一 先品英国哲学家培根关于读书的论述

说起读书或阅读的重要性，就不能不提及英国文艺复兴时期著名散文家，哲学家佛朗西斯 培根的散文作品《论读书》 Of Studies（参见北外教授王佐良先生翻译版本）。先让我们品读里面的让我们回味悠长的名句。

读书足以怡情，足以博彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其博彩也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，然纵观统筹、全局策划，则舍好学深思者莫属。（Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned.）

读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，论理学使人庄重，逻辑修辞之学使人善辩：凡有所学，皆成性格。（Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.）

二 读好书交人生益友

以上文字阐述了读书的作用和阅读不同类型书籍的效果。美国学校对于阅读或者读书的重视毋庸赘言，同时我想参加过托福或者SAT考试而且经历过美国留学生活的同学对于阅读也更多一层理解，理解这些标准化考试阅读部分考察知识点都是日后留学或者不久远的将来工作中需要的技能。读书益处固然多多，但是读书和交友一样，遇到损友遗憾人生。我们不妨看看美国顶尖高中给他们的学生推荐的暑期阅读书目，里面或许有我们需要或者喜欢的书目。这些书籍不光是适用于高中生，也适用于大学或者硕士研究生，限于篇幅，我就不一一介绍书籍和学校了。了解更多，欢迎关注微信公众号“美国留学馆”（USAedumuseum），微信751151402。

三 美国顶尖高中推荐阅读书籍

美国顶尖高中对于阅读书籍，有的是要求必须阅读，有的是推荐阅读。学校会明示有些阅读书目会在开学后进行讨论学习（美国高中经常采用这种方式学习）。

The Hotchkiss School — Lakeville, Connecticut

学生必须自己选择三本书籍阅读，另外完成如下要求书目：

Read (novel) — The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

Read (novel) — The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Watch — The Hunger Games (2012)

Read (poem) — A Work of Artifice, by Marge Piercy

Trinity School — New York, New York

学生如下清单中一本或者多本进行阅读，秋季开学参加正式小组讨论

Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

Closely Watched Trains, by Bohumil Hrabal

Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Deep, by James Nestor

The Martian, by Andy Weir

The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Deerfield Academy — Deerfield, Massachusetts

Students must read four books that they choose from a list of over 50. Titles on the list include:

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Circle, by Dave Eggers

A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

The Universe and The Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty, by K.C. Cole

Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert

To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

The Harker School — San Jose, California

学校英语老师推荐阅读如下书目：

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion

Emma, by Jane Austen

Native Son, by Richard Wright

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

Ransom Everglades School — Miami, Florida

学生必须阅读如下书目：

Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison

Choate Rosemary Hall — Wallingford, Connecticut

学生必须阅读Sherman Alexie的作品Flight，并且从100多部作品中选出的如下作品中选择两部阅读：

The Andy Warhol Diaries, by Andy Warhol

Why Sinatra Matters, by Pete Hamill

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Welcome to the Monkey House, by Kurt Vonnegut

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Lawrenceville School — Lawrenceville, New Jersey

学生必须阅读Anthony Doeer的作品All the Light We Cannot See，并且从50多部作品中选择出的如下作品中选择一本阅读：

A Very Long Engagement, by Sebastien Japrisot

Cities of the Plain, by Cormac McCarthy

Dune by Frank Herbert

Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger

The Beautiful Struggle, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond

The College Preparatory School — Oakland, California

学校老师推荐如下书籍进行阅读：

1984, by George Orwell

Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon

Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams