Bookshoppers' Paradise

Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a book-lover or merely there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find shelter from a sudden shower. Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings. The desire to pick up a book with an attractive dust-jacket is irresistible, although this method of selection ought not to be followed, as you might end up with a rather dull book. You soon become engrossed in some books or other, and usually it is only much later that you realize you have spent far too much time there and mush dash off to keep some forgotten appointment - without buying a book, of course.

• dust-jacket: a paper cover for a book, usually with the title of the book and the name of the author (= writer) printed on it. （书籍的）护封，书套，封面。
• engrossed: giving all your attention to something. 全神贯注的，专心致志的。

This opportunity to escape the realities of everyday life is, I think, the main attraction of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is possible to do this. A music shop is very much like a bookshop. You can wander round such places to your heart's content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will approach you with the inevitable greeting: "Can I help you, sir?" You needn't buy anything you don't want. In a bookshop an assistant should remain in the background until you have finished browsing. Then, and only then, are his services necessary. Of course, you may want to find out where a particular section is, but when he has led you there, the assistant should retire discreetly and look as if he is not interested in selling a single book.

You have to be careful not to be attracted by the variety of books in a bookshop. It is very easy to enter the shop looking for a book on, say, ancient coins and to come out carrying a copy of the latest best-selling novel and perhaps a book about brass-rubbing - something which had only vaguely interested you up till then. This volume on the subject, however, happened to be so well illustrated and the part of the text you read proved so interesting, that you just had to buy it. This sort of thing can be very dangerous. Apart from running up your account, you can waste a great deal of time wandering from section to section. Book-sellers must be both long-suffering and indulgent.

• vaguely: to some degree or to a slight degree. 大致地，些许地。
• brass-rubbing: the activity of putting a sheet of paper on top of a brass in a church, and rubbing it with a special pencil to make a picture, or a picture that is made in this way. 拓印。
• indulgent: allowing someone to have or do what they want, especially when this is not good for them. 迁就的，宽容的。

There is a story which well illustrates this. A medical student had to read a textbook which was far too expensive for him to buy. He couldn't obtain it from the library and the only copy he could find was in his bookshop. Every afternoon, therefore, he would go along to the shop and read a little of the book at a time. One day, however, he was dismayed to find the book missing from its usual place and was about to leave when he noticed the owner of the shop beckoning to him. Expecting to be told off he went towards him. To his surprise, the owner pointed to the book, which was tucked away in a corner. "I put it there in case anyone was tempted to buy it," he said, and left the delighted student to continue his reading.

• beckon: to move your hand or head in a way that tells someone to come nearer.（向……）点头、招手、打手势
• tell off: to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong. 责备。