A) Read it and pay attention to his argument

I contend утверждаю, quite bluntly прямо, that marking up аннотация a book is not an act of mutilation искажения but of love.

You shouldn't mark up a book which isn't yours. Librarians (or your friends) who lend you books expect you to keep them clean, and you should. If you decide that I am right about the usefulness of marking books, you will have to buy them.

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right право собственности you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase покупки is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writ­ing in it.

Confusion путаница about what it means to own a book leads people to a false reverence благоговение for paper, binding переплёту and type — a respect for the phys­ical thing — the craft профессия of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire овладевать the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contains, without stating his claim требования by pasting приклеивая his book-plate книжный знак inside the cover . Having a fine library doesn't prove that its owner has a mind enriched by books; it proves nothing more than he, his father, or his wife, was rich enough to buy them.

There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the stan­dard sets and best-sellers — unread, untouched. (This deluded in­dividual owns woodpulp целлюлозы and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books — a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny сияющие as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance. ) The third has a few

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books or many — every one of them dog-eared с загнутыми уголками страниц and dilapidated неопрятный, shaken потрескавшаяся and loosened с оторвавшимися листами by continual use, marked and scribbled исписанная in from front to back. (This man owns books.)

Why is marking up a book indispensable необходимо to reading? First, it keeps you awake чётко сознающий; понимающий. (And I don't mean merely conscious ; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the au­thor expressed. You can pick up the book the following week or year, and there are all your points of agreement, disagreement, doubt, and inquiry наведения справок. It's like resuming возобновление an interrupted conversation with the ad­vantage of being able to pick up where you left off.

And that is exactly what reading a book should be: a conversation between you and the author. Don't let anybody tell you that a read­er is supposed to be solely on the receiving end принимающей стороне. Understanding is a two-way operation; learning doesn't consist in being an empty recep­tacle резервуар. He even has to argue спорить with the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. And marking a book is literally буквально an expres­sion of your differences, or agreements of opinion, with the author.

If you're a die-hard твердолобый anti-book-marker, you may object that the margins поле (страницы), the space between the lines, and the end papers don't give you room enough. All right. How about using a scratch pad блокнот slightly smaller than the page size of the book — so that the edges of the sheets won't protrude выдаваться? Make your index указатели, outlines конспекты, and even your notes on the pad блокноте, and then insert these sheets permanently inside the front and back covers of the book.

Or you may say that this business of marking books is going to slow up замедлять your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such thing as the right speed for intelligent reading. Some things should be read quickly and effortlessly, and some should be read slowly and even laboriously .

(From: "Reading in English", N. Y., 1963. Abridged.)

b) Here are some means that can be used in persuading others:

(a) citing facts to support your view;

(b) relating relevant incidents or experiences in which you or oth­
ers have been involved;

(c) citing authorities who support your view;

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(d) making a direct appeal by expressing your conviction with
sincerity or feeling;

(e) appealing to emotions.

Which of the given above has the author used to persuade the reader "to mark up a book"?

C) Make dialogues to persuade your partner to read a certain book, or to do something you consider important. Follow the tactic suggestions given above. (Dissuasion dialogues are also suggested.)

2. Speak on the points given below with the aim of advising your partner on the choice of books or writers. Use the following conversational formulas of advice:

You'dbetter... If I were you, I shouldn't... Whynot... It'shightime to... I'll tell you what... Make sure... Make the best of it. I'll tell you what...

a) Speak on the literary merit of your favourite book to arouse your party's in­terest. Use the following words and expressions:

plot development; climax; to depict characters; to unmask char­
acters; an observer of human nature; character portrayal изображение; illustration
of; instances of humour; to give the impression of; difference in emo­
tion; to be employed by the author; to awaken interest; traces of; an
exciting (interesting, intriguing, etc.) story to read; brilliance of the
language; etc. '

b) Speak about your favourite modern English or American writer, and/or one
of the novels. Use the following:

a landmark in the history of modern fiction; it holds you with a firm grip; psychological insight into; a book to open anywhere; to bring into sharp focus the problems of the twentieth-century man; a great master of ironic style; full of critical spirit; beautiful descriptions of, based on actual facts; challenges of life; etc.

c) Speak about the kind of books you prefer to read in your spare time. Use the following:

a favourite pastime; fiction by the greats; to excite the mind; a true picture of life; (not) to be fascinated by the blood-and-bones atmo­sphere of detective stories; unflagging interest; tidy problems; neat solution; an entertaining puzzle element; a briskly developing plot; to hold the reader in suspense.

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III. It is common knowledge that the present-day flow of information, the ever-increasing bulk of reading matter is very great. Let us consider some ways to man­age the situation.

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