密歇根新闻广播 关掉手机屏幕 多看几本好书

I was recently tempted¹ to bludgeon one of my students into recognizing that interesting things had happened, even before he was born, back in the ancient early 1990s, say.

We were discussing the origins of the World Wide Web, the invention that actually made wide-ranging use of cyberspace² possible. Having considered this, he said prior to that, I must have actually had to find things in books.

I pleaded guilty, and told him that, in fact, though I am as much a slave to Google as any man, that I did, indeed, still read books.

He looked thoughtful, and said, "Oh yeah. Like my dad still plays vinyl."

Well, I still play vinyl too, as a matter of fact, though I was afraid telling my student that would cause sensory³ overload⁴.

But I not only look things up in books, I read them, and not just because I have to. You can indeed find all sorts of information about, for example, Soapy Williams, on the internet.

That's where I go if I suddenly need to know the date our legendary⁵ governor died.

But that doesn't compare to Thomas Noer's magnificent and fascinating biography, called, simply, Soapy, which came out 10 years ago, and which is a richly textured⁶ account of the man and Michigan during his lifetime, which spanned most of the twentieth century.

Holiday season is here, as anyone not trapped in a mine shaft⁷ presumably knows, and some people are still looking for presents. You could do a lot worse than buying someone a good book, if only as a tiny gesture of defiance⁸ against Wikipedia.

Here's something that bothers me about the media treats books.

When something important or brilliant is published, we review it. It has a short shelf life to win attention, and then it is quickly forgotten.

Well, that sort of treatment is perfectly⁹ justified¹⁰ for instant pseudo-books, like those thrown together following some kidnapping.

Yet the best books don't rot, or become irrelevant¹¹ for a long time, if ever.

Sometimes people have told me they were utterly¹² amazed at how much I know about the history of our state, something that manages to both please me and make me feel like a fraud.

After all, I can't remember much about the policies of Governor Epaphroditus Ransom¹³, who served back in the 1850s. But to the extent I do know something, it isn't just from scanning headlines or online encyclopedias¹⁴, it's largely from a lifetime of reading really good books.

So if you have a reader on your list who cares about this fascinating state, let me make a couple suggestions. The Soapy book is great, but so is Dave Dempsey's biography of our longest-serving governor, called William G. Milliken, Michigan's Passionate¹⁵ Moderate.

Read those two well-written books, and you'll know and understand a lot about how this state evolved. If you care about Detroit, Scott Martelle's Detroit: A Biography is compelling and short. Nathan Bomey's Detroit Resurrected will give you the inside story of the bankruptcy¹⁶.

There's also a pile of fascinating books on the human drama of the auto¹⁷ industry. And if you read just one good book over the holidays, I guarantee you'll feel a whole lot better than if you spent the whole time playing World of Warcraft.

1 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

2 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

3 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

4 overload   

vt.使超载；n.超载

参考例句：

• Don't overload the boat or it will sink.别超载，否则船会沉。
• Large meals overload the digestive system.吃得太饱会加重消化系统的负担。

5 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

6 textured   

adj.手摸时有感觉的, 有织纹的

参考例句：

• The shoe's sole had a slightly textured surface. 鞋底表面稍感粗糙。
• Shallow burial seems to preserve chalky textured porosity. 浅埋藏似能保留具白垩状结构的孔隙。

7 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

8 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

9 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

10 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

11 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

12 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

13 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

14 encyclopedias   

n.百科全书， （某一学科的）专科全书( encyclopedia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• However, some encyclopedias can be found on the Web. 同时，一些百科全书能也在网络上找到。 来自互联网
• Few people think of encyclopedias as creative enterprises; but they are. 鲜少有人想到百科全书是创意的工作，但它确实是。 来自互联网

15 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

16 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

17 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。