Reading is a pleasure of the mind, which means that it is a little like a sport: your eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader. Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the author's or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his, brings you to the same or different conclusions, and your ideas develop as you understand his.
Every book stands by itself, like a one-family house, but books in a library are like houses in a city. Although they are separate, together they all add up to something; they are connected with each other and with other cities.
读书是愉悦心智之事，在这一点上它有点像体育运动。善于读书的人需要强烈的求知欲、丰富的知识 和敏捷的反应。读书之所以有趣，不是由于作者告诉了你什么，而是由于读书促使你思考。你的想象与作 者的想象一道展开，甚至可以超越作者的想象。对比作者的经历，你会得出自己的结论，它们与作者的也 许相同，也许相悖，而随着你对作者思想的逐步理解，你也会变得越来越深刻。
单独一本书犹如一个独家小院，但汇集到图书馆则好似城市中的千家万户。虽然书与书仍是各自独 立，但却构成一个非比寻常的整体。家家户户彼此相依，还与其他城市相连。
1. 第一段第一句，翻译时将“...our eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader”主宾语 对换，避免头重脚轻，更符合中文表达习惯。
2. 第二段第一句，将前两个分句合译，“独”字可以同时包含“stand by itself”和“one-family”要传达的意思。
3. 第二段第二句，add up to对应“构成……整体”，而something对应“非比寻常”。