Books to learn English by
Promoting a reading culture in the community has been one of the themes of CityU’s 20th anniversary celebration. Reaching beyond the campus, CityU academics joined hands with renowned scholars in the community to share their secrets to learning English, at the Joint Publishing Company Art Gallery on 22 May.
In honour of World Book Day and Hong Kong Reading Month, the speakers introduced their "bibles" for learning English. Mr Tsim's was A New English-Chinese Dictionary and Brighter Grammar by C E Eckersley, good, he said, for building one's vocabulary and understanding grammar rules. Commenting on the long and clumsy sentences in today’s literature, Professor Zhang recommended The Golden Treasure of English Verse by Edward Leeson, for learning a concise style of essay writing. Dr Kwong suggested reading at your leisure, whether it's Reader’s Digest, or How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. He said Reader’s Digest, usually proofread ten times, provides many models of good style. How to Read a Book, on the other hand, could help sharpen readers’ thinking.
Part of the University’s 20th anniversary activities, the seminar was co-organized by CityU, Hong Kong Publishing Federation, and Joint Publishing Company. “The seminar served the purpose of dispensing the University’s knowledge to the community,” said Mr Patrick Kwong, host of the seminar and Director of the City University of Hong Kong Press. “Judging from the audience's warm response, we are consider hosting more seminars of this kind in the coming months.”