The Story of Books

Everyone probably has the most important something deep in his or her heart, and also has some unforgettable experiences in his or her lifetime. I have one such experience too. It is about a book. Do you believe that? If I tell you a story of a book in my childhood, you will understand it.
It was 1960. I was six years old and lived in a small sequestered town. It was located on the lakefront of the vast Dongting Lake. Although the town disappeared in the crazy revolution movement, it stays in my memory. The lake divides the town into two parts which are connected by a stone bridge. About two thousand residents lived there. It was really a simple community in that time. Its poorness wasn’t only because it was without power, radio, telephone and newspaper. It didn’t even have a small library or any books. An elementary country school was the only location that let me enter an unknown world.
One year later, maybe I knew hundreds of words and could read some books, but I couldn’t find more books around me except textbooks. I remember that my childhood was quiet and boring. Often I sat down by the lakefront and looked over the lake at sunrise and sunset. I wanted to know about the outside world.
Unexpectedly, a chance befell me; it was near the Chinese New Year Day. My classmate’s an older brother came back home from a big city. He was the only undergraduate in our town. I got my first book about the outside world from him. I remember it was a classic adventure novel, Around the world in Eighty days. I couldn’t understand it completely because it had many new words I didn’t know. In just one week I had to return it to him because he had to go back to school after New Year’s Day. I was eager to know a different world. I got a great idea to make a handwritten copy of the whole book - over two hundred pages! Each day of the week I copied it after school until midnight under oil light. It was very cold without heating on these winter nights. I used a bottle with hot water to keep my hands working. On the sixth day, when I ended my first hard work, I had a successful feeling for the first time in my childhood. After about half a year I completely understood the book with the help of a small dictionary. From that book, I knew many things and wrote lots of questions I wanted to know about an unknown world. I remember that I asked our teacher some questions like “How are western people under our feet on another side of the earth?” Though I didn’t get a satisfying answer that time, it opened my mind to begin a seeking lifetime.
About the half a century has passed. All those childhood scene have changed, and that small town doesn’t exist in this world. That handwritten copy I have even lost. But this story follows me in my lifetime. Now I stand on that place which is on the other side of the earth from my childhood feet. After I read that first book, I started reading books over the lake, river, sea and ocean. Like someone said: “Reading makes the earth turn.” I am writing this story to help me realize that right now I am making a new story about books in English in Canada. Even though it is completely different than before, I never thought it would be so difficult for me. Fate pushed me to this wonderland. If I can’t make sense of English and western culture by reading books, how can I enjoy this land? I hope that after five years I will write a new story of books somewhere like this one.