Forgive me for using Big word in the subject. I don’t mean to be one of those attention-catchers, however, to master a foreign language requires a good memory, a silver tongue, and an outgoing personality. Sadly I have none of these. A girl like me has to be armed to the teeth when learning English concerned.

One-piece music player:

That’s my new discovery. I’ve already mentioned that reading English novels have played an important part in my English Learning. However, with increasing demands of my present job, I have been left with lesser and lesser time for reading. Once cornered, a person needs to be creative. With this MP3, I could listen to my favorite books at anytime, anywhere---whether I am working out or doing house chores. I even use it during work. Since part of my job is pretty repetitive, sometimes I could go through motions to make things down with half my attention and devotes the other half to listening to audio books.

However, like many other tricks in this world, this one also has its flaws. Almost every English book has audio version, but catches-your-eyes doesn’t necessary mean please-to-your-ears. For example, I love Moning’s Faeseries, I am especially drawn to Jericho Barron’s character, but when I first heard his voice from my MP3, my jaw almost dropped to the floor. Is that the rich, cultured and sexy voice described in the book? Why it sounds so much like a seventy-year-old grandpa with strange accent? Perhaps it’s too much to ask a woman to mimic the voice of an alpha male with such an intense personality. But still! So far, the most extraordinary audio books I’d heard is Harry Potter Series, read by Jim Dale.  Jim is really a genius, and he gave just right characters to almost every role in the book ---no more, no less.

Another problem is my hearing is not as good as my reading ability. Besides, for most of time, I don’t focus my minds fully on listening. Consequently my mind can process only half information as it does while I read. To achieve a better result, I still need to read them word-by-word.

Electronic books:

Many people have asked me a question: you are such an avid reader, where do you get the time? The truth is, a nerd like me would not go anywhere without a book at hand. Mine is Hanvon N618, it downloads thousand of books I like. Speaking of time, do you know how much time we spent on waiting? Waiting on the restaurant, waiting in a bank, waiting at the bus station, waiting on a car, waiting on a plane….. And I simple use those time for reading. My electronic book also has an electronic pen, allowing me for notation and taking notes. I use notation most. When I came across some impressive sentences, I would take them out and save as excerpt for me to revisit.

Mitsubishi UM-151

We’ve already stepped into a PC era, but it doesn’t mean that the pen has been out of use. I like writing on the paper: the pressure of a pen on the hand, the even scratch a good pen left on the page, the breaks and releases in the flow. What a wonderful feeling! I once had a thing for beautiful notebooks—I bought a lot on the impulse, and now I have a noble use for them: I copy those beautiful words from my readings. When I write, I let the words sink in my mind. I swallow them, digest them and wishfully hope one day I could also put my thoughts into such beautiful words.