41 Learning Methods That Benefit a Lifetime

Chapter 37 Reading notes are flexible in content and diverse in form (1)
Reading notes are the most flexible type of reading notes.It is to extract the relevant materials in the book or article after reading a book or article, so as to express one's own experience, experience or impressions and doubts after reading.The reason why reading notes are called the most flexible is that it can not only express thoughts on the content of the whole book, but also research or annotate famous sentences.Therefore, there is a clear difference between reading notes and reading summaries-it can clearly reflect the author's point of view and understanding, and at the same time save the materials he quoted in the notes.

Reading notes are not only flexible in content, but also in various forms.Reading notes can be more or less. If there are words, it will be long, and if there are no words, it will be short.Although there is no fixed format for reading notes, they can be roughly divided into two types: one is scholarly notes.Generally, it is the author's new discoveries and cognitions on some small issues in the process of academic research, and generally does not involve major topics in academic research; the author's opinions can be expressed in the form of assertions, or can be inspired by hypotheses, conjectures, doubts, etc. The reader is left to explore the conclusion of the question for himself.When writing such notes, the incision should be small so that readers can easily grasp the problem; the materials should be new to make readers interested in reading; the language should be plain and natural to make readers feel friendly.The other category is reading notes.It generally does not involve academic issues, but only talks about ancient and modern events, social vicissitudes, ideological and moral cultivation, etc. The purpose is to inspire readers with specific facts, so that readers can distinguish right from wrong and know what to do.

There are three steps to write good reading notes

Since you are learning by using the reading notes method, the key point is how to write good reading notes—all the knowledge you want to master are written in your notes.As mentioned earlier, writing reading notes is expensive in comments.Since you want to comment, you must be good at understanding the meaning of the article, be good at using your imagination and creativity, and be good at questioning.These three are the prerequisites for writing good reading notes.Doing these points will greatly improve your writing skills.To sum up, writing reading notes should be divided into the following steps in order.

① Familiarize yourself with the original work and grasp its main points.

From ancient times to the present, "talking about wars on paper" has been a big taboo, and the same is true for writing reading notes.Without familiarity with the original work, it is impossible to write good notes.Because reading notes require you to write down your knowledge and feelings about what you read, it must be based on intensive reading of the original.After intensive reading, start from the key words in the original work, conduct in-depth research, and strive to accurately grasp the main content of the original work.On this basis, master the content of the original work and have a deep understanding.Thus, the first requirement is fulfilled.It should be noted that after familiarizing with the article, one must be brave enough to surpass the views in the book, and avoid copying what others say, so as to avoid deviations in the understanding of the original work.

② Connect with reality and express your own views and feelings.

One of the taboos in writing argumentative essays is to post empty arguments, which are far-fetched.The same is true for writing reading notes.When writing specifically, you should grasp the key words or sentences in the text that make you feel the most.Otherwise, the comments of the notes will become empty and have no value at all.In addition, when writing reading notes, you should also pay attention to grasping the sparks of thought that come out inadvertently-even if it is an immature idea or a fragmented idea.Because they are your truest reflection of the article, they are very valuable.Record these fleeting sparks at any time, and it will be a very good casual feeling after processing.

③ Arrange and analyze the summarized viewpoints, and reveal the philosophy behind them.

The range of reading notes is very wide, and there are many objects.Therefore, when we write reading notes, we should use the correct analysis method to grasp the essence of the original work.In other words, you should write on the basis of a full understanding of the original work, and write what you have.Don't write hard if you don't have experience.

All in all, when using the reading notes method to study, you must base yourself on the whole text, think carefully, express your feelings, and highlight the philosophy.It can be regarded as the sixteen-character "mantra".

Introduction to Reading Notes Model Essay

The following is a sample essay for you, which is a reading note written by the great writer Mao Dun after reading "Water Margin", one of the four famous novels.I hope to be helpful.

On the Characters and Structure of "Water Margin"

The description of the characters in "Water Margin" has always received the highest evaluation.It is an exaggeration to say that one hundred and eight people all have different faces, but it is a fact that at least one dozen or more of the important characters in the book have their own faces.I remember that there was a note in which I made up a story about how Shi Naian wrote "Water Margin". Over time, the voices and smiles of these 36 people have matured in Shi Naian's imagination, and then he wrote, so they can be lifelike.This fabricated Shi Naian's creative method has its obvious attachments. For example, the image is Song Jiang and other 36 people, which is associated with the description in "Xuan He Yu Shi", but it emphasizes the day-to-day speculation. There is part of the truth, although it is basically unscientific.Because, if it was really Shi Naian who wrote "Water Margin", then before he wrote the pen, he should have been contemplating it day and night. I invited some master painters to make images of 36 people.

This is a general comment; just this sentence is not enough to explain the characteristics of the character description in "Water Margin".Take Lin Chong, Yang Zhi, and Lu Da as examples.Before falling into the grass, these three people were all officers, and they all had good martial arts skills. This is what they have in common; the three of them would never have dreamed that one day they would fall into the grass, but they finally fell into the grass, but each of them fell into the grass The reasons are quite different.Because Gao Yanei wanted to get Lin Chong's wife, so Lin Chong suffered an injustice lawsuit and was assassinated in Cangzhou. He was dissuaded by Lin Chong; after arriving in Cangzhou, Lin Chong became a prisoner with peace of mind. It was not until Gao Yanei sent someone to kill him again that he killed people for revenge and embarked on the road of Luocao.As for Yang Zhi, he lost his official position because he fell into Huashi Gang, failed to be reinstated, sold his knives in despair, and accidentally killed a rascal, so he was exiled to the army. The rivers and lakes have fallen into trouble.Only Ruda, his experience was "active".At first, in order to save people with righteousness, the military officer could not do it, so he became a monk; later, in order to save people with righteousness, even the monk couldn't do it, so he had to fall into the grass. "Water Margin" portrays the characters of the three people from their different encounters.Not only that, "Water Margin" also shows the inevitability of the different encounters of the three people from the different ideologies of the three people.Yang Zhi wanted to be an official with all his heart, "beauty his wife and son", but in the end he tried his best to be careful, but still ended up in vain.Lin Chong kept to his own law and accepted what came and went, but was forced to have nowhere to go.Only Lu Da, who has no worries and dares to do something, has never suffered a disadvantage.For Yang Zhi, although we feel sorry for his experience, we despise him as a human being; for Lin Chong, we express our sympathy, but regret that we don't know enough about him; for Lu Da, we have nothing but admiration. This is how "Water Margin" made us have different feelings for these three people through the gorgeous images.Not only that, "Water Margin" also shows from the ideology of these three people that these three people came from different classes.Yang Zhi is "after the three generations of generals, the grandson of the fifth Marquis Yang Linggong", so he never forgets to be an official, "his wife and son", as long as there are officials, Liang Zhongshu is also his good boss.Lin Chong came from the family of a gun stick teacher and was a technician belonging to the petty bourgeoisie. He had a sense of justice, but he was content with the status quo.As for Ruda, he had no relatives, no family, and no property. He was a poor peasant or a craftsman who was promoted from the army to an officer. "Water Margin" does not describe the origins of these three people (only after Yang Zhi confessed that he was a general), but when describing the characters of these three people, their class status is fastened everywhere.

Therefore, we can say that being good at describing the behavior of characters from the perspective of class consciousness is the biggest feature of character description in "Water Margin".

Secondly, another characteristic of the character description in "Water Margin" is that everything about the characters is explained by the actions of the characters themselves, and the author never says anything.Still taking Lin Chong and other three people as an example, when these three characters appeared on the stage, they all appeared suddenly in the middle of other people's incidents; Lu Da's appearance was in the event of Shi Jin's search for Coach Wang, and Lin Chong's appearance was in Lu Da's practice of martial arts At the same time, Yang Zhi's appearance was at the time when Lin Chong was looking for a vote.When these three characters appeared on the stage, apart from a brief description of their appearance, there was no word to introduce their life experience, and naturally there was no word to describe their character; It was gradually revealed in their actions that we didn't fully recognize their life experience and character until the end of their main story.This is like a person coming from afar. At first we only see that he is wearing a long coat or a short jacket, then we can see whether he is fat or thin, then we can see whether he has a square face or a round face, and finally, It was only then that we could clearly see his facial features and even his voice and smile: at this moment, we could see all of him clearly. "Water Margin" uses such a method of moving from far to near when writing characters, so it is fascinating and very vivid.

This is the end of the description of the characters in "Water Margin".Let's briefly talk about the structure of "Water Margin".

Judging from the whole book, the structure of "Water Margin" is not an organic structure.We can compile the stories of several main characters into their own independent short stories and novella without any sense of separation.However, judging from the story of a single character, the structure of "Water Margin" is rigorous and even organic.On this point, it is enough to prove that "Water Margin" was a lot of independent stories with the same motif when it was still an oral literature.

These independent and self-contained stories have some common characteristics in structure.Roughly speaking, first, the development of the story is connected back and forth, step by step, but dense and dense, swaying and colorful.Second, be good at using changing and intricate techniques and avoid straightforward narration.Take the story of Lin Chong as an example.The story of Lin Chong, from burning incense in the Yue Temple to falling grass in the water, has five chapters in total. At the beginning of the story, the question that determines Lin Chong’s fate is raised. From then on, it develops step by step to the apex, but the line of development is not vertical. The verdict is a big paragraph in the middle of the whole story, but it is not the apex. The apex is Mount Liang, and Lin Chong’s story ends here.In these five chapters, in terms of writing, I have tried my best to move up and down, making readers angry at times, laughing at times, and worrying about Lin Chong after being happy for him.Even the vignettes in the story (such as Lin Chonglu's encounter with Chai Jin and his martial arts contest with the instructor Hong) are not straightforward.This paragraph first writes that Lin Chong went to Chai Jinzhuang, Chai Jin was not there, Lin Chong left disappointed, but met Chai Jin again on the road (the passage of Chai Jin's exit and exit was written vividly), and later he competed with the instructor Hong.Lin Chong's short paragraph of martial arts competition does not contain more than a thousand words from the beginning to the end, but the writing is so intricate and full of changes.It was said that there was going to be a martial arts competition, but there was no competition. He drank wine first, and really started a martial arts competition, but it was half true (from the side of Hong Jiaotou) and half false (from Lin Chong's side). As a note, the last is Zhenbi, which is over in just a few hundred words; but the more than a hundred words are really concise and powerful, and it vividly expresses the high strength of Lin Chong's martial arts.This short paragraph of more than a thousand characters also portrays the faces of Chai Jin and Hong Jiaotou, and the economy of pen and ink has reached the extreme.Look at Yang Zhi's story again.There are only three chapters of Yang Zhi's story, [-] to [-] words, with three paragraphs from the beginning to the end: Selling the knife, winning an official, and falling into the birthday guide.Structurally, Yang Zhi's story is different from Lin Chong's.Lin Chong's story first puts forward the main point of the whole story, and then develops to the apex step by step, but Yang Zhi's story summarizes Yang Zhi's dream of seeking an official in a trilogy of frustration, success, and disillusionment. From a structural point of view, the climax is in the middle.With the powerful Gao Qiu, Yang Zhi encountered bad luck, but with the other powerful Liang Zhongshu, Yang Zhi was promoted from the very beginning, and it seemed that everything would be smooth sailing, but it was not easy to be a slave under the powerful family.There are factions among the slaves, and they often fight each other.Liang Zhongshu's lack of expertise in employing people doomed Yang Zhi's disillusionment.At the same time, Yang Zhi on Huangnigang was doomed to fail.The logic of the development of the story is like this, but the logic of the development of the novel's structure reaches its culmination through a series of positive and negative spirals.Before Yang Zhi and his party set off, Wu Yong and the others had already laid a trap, which was clearly written in the book; in contrast, it was Yang Zhi's shrewd countermeasure.What readers are eager to know at this time is whether Wu Yong and others "softly acquired" or "hardly acquired" the [-] Guan gold beads?If it is "soft take", how can it hide from Yang Zhi's shrewd eyes?The answer to this mystery is not revealed until the end of the story, and the vertical and horizontal opening and closing of the structure is caused by this.

The above are some superficial opinions on the characters and structure of "Water Margin".If you want to learn from "Water Margin", these are the places worth learning.Naturally, "Water Margin" also has many advantages worthy of our study.For example, the folk spoken language of the time is often used in the dialogue of the characters, so that we can hear it; and the description of the action is vivid and vivid on the paper with only a few words. ... All of these should be studied, but from a broad perspective, what should be the main object of study is its character description and structure. (Please don't get me wrong, thinking that there is nothing for us to learn from other aspects of "Water Margin"; however, this article focuses on how to create characters and how to structure the overall situation, so I will not talk about other aspects of it for the time being.) On this , my prejudice is that "Water Margin" is stronger than "Dream of Red Mansions"; although in terms of the overall structure of the book, "Dream of Red Mansions" is closer to the organic structure than "Water Margin", but the story of a certain character is regarded as an independent short story. In other words, as mentioned above, the structure of "Water Margin" is also organic.

Mao Dun
When Han Yu summed up his academic experience, he said: "I can't stop reciting the essays of the six arts, and my hands are constantly compiling the compilations of a hundred schools of thought; those who record events must mention their essentials, and those who compile words must understand their mysteries" ("Jin Xue Jie" ").The "bringing out the essentials" here means grasping the key points; the "hooking into the mystery" means exploring the essence of the book and grasping the essential things in the book.

The main contradiction is grasped, "the rest are like broken bamboo joints, and they are all solved." (Huang Tingjian's "Letter to the Prince").There is a vast amount of knowledge in books. Although you have to be careful and in-depth when reading, and carefully write every sentence carefully, it will take a lot of energy to write down all the content in the book.

Human energy is limited, therefore, we do not agree to recite the full text of "A Dream of Red Mansions" in today's world, but it is still necessary to recite the fragments "feeling in the heart" repeatedly. If you have read three hundred Tang poems by heart, you can chant even if you don’t know how to compose poems”?In fact, it is neither possible nor necessary to learn all books word by word, so many scholars in ancient times advocated that reading should adopt the method of "hooking and summarizing" to grasp the main points and understand the essence.What the ancients admired most in reading was "observing the general idea alone" and "picking up its elite", which means that reading should grasp the essence of the spirit, grasp the main points, and not just stick to the meaning of the words.In this way, you can read thick books and read thin ones, you can learn a lot, and you can save energy, so that the content of learning is orderly, and you know it well.Because the "Hook Xuan Abstract Method" emphasizes only the in-depth study of the essence of the book, which naturally improves the reading speed, and because you understand the spirit of the book, it is easy to achieve the effect of drawing inferences from one instance and applying what you have learned, thus truly embodying its " Efficient" and "fast" functions.

How to use the Hook Xuan summary method
According to Han Yu's method, reading should first classify books into different categories, and then adopt different reading methods according to their nature and type.For those historical books with a chronicle nature, an outline must be drawn up when reading, that is, to extract the main content of the book in an outline; The essence of it.

In the Hook Xuan summary method, the method of outline network can also be used to analyze, compare and summarize complex materials.In this way, we can not only firmly grasp the main part of the learning object, but also network the vertical and horizontal connections between the parts of the learning object, and get twice the result with half the effort.The outline network has strong intuition, generalization and orderliness.The process of writing an outline is also a process of brainstorming analysis, synthesis, comparison, and generalization, and a process of deeply understanding the content and form characteristics of the learning object. Whether it is a book, an article, a section or a section of text, we must grasp the To write an outline of its main content and spiritual essence, one must study and think hard, understand the organic connection and logical relationship of the materials, and consider how to accurately summarize them in one's own language. These positive thinking and in-depth study of the materials Understanding is helpful to improve the learning effect.The Hook Xuan abstract method is suitable for studying articles with longer length and more content.

The Hook Xuan summary method reminds us that we should do the following when reading:
"Gou Qixuan" must first be selected and intensively read

(End of this chapter)