Ms（女士；老师称谓）/mɪz/ Wu gave the class a library（图书馆）/ˈlaɪbrəri/ task（任务）/tɑːsk/: choose one book, read it during the week, hand in（上交）/hænd ɪn/ a short written（书面的）/ˈrɪtn/ recommendation（推荐）/ˌrekəmenˈdeɪʃn/ on Friday, and speak about it. The literature（文学）/ˈlɪtrətʃə/ shelves（书架）/ʃelvz/ were divided into classic（经典的）/ˈklæsɪk/ and modern（现代的）/ˈmɒdn/ sections（区域）/ˈsekʃnz/. Among（在……之中）/əˈmʌŋ/ them were novels（小说）/ˈnɒvl/, diaries（日记）/ˈdaɪəriz/, poems（诗）/ˈpəʊɪmz/ by local（当地的）/ˈləʊkl/ poets（诗人）/ˈpəʊɪts/, and newspapers（报纸）/ˈnjuːzpeɪpəz/. Amina was interested in（对……感兴趣）/wəz ˈɪntrəstɪd ɪn/ adventure（冒险）/ədˈventʃə/ stories（故事）/ˈstɔːri/. She quickly chose a thick（厚的）/θɪk/ novel with a beautiful（漂亮的）/ˈbjuːtɪfl/ cover（封面）/ˈkʌvə/ because（因为）/bɪˈkɒz/ the title（书名）/ˈtaɪtl/ sounded exciting（令人兴奋的）/ɪkˈsaɪtɪŋ/.

Although（虽然）/ɔːlˈðəʊ/ the cover was beautiful, the text（正文；文本）/tekst/ was too hard. In the first passage（段落；文章片段）/ˈpæsɪdʒ/, Amina met（遇到）/met/ unfamiliar（陌生的）/ˌʌnfəˈmɪliə/ grammar（语法）/ˈɡræmə/ and many（许多）/ˈmeni/ new words. She used（使用）/juːzd/ a dictionary（词典）/ˈdɪkʃənri/ to check one meaning（含义）/ˈmiːnɪŋ/ and learn how to pronounce（发音）/prəˈnaʊns/ the word. However, she still could not understand（理解）/ˌʌndəˈstænd/ the main character（人物；角色）/ˈkærəktə/'s role（作用；角色）/rəʊl/ or follow the next event（事件）/ɪˈvent/ on her own（独立地）/ɒn hər əʊn/. Reading every page would take much longer than one week.

Amina asked the librarian a question（向图书管理员提问）/ɑːskt ðə laɪˈbreəriən ə ˈkwestʃən/. “How can I know whether（是否）/ˈweðə/ a book is right for me?” The librarian（图书管理员）/laɪˈbreəriən/ showed her a simple method（方法）/ˈmeθəd/. “First read the summary（简介；摘要）/ˈsʌməri/ on the back. Then try one page from the middle. For example（例如）/fɔːr ɪɡˈzɑːmpl/, if（如果）/ɪf/ five or six words in one paragraph（段落）/ˈpærəɡrɑːf/ stop you, the book may be too difficult for this task.” Amina followed the advice and returned the novel.

She next found（找到）/faʊnd/ a popular（受欢迎的）/ˈpɒpjələ/ collection（合集）/kəˈlekʃn/ of folk（民间的）/fəʊk/ stories from different countries（国家）/ˈkʌntriz/. It had ancient（古代的）/ˈeɪnʃənt/ characters, short dialogue（对话）/ˈdaɪəlɒɡ/, and a small article（文章）/ˈɑːtɪkl/ after each story. The articles explained traditional（传统的）/trəˈdɪʃənl/ festivals（节日）/ˈfestɪvlz/ and helped readers（读者）/ˈriːdəz/ build knowledge（知识）/ˈnɒlɪdʒ/ of each culture（文化）/ˈkʌltʃə/. The writer（作者）/ˈraɪtə/ used clear language（语言）/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/, and every story was only（只有；仅仅）/ˈəʊnli/ ten pages long. Amina understood a sample（样例；试读页）/ˈsɑːmpl/ page, borrowed（借阅）/ˈbɒrəʊd/ the book, and made a plan（制订计划）/meɪd ə plæn/ to read one story each evening.

By Thursday（星期四）/ˈθɜːzdeɪ/, Amina had finished four stories. She chose her favourite, wrote three reasons（理由）/ˈriːznz/, and prepared（准备）/prɪˈpeəd/ her recommendation. On Friday she told（告诉）/təʊld/ the class that the book was easy to follow but still taught（教给）/tɔːt/ her something（某事；某物）/ˈsʌmθɪŋ/ new about another culture. Two classmates（同学）/ˈklɑːsmeɪts/ wrote down the title because they wanted to borrow it next.