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Yichen.Li

Professor Marie Webb

Ling 12 section 700 M/W 3 p.m.

29 May 2019

Read More And Stay True

Some people study hard and read a lot because they want to earn more in the

future, and some people read millions of books out of their interests. There’s no

right or wrong, but I hope you, my grandson, to understand that you ultimately

study and read only for yourself.

— My grandfather, Chengyun Gu

As children, many people believed that their parents were omnipotent: they knew how to

sew pants when there was a split or could cook the food that their children merely mentioned

several hours ago. However, I was different. Every day in my childhood, my parents had already

gone to work before I woke up and came home after I went to bed. As a result, I usually stayed

with my grandfather in his house. My grandfather was the person whom I idolized the most; I

thought he knew everything and could do anything that I could imagine. As a child, I loved to

hear stories, thus my grandfather began telling me Chinese history—which even today is still

ongoing because there is so much of it. Despite mostly spending time with my grandfather rather

than my parents, I never felt bored or dissatisfied. Instead, my time spent with my grandfather

always left me feeling enriched. In short, besides the joyful time my grandfather gave to me, his

serious attitude towards studying and his love for learning have also influenced me to continue

pursuing a higher level of education.

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During my grandfather’s school days, he was both the favorite student of science

professors and the least favorite student of literature professors. Why? Because he got full points

almost every time on his math and science exams, but his literature test grades were too horrible

to look at. Interestingly, my grandfather did not care much about his scores—either good or bad.

He always told me, “it is important for people, especially students, to remember that they study

for the knowledge, not for grades. Learning is for themselves. If students like spending time on

studying, then go to study. If today they do not want to study, then don’t study today.” My

grandfather eventually graduated from college and went on to become a physics professor at his

former school.

“Grandpa, are you sure you taught physics instead of literature when you were a

professor?” I asked my grandfather who was holding a book about ancient Chinese poetry.

“Why would I lie to you? I dislike writing history and literature papers the most.” He

responded to my confusion while staring at the book.

“But why? You know so much about history.” I questioned him further.

“Well, I know so much about history because I like to discover and read new historical

articles. It comes from my love of history. Moreover, the thing I actually hate is writing research

papers, not the reading itself. Reading is a good thing for people’s mental development.

However, in the past I did not understand the importance of reading. And I was too impetuous

because I thought I could do well in the sciences and, therefore, did not need to care about

literature anymore. But I was wrong. I should treat them equally.” My grandfather said softly

while touching the cover of the book and reminiscing on the past.
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“Then, grandpa, what is the purpose of reading? I don’t like reading literature either,

because I don’t see how it would help me increase my income in my future,” I asked.

My grandfather put down the book and looked at me in silence for several seconds. He

wiped his glasses, and finally started to speak: “Everyone considers the importance of reading

differently. Some people study hard and read a lot in order to earn more in the future, but some

people read books simply out of their own interests. There’s no right or wrong, but I hope you,

my grandson, understand that you ultimately read books only for yourself. Maybe reading cannot

help you to increase your income immediately, but certainly it can broaden your horizons. You

have to know that life does not merely consist of money.”

I was consequently motivated by my grandfather’s words to start reading more books and

because of that, I started to form the ability of independent thinking. Moreover, my grandfather

taught me another lesson which further prompted me to view reading as an interesting process

rather than a boring task, and that lesson has made me understand that I need to keep thirst to

knowledge all the time. As I went to middle school, my grandfather completely retired.

However, the retirement only changed his workplace from university to his home. And instead of

teaching students Physics, he totally changed his role from a teacher into a student who poured

himself into Chinese history and literature.

Many people dislike studying Chinese history and literature because of its complexity

and difficulty: China has 5000 years of history and more than 50 kinds of languages that were

used to write. Thus only people who possess both great stamina and a high interest in history and

literature can stick with them. Even though my grandfather had some knowledge about Chinese
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history and literature that he got when he was in school, by now he had totally forgotten it all. In

other words, he started from nothing.

It was both funny and unapprehended to see an old man wearing a pair of presbyopic

glasses holding a pencil on his right hand to highlight new words while checking the dictionary

by using his left hand. From dawn till dusk, my grandfather barely got through even a few pages

of Chinese literature. During dinner, I could not wait to ask my grandfather why he chose to

spend time on that difficult literature books rather than enjoying his retirement. I spoke first:

“My dear grandpa, you have already retired from your work. Why don’t you do something fun

rather than studying Chinese literature? It is hard and boring.”

He smiled and seemed to know that I would ask that question of him. Instead of

answering my question straightaway, he responded to me with a question of his own: “Why do

you think studying Chinese literature is not fun?”

“Because it requires you to concentrate on it and check the dictionary for every word you

don’t know, it’s so difficult and time consuming,” I answered without thinking.

“Well, did you know all the things in your video games when you first started playing?

Why don’t you think learning how to use a gamepad is boring or time-consuming?” my

grandfather responded.

Just as I wanted to let the word “no” out of my mouth, I suddenly realized the lesson that

my grandfather wanted to teach me. Because I was a beginner in Chinese literature, everything in

it was hard and complicated for me. But my grandfather was not, he spent time researching it.

Consequently, he found his interest in Chinese literature. The true lesson he wanted to teach me

was to try new things before commenting on them. Also, he hoped me to make my work
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interesting. Therefore, I started to read different kinds of books and founded several types of

books I enjoyed. Gradually I began to view the process of reading as a fun thing to do and started

to try new things rather than avoiding them.

In all, my grandfather was the most influential person in my childhood. His edification on

the importance of reading stimulated me to read more books. Furthermore, by comparing video

games and reading books, my grandfather inspired me to view reading as more of an interesting

process rather than just a boring task. Even these things pass so many years, I still keep them in

my mind. The influence that my grandfather brought to me is in both short-term and long-term:

These two lessons have guided me to read more books and try different kinds of things in the

short term. And in the long term, his lessons will help me to possess an independent thinking

ability and broaden my horizon. I believe these things will eventually lead me to my final

academic success.