Unit 2 Paraphrase Flashcards
By the time I became an adult, I realized that while my satisfaction in the sheer act of reading had not abated in the least, the world was often as hostile, or as blind, to that job as had been my girlfriends banging on our screen door, begging me to put down the book-“that stupid book,” they usually called it, no matter what book it happened to be.
I realized that while my joy in reading had not weakened a bit, the world was just as blind or hostile to my joy as my girlfriends had been, who used to bang on our screen door and beg me to put down the book. No matter what book I was reading, they usually refer to it as “the stupid book”.
There is something in the American character that is even secretly hostile to the act of aimless reading, a certain hale and heartiness that is suspicious of reading as anything more than a tool for advancement.
Americans even dislike the act of aimless reading. They strongly believe that reading is merely a tool for advancement.
There also arose, as I was growing up, a kind of careerism in the US that sanctioned reading only if there was some point to it.
As I was growing up, a kind of pursuit of career advancement as one’s chief or sole aim emerged in the US, which allowed reading only if it helps your career.
