今日读书

The Power of Writing

DR. JOEL L. SWERDLOW is an author,

editor, journalist, researcher,

and educator. A senior writer and editor

at National Geographic for 10 years,

his published works include To Heal

a Nation: The Story of the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial.

点击下方视频跟着Aryn一起“悦”读吧

2021

05·21

原文跟读

The Power of Writing

By Joel L. Swerdlow

No otherinvention- perhaps the wheel comes close- has had a longer and greater impact on humanity’s development than writing.Written words have overthrowngovernments and changed the course of history. So powerful is writing that the beginnings of civilization and history are most often defined as the moment cultures develop it. The transformation of language into the written words has immortalized passion ,genius, art, and science.

Much of writing’s power comes from its flexibility. Ever since the Sumerians began keeping records by carving signs on clay tablets 5,000 years ago, human have searched for the ideal tool to portray words. They have carved in stone and bone and written on leaves, bark,silk, papyrus, parchment, paper, and electronic screens. This skill, once known only to a few professional scribes, grew into massliteracy: More than five billion people- about 85 percent of the world’s population- can now read and write.

Of the several hundred written languages in the world today, only Chinese still relies on a traditional writing system whereby individual charactersrepresentindividual words. These characters often mean one thing when used alone, but something else when combined. The Chinese character forsincerity, for example, shows the character for manalongside the one for word, literally a man standing by his word.

Since its beginning as a means for keeping records, writing hasevolvedinto one of humanity’s most powerful forms of self-expression. People have used writing to counter loneliness and to establish a sense of self. In the fourth century B.C., Aristotle saw writing as a way to express “affections of the soul.” Recent studies have shown that writing about feelings canalleviatedepression, boost the immunesystem, and lower blood pressure.

单词积累

• overthrown /ˌoʊvərˈθroʊn/

  v.: to remove (someone or something) from power especially by force推翻；打倒

• civilization /ˌsɪvələˈzeɪʃn/

• n.: the condition that exists when people have developed effective ways of organizing a society and care about art, science, etc. 文明；文化

• immortalized /ɪ'mɔrtl,aɪz/

  adj.: to cause (someone or something) to be remembered forever 不灭的，永生的

• Sumerian/[sjuːˈmiəriən/

  n. a native ofSumer 苏美人

• bark /bɑːrk/

  n.: the tough exterior covering of a woody root or stem 树皮；深青棕色；毛皮；皮肤；狗叫

• papyrus /pəˈpaɪrəs/

  n.: paper made from papyrus that was used in ancient times 纸莎草；纸莎草纸

• literacy /ˈlɪtərəsi/

  n.: the ability to read and write 读写能力；精通文学

• represent /ˌreprɪˈzent/

  vt.: to act or speak officially for (someone or something) 代表；表现；描绘；回忆；再赠送

• sincerity /sɪnˈserəti/

  n.: honesty of mind 真实，诚挚

• evolve /ɪˈvɑːlv/

  v.: to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state : to develop by a process of evolution （使）逐渐形成；（有机体或生物特征）进化；释放（气体或热量）

• alleviate /əˈliːvieɪt/

  vt.: to reduce the pain or trouble of (something):to make (something) less painful, difficult, or severe 减轻，缓和

• immune /ɪˈmjuːn/

  adj.: not capable of being affected by a disease 免疫的；免于……的，免除的

2021

05.21

小试牛刀

Q&A

左右滑动查看更多题目

2021

05·21

上期回顾

参考答案：

1. B 2. D 3. B 4. A

本期答案将在下期揭晓噢，请继续关注我们噢！

INTRODUCTION

ArynHill

"Hello, everyone! My name is Aryn, and I am an English instructor at Hubei University of Technology. I am from Akron, Ohio in the United States but I love to travel! I have lived in France, China, Hawaii, and visited many other beautiful places. Well, with all that travel I have also developed a love for languages, including my native language. Let’s work together to practice our oral English and expand our linguistic knowledge through reading!”

Ideal is the beacon. Without ideal, there is no secure direction; without direction, there is no life.

——Leo Tolstoy

理想是指路明灯。没有理想，就没有坚定的方向；没有方向，就没有生活。

——俄国作家 托尔斯泰。

(更多英语学习宝典、出国留学交流奖学金资讯请关注“湖工大国际”官微哦！）

- Read With Us 专栏 -

朗读｜Aryn

文字｜Aryn / 刘明

版式｜唐嘉悦 / 张加呈 / 段禄成

内容审核｜洪文琦

专栏统筹｜龙 艳