Starting a new book is a risk, just like falling in love. You have to commit to it. You open the pages knowing a little bit about it maybe, from the back or from a blurb¹ on the front. But who knows, right? Those bits and pieces aren’t always right.

读一本新书恰似坠入爱河，是场冒险。你得全身心投入进去。翻开书页之时，从序言简介直至封底你或许都知之甚少。但谁又不是呢？字里行间的只言片语亦不总是正确。

Sometimes people advertise themselves as one thing and then when you get deep into it you realize that they’re something completely different. Either there was some good marketing² attached to a terrible book, or the story was only explained in a superficial³ way and once you reach the middle of the book, you realize there’s so much more to this book than anyone could have ever told you.

有时候你会发现，人们自我推销时是一种形象，等你再深入了解后，他们又完全是另一种模样了。有时拙作却配有出色的市场推销，故事的叙述却流于表面，阅读过半后，你方才发觉：这本书真是出乎意料地妙不可言，这种感受只能靠自己去感悟！

美文欣赏

You start off slow. The story is beginning to unfold. You’re unsure. It’s a big commitment lugging⁴ this tome around. Maybe this book won’t be that great but you’ll feel guilty about putting it down. Maybe it’ll be so awful you’ll keep hate-reading or just set it down immediately and never pick it up again. Or maybe you’ll come back to it some night, drunk or lonely — needing something to fill the time, but it won’t be any better than it was when you first started reading it.

你慢慢翻页，故事开始缓慢展开，而你却依旧心存犹疑。阅读这样的巨著需要百分之百的投入。或许它并不是你想象中的伟大的作品，奈何半途弃读会使你觉得不安。又或许，故事真的很烂，你要么咬牙苦读下去，要么立刻放弃束之高阁。抑或某个酒醉或孤寂的夜晚，你又重新捡起这本书来——但只为打发时光。不管怎样，它并没有比你初次阅读时好多少。

Maybe you’re worn out. You’ve read tons of books before. Some were just light weights on a Kindle⁵ or Nook, no big deal really. Others were Infinite⁶ Jest-style burdens, heavy on your back or in your purse. Weighing you down all the time. Maybe you’ve taken some time off from reading because the last few books you read just weren’t worth it. Do they even write new, great works of literature anymore? Maybe that time you fell in love with a book before will just never happen for you again. Maybe it’s a once in a lifetime feeling and you’re never gonna find it again.

或许你已疲惫至极。你曾阅览无数，有些无足轻重无甚重要，而有些却像荒诞讽刺的包袱，沉重地压在你背上或藏在你行囊里，随时都可能压垮你。或许因为上次读的书索然无味，你已暂时避开阅读时光。还会有优秀的新文学作品么？只怕等你再次恋上一本书前，那优秀的新作品永远也不会出现罢。或许这真的就是千年等一回、除却巫山不是云了。

Or something exciting could happen. Maybe this will become your new favorite book. That’s always a possibility right? That’s the beauty of risk. The reward could actually be worth it. You invest your time and your brain power in the words and what you get back is empathy and a new understanding and pure wonder.

当然，生活总会有新鲜事发生，你也会有新的爱书。一切总有可能，不是吗？这正是冒险的魅力。得到的也大抵物有所值吧。你在字里行间播撒时间和心思，自然便可收获新的感悟、理解与遐思。

How could someone possibly know you like this? Some stranger, some author, some character. It’s like they’re seeing inside your soul. This book existed inside some book store, on a shelf, maybe handled by other people and really it was just waiting for you pick it up and crack the spine⁷. It was waiting to speak to you. To say, “You are not alone.”

怎会有人知道你喜欢它呢？某个陌生人、作者，抑或书中的某个角色。他们似乎能看透你的心思。这本书，它陈列在某隅书店的书架上、它经人辗转，真的就像是在等你捧起翻阅，等着向你低语：“我会伴你左右。”

You just want more of the story. You want to keep reading, maybe everything this author’s ever written. You wish it would never end. The closer it gets to the smaller side of the pages, the slower you read, wanting to savor⁸ it all. This book is now one of your favorites forever. You will always wish you could go back to never having read it and pick it up fresh again, but also you know you’re better for having this close, inside you, covering your heart and mind.

你渴望更多故事，你继续阅读，甚至搜集这位作者以往所有作品。你希望故事永远延续。书页越翻越薄，你也越读越慢，心里想着要细细含英咀华。此刻，它确定无疑就是你永恒的至爱了。你总想一读再读，每次捧起它都感觉新奇如初，而你也明白：因为内心深处的每一缕思绪都与它这般亲密，你已变得更加美好。

Once you get in deep enough, you know you could never put this book down.

情动至深那刻，你便知道自己再也无法割舍了。