered this book when I was wandering in the library with my friend and noticed the activity, the book list for the freshman. I haven’t read a book out of interest for many years. Therefore, I thought it was an excellent opportunity to enrich my vocabulary by reading an English book, and its exquisite cover also attracted me. However, I was deeply spellbound when I began to read it.

Written by a Buddhist monk, this book contains several different hard periods we may face in our daily lives and will advise us on how to deal with them. Each chapter is about one word that is essential to us, and then it will use meaningful and sincere words to give people suggestions, which may sound a bit boring. Nevertheless, if you read this book, you’ll find it easy to understand the author’s meaning because he often uses his own experience to explain. In the chapter about love, he tells us how he fell in love with a woman but finally had to give up. If you read this book slowly, you’ll probably feel relaxed and observe the elegant and suitable illustrations. As the name of this book says, maybe we neglect something because of our busy lives. Perhaps we should spare some time to make ourselves slow down. However, I don’t think that means we don’t need to speed up sometimes; this book wants to suggest that we shouldn’t be overwhelmed by our hectic schedule. When we realize how to slow down, we will probably find the beauty in life and get rid of these negative emotions.

WKU Library has selected the lucky readers based on the completeness and originality of submitted book reviews or reflections. Additionally, the student who borrows the most books can also receive one of the activity books prepared by the WKU Library. Winning students can get their prizes at the Library Service Desk in the third floor of Student Learning and Activity Center (Mon. to Sun.: 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.) by presenting their campus ID cards.

Furthermore, recommended books will be cataloged and included in the collection of Wenzhou-Kean University Library, and interested faculty and students are welcome to borrow them from the library starting from September 25, 2023!

Content | GU Mengmeng & HU Linxiao
Layout | HU Linxiao
Review | REN Yuanyuan

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