Guangzhou YMCA TOEFL  week 6   2007/01/18                         home page         




Reading material to increase your knowledge of the English language, and Western and American Culture

... but, wait! To live in any society as an 'adult', one must know something of the history of that society. 
I feel as if I live in China as a child, yet my knowledge of Chinese history seems to be significantly greater
than that of the Chinese people that I know (here or in the USA). 

How many, or what percentage, of Chinese people are able to live as 'adults' here, with a decent knowledge of 
Chinese history ? Now, repeating the same question for Americans, I can answer with some confidence - 
"Not many, and this number grows fewer every year."  I am going to start re-studying Chinese History (especially
of Guangdong) along with my feeble attempts to learn some Mandarin. I would suggest that those who wish to spend 
some time in America try to take some time first to brush up on their US history, especially the 'local' history 
of the place(s) where you wish stay. It is not good to be both a foreigner and a 'child' in some places in the USA.

US History sites: U.S. History.com,  Digital History , etc.
- novels that help to illuminate certain time periods are very useful, and very profuse (abundant). 
  I am reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee again at the moment.


           . . .  anyway, getting back to literature,

  - I might try Lewis Carol and George Orwell  ('Animal Farm')  first.



James Frazer: The Golden Bough - a Very long book, but one that I think should be required reading for every 
                                                    student on Earth.

Shakespeare:  anything (this site by MIT ) 

God ! (say some) The Christian Bible, King James Version - Along with Shakespeare, has had the most influence 
                                                                                        on Western culture and language ... probably.

Lewis Carol: 'Alice in Wonderland'  and 'Through the Looking Glass'

Thomas Paine: The  Rights of Man (condensed version)

  -- also at 'Squashed Philosophers' -> most anything there for 'condensed versions'

George Orwell:  "Politics and the English Language" - and anything by Orwell, including  'Animal Farm' and '1984'  

T H White : 'The Once and Future King' - the Camelot/King Authur story told very well  - and/or ->

    Sir Thomas Malory: 'Le Morte d'Arthur' - the Squashed old version




We have a Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gztoefl  Guangzhou YMCA TOEFL 
and email: gztoefl@yahoogroups.com - I don't know if or how we can use this, but 
you can 'join' if you wish, I think. If a member sends an email to the 'group email',
everone in the group will receive it (if they choose). I will try to send 'invites'
to you in case you want to do something with it. Oh - you need a Yahoo ID to join
Yahoo groups (or maybe yahoo.cn is okay), so this is sort of stupid.