在美国,我最喜欢的去处,是遍布城乡的图书馆。 原来我在宾夕法尼亚州的一个小镇斯特劳斯堡居住,每年周末要去那儿的公立图书馆借书。那是一座有点年头的建筑,窗棂油漆剥落,楼梯吱嘎作响,书库挤得只容一人通行。那高到天花板的书架上,堆满纸页发黄的书籍。但正是在这儿,我见识了美国图书馆的方便:只要进去说明是本镇居民, In the United States, my favorite place to go is in the urban and rural areas of the library. Originally, I lived in Strathspear, a small town in Pennsylvania, and borrowed books from public libraries there every weekend. It was a bit of an old building, the windows were peeled off, the stairs creaked and the library was packed for one person only. That high ceiling to the bookshelf, filled with yellow pages of books. But it is here that I have seen the convenience of a U.S. library: just go in and explain it to our town residents,