比尔·盖茨2020推荐书单，提高阅读能力之前，请先做这件事……

 近期比尔·盖茨在个人博客上分享了2020年假期推荐书单，标题为“5 good books for a lousy year”，这5本好书内容涉及刑法、历史、医学、教育等各种主题。

以下是比尔·盖茨的推荐话语

“In tough times—and there’s no doubt that 2020 qualifies as tough times—those of us who love to read turn to all kinds of different books. This year, sometimes I chose to go deeper on a difficult subject, like the injustices that underlie this year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Other times I needed a change of pace, something lighter at the end of the day. As a result, I read a wide range of books, and a lot of excellent ones. Here are five books on a variety of subjects that I’d recommend as we wrap up 2020. I hope you find something that helps you—or the book lover in your life—finish the year on a good note.”

“希望你能从中有所收获，从而帮助你或你认识的喜爱阅读的朋友，给这一年画上美好的句号。”

Holiday Books 2020

With Bill Gates

01The New Jim Crow: 

Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

《新吉姆·克劳：色盲时代的大规模监禁》

作者

Michelle Alexander | 米歇尔·亚历山大

比尔·盖茨书评

“Like many white people, I’ve tried to deepen my understanding of systemic racism in recent months. Alexander’s book offers an eye-opening look into how the criminal justice system unfairly targets communities of color, and especially Black communities. It’s especially good at explaining the history and the numbers behind mass incarceration. I was familiar with some of the data, but Alexander really helps put it in context. I finished the book more convinced than ever that we need a more just approach to sentencing and more investment in communities of color.”

“读完这本书，我更加确信我们需要一个更加公正的宣判方式，以及更多对于有色人种群体的投入。”（部分翻译）

02Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

《范围：为什么通才能在专业化的世界中取胜》

作者

David Epstein | 大卫·爱泼斯坦

比尔·盖茨书评

“I started following Epstein’s work after watching his fantastic 2014 TED talk on sports performance. In this fascinating book, he argues that although the world seems to demand more and more specialization—in your career, for example—what we actually need is more people “who start broad and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives while they progress.” His examples run from Roger Federer to Charles Darwin to Cold War-era experts on Soviet affairs. I think his ideas even help explain some of Microsoft’s success, because we hired people who had real breadth within their field and across domains. If you’re a generalist who has ever felt overshadowed by your specialist colleagues, this book is for you.”

“在这本引人入胜的著作里，他指出虽然世界似乎需要越来越多的专业化（例如在你的职场上），但我们真正需要的，其实是更多“起步时涉猎广泛，并在进步中拥抱不同经验和观点”的人。”（部分翻译）

03The Splendid and the Vile: 

A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

《辉煌与邪恶：闪电战期间丘吉尔、家人与反抗的传奇》

作者

Erik Larson | 埃里克·拉森

比尔·盖茨书评

“Sometimes history books end up feeling more relevant than their authors could have imagined. That’s the case with this brilliant account of the years 1940 and 1941, when English citizens spent almost every night huddled in basements and Tube stations as Germany tried to bomb them into submission. The fear and anxiety they felt—while much more severe than what we’re experiencing with COVID-19—sounded familiar. Larson gives you a vivid sense of what life was like for average citizens during this awful period, and he does a great job profiling some of the British leaders who saw them through the crisis, including Winston Churchill and his close advisers. Its scope is too narrow to be the only book you ever read on World War II, but it’s a great addition to the literature focused on that tragic period.”

“这本书对1940和1941年的精彩记叙就是这样的例子，当时德国试图用轰炸让英国人屈服，他们感受到的恐惧和焦虑似曾相识——但比我们在新冠疫情中经历的要严重得多。”（部分翻译）

04The Spy and the Traitor: 

The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

《间谍与叛徒：冷战时期最伟大的间谍故事》

作者

Ben Macintyre | 本·麦金泰尔

比尔·盖茨书评

“This nonfiction account focuses on Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer who became a double agent for the British, and Aldrich Ames, the American turncoat who likely betrayed him. Macintyre’s retelling of their stories comes not only from Western sources (including Gordievsky himself) but also from the Russian perspective. It’s every bit as exciting as my favorite spy novels.”

“麦金泰尔讲述了英国双重间谍及美国叛变者故事，不仅引述了西方的内容来源（包括戈德尔维斯基自己），而且也站在了俄罗斯的角度。它的精彩程度与我最喜欢的谍战小说不相上下。”（部分翻译）

05Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, 

a New Era in Science, and the Patients 

and Families Who Changed Medicine

《从盐来的呼吸：致命的遗传性疾病、科学新时代、

以及改变医学的病人和家庭》（暂译）

作者

Bijal P. Trivedi | 碧周·翠瓦狄

比尔·盖茨书评

“This book is truly uplifting. It documents a story of remarkable scientific innovation and how it has improved the lives of almost all cystic fibrosis patients and their families. This story is especially meaningful to me because I know families who’ve benefited from the new medicines described in this book. I suspect we’ll see many more books like this in the coming years, as biomedical miracles emerge from labs at an ever-greater pace.”

“这本书实在令人振奋。它记录了一项杰出科学创新的故事，讲述这项创新如何改善了几乎所有囊肿性纤维化病人及其家属的生活。”（部分翻译）

古人说：“读书破万卷，下笔如有神”，阅读与写作一直是分不开的两项基本能力。

阅读可以培养学习兴趣，增强语言能力，并且让孩子涉猎多方面知识：文学、历史、地理、科学、政治等，喜欢阅读的学生往往写作能力会达到同步提高，阅读与写作的广度和深度也直接影响学生的思维，提高写作水平对人生观和价值观的培养也十分有益。

针对强化学生在写作方面的能力，全球最具有影响力、最权威的媒体——《纽约时报》开展了一系列的写作学术活动，评选出来的优秀作品会发表在官方网站上，简直是超高含金量的国际学术活动！

☝ 纽约时报全年学术活动时间轴

翰林年底重磅写作课程——请来了美国大学写作中心导师进行授课！从头脑风暴到最终提交，全程一对一跟踪讨论！

写作学术活动课程

☟ 纽约时报写作录播课