日常英語 你讀書是為了炫耀嗎？

What do you read when you are travelling by train or bus??

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What are other passengers reading? Perhaps a woman sitting near you is reading a trashy romantic novel. A man is reading a serious biography about a politician. And there's a student reading an English textbook.

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What do their choices say about them? Do you judge them by what they are reading?

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I have got to tell you that your impressions of them are probably completely wrong. The woman reading the romantic novel could be a lawyer. She just wants a light read to take her mind off work.

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The man reading the biography wants you to think that he is an intellectual, but he is just showing off. The student reading the textbook isn't a student at all. She's an English teacher.

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Publishers know that some people are self-conscious about what they read on public transport and so they put out different versions of a cover. For example, books about Harry Potter have an original cover for young readers and then another more serious version for adults.

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So next time you are on a train, look around and see what other people are reading, but don't jump to any conclusions. You will probably be wrong.

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Here is a situation where you could say, "Don't judge a book by its cover".