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 blurb on the front. But who knows, right? Those bits and pieces aren’t always right.
翻開一本新書，猶如冒險，似墜入愛河。你得全身心投入。探險之前，你總會打探打探。于書，則看看封面上的簡介或廣告語。你以為會對此書有些微了解。你不知道，簡介和廣告語不總是恰而當的。
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 marketing attached to a terrible book, or the story was only explained in a superficial 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.
人有時把自己打造得全然不是自己，深入了解后，你才得看清。書也一樣，翻到一半后，你才悔悟，原來這本書廣告雖好，實則糟粕；而那本書乍看無甚出彩，其實陳釀，非淺嘗所能品味也。
You start off slow. The story is beginning to unfold. You’re unsure. It’s a big commitment lugging 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.
你緩緩翻開書來，故事隨即展開。而你有些不安。閱讀鴻篇巨著尤須精神。尚或許，這本書并非那么出彩，你卻放不下，否則有愧；又或許，這本書實在糟透了，你要么咬牙切齒地讀下去，要么趕緊扔到一旁，再不碰上一碰。某天夜里，你喝醉了，或者內心空寂亟待填補，看著那本厭棄的書，翻來看看，仍舊那么地糟。黑夜更黑了。
Maybe you’re worn out. You’ve read tons of books before. Some were just light weights on a Kindle or Nook, no big deal really. Others were Infinite 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.
也或許，你只是疲乏了，看了太多的書——有些很輕，捧著Kindle或Nook就可閱覽，不費神時；有些則是無盡荒誕的負擔，壓著你的背，墜著你的包，繃著你的神經。你需要休息一段時間，因為你才讀了幾本不值得的書。你會想：他們還在寫書嗎？他們還寫得出好故事嗎？我猜測，你再不能墜入書之愛河了，一生僅有一次的機會，你已用完了。
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.
仍有一些可能——并非渺茫，這本書成了你新的最愛。這是冒險之魅力所在。你投資了你的時間、你的精力，去琢磨字里行間的美。回報是值得的，你與書產生了共鳴，發現了一片新天地，十足驚嘆。
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 spine. It was waiting to speak to you. To say, “You are not alone.”
他人怎會知道你喜歡這本書呢？某個陌生人、作者或書中的某個角色。他們似乎看透了你的心思。這書原本躺在某書店的架上，或許有人持著看過。而它卻在等你，等你拾起來細細品嘗，等著和你說：“你并不孤單”。
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 savor 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.
你很快迷上了讀書，想繼續讀下去，想讀完作者的所有故事。你希望故事永不結束。書頁越翻越薄，你也越讀越慢，希望品味至絲毫。這本書，無疑，已是你的真愛了。你總希望回到最初，你還未讀過它，然后讀之如新了。你也知道：正因它親切了你的心和靈，你才變得更加美好了。
Once you get in deep enough, you know you could never put this book down.
至相知那一刻，你已明白，你再不能放下它了。
