英语晨读精华 Week 1 Day 5 Jimmy：Picture Books for Adults 几米：画给大人看的漫画
迷宫般的城市，习惯看相同的景物，走相同的路线，到达相同的目的地；习惯让人的生活不再变化；习惯让人有种莫名的安全感，却又有种莫名的寂寞。而你永远不知道，你的习惯会让你错过什么。
《向左走，向右走》 ，一个发生在城市—— 只可能发生在城市的、关于追寻的故事。作者以一种淡淡的、幽默的笔调缓缓述说，在故事情节与画面中制造城市生活中的种种“巧合” ，让人在阅读时感到既熟悉又惊讶，不自觉地发出会心一笑。
Artists and authors use many different ways to talk about society; many write novels, while others paint pictures. An artist in Taipei has found a different way to talk about life, people, and the problems we all face. His name is Jimmy Liao, and he creates illustrated books.
Jimmy is both an illustrator and an author. He draws all of the colorful pictures in his books and writes all of the storylines. His small paperback books usually have only one or two lines of text per page, the rest being filled by his cute, simple drawings. Simplicity is one of Jimmy’s strong points; he doesn’t lose the reader in complex plots or dialogues.
Jimmy’s books speak to readers about the ups and downs of living in the modern world. One of his most popular stories, Turning Left, Turning Right, tells of a short romance between a couple that live next to each other. The lonely pair meet one day in the park and immediately fall in love. When they leave each other at the end of a fun-filled day, they exchange telephone numbers, but the rain causes the numbers to become illegible. They are unable to contact each other, and soon return to their lonely lives.
Sad, right? Don’t start crying yet; there’s a catch to the story. You see, this man and woman actually live in the same building! The problem is, when they leave their apartments, one always turns to the left, while the other always turns to the right. The result is that they never realize they are neighbors. The lesson of the story? Life is in the details: things that seem small and insignificant can actually turn out to be important. And this is another of Jimmy’s talents: he shows his readers how the “little things” in life are often more important than we realize.
[注释]：
illustrate: 画插图
illustrator: 插图画家
storyline: 故事情节，故事大纲
paperback: a book having a flexible paper binding 平装本，纸面本
drawing: the art of representing objects or forms on a surface chiefly by means of lines 线条
画
simplicity: the property, condition, or quality of being simple or uncombined 简单
plot: the plan of events or main story in a narrative or drama 情节
ups and downs：起起落落
romance: a love affair 恋爱，罗曼史
illegible: not legible or decipherable 无法辨认的，字迹不清的
contact: to get in touch with; communicate with 联络，联系
catch: a tricky or previously unsuspected condition or drawback 圈套，陷阱
insignificant: lacking in importance; trivial 无意义的，微小的
talent: a marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment 才能
