AX阅读书单｜顶尖美高The Taft School塔夫脱中学8本必读书籍

百年历史的美国顶尖私立美高The Taft School塔夫脱中学，为其学生推荐的8本暑假必读书籍：

“我们的夏季阅读清单是塔夫脱暑假阅读委员会经过精心选择的，注重反映当前的社会问题，校园共同主题以及具有历史意义的问题、许多书籍和许多作者屡获殊荣并广为人知的书籍。

通常，塔夫脱的学生和教师在暑假期间会读一本书，秋季开学后一起讨论这本书。为了提高学生的参与度，委员会决定在暑假提供以勇气和毅力为主题的书籍，并要求学生至少完成一本自己最感兴趣的来完成阅读。”

塔夫脱中学暑假书单

8本以勇气和毅力为主题的经典读物

City of Thieves，《窃盗城市*》

GoodReads评分：4.30/5分

作者简介：

David Benioff （大卫·贝尼奥夫），是一位美国犹太裔小说家、编剧及监制，其最著名电视作品为和D·B·魏斯共同改编的《权力的游戏》，来自乔治·R·R·马丁的中世纪史诗奇幻小说系列《冰与火之歌》。

书籍简介：

在纳粹惨烈围攻列宁格勒期间，列夫·贝尼奥夫因抢劫罪被捕，并与一个名叫科里亚（Kolya) 的英俊逃兵被丢入同一牢房。列夫和科里亚并未被处决，而是通过完成一个残酷的指令来挽救自己的生命：护送一打鸡蛋，供一个很有势力的苏联上校在他女儿的结婚蛋糕中使用。在一个切断了所有供应，物资格外稀缺的城市，在已经无视法律的疯狂人们以及敌方战线的双重压力下，列夫和科里亚开始了在列宁格勒的狩猎，以寻找不可能的转机。

《窃盗城市》里这些有趣，激动人心和恐怖的元素，铸成了这部引人入胜的电影般的第二次世界大战冒险故事，这是一段精髓的成长故事，对男孩如何成长为男人有着完全现代的感觉。

During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men

*暂无简体中文版

Coach Wooden and Me，《伍登教练与我》

GoodReads评分：4.36/5分

作者简介：

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar（卡里姆·阿卜杜勒-贾巴尔）和，David Fisher （大卫·贝费雪），本书是前NBA球星兼总统自由勋章获得者卡里姆·阿卜杜勒-贾巴尔的回忆录。在书中探索了他与教练约翰·伍登（John Wooden）的50年友谊，这是体育史上最持久和最有意义的关系之一。

书籍简介：

NBA传奇人物卡里姆·阿卜杜勒·贾巴尔（Kareem Abdul-Jabbar）在加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）第一次见到这位美国历史上最伟大的教练约翰·伍登（John Wooden）教练时，他对他的学习成绩而不是他的高中篮球战绩感到惊讶。阿卜杜勒-贾巴尔（Abdul-Jabbar）拥有一名潜在的大学球员的最佳战绩，他对教练会留下深刻的印象。但是，这位来自纽约的18岁小男孩从教练那里得到了第一堂课，他将是他一生的良师益友：“篮球是暂时的，但知识是永远的。” 在伍登的指导下，阿卜杜勒·贾巴尔（Abdul-Jabbar）带领球队赢得了三个NCAA冠军头衔。尽管宗教信仰和文化影响各不相同，但他们之间建立了持久的友谊。在种族和肤色至关重要的动荡岁月中，两人共同渡过障碍，成为美国体育史上最伟大的人物之一。

When NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar first visited UCLA to meet the man who would be the greatest coach in American history, Coach John Wooden, he was taken aback by the man’s attention to his grades rather than to his high school basketball record. Having the best record for a prospective college player, Abdul-Jabbar was confident the Coach would be impressed. But the 18-year-old cocky kid from New York got his first lesson from the Coach who would be his mentor and friend for the rest of his life: “basketball is temporary, but knowledge is forever.” That was the beginning of a coach-player mentorship that blossomed into a 50-year friendship that went beyond the basketball court. With Wooden’s coaching, Abdul-Jabbar leads his team to win three NCAA championship titles. An enduring friendship followed despite differing religious beliefs and cultural influences. Going through the turbulent years when race and color mattered, the two men weathered obstacles together to become among the greatest men in American sports history.

The Hidden Figure, 《隐藏人物》

GoodReads评分：3.96/5分

作者简介：

Margot Lee Shetterly（玛歌特·李·谢特利），美国非小说类作家，也曾在投资银行和媒体初创企业工作。她的第一本书《隐藏人物：帮助美国赢得太空竞赛的非裔女性的故事》是关于在NASA工作的非裔美国人的女数学家，他们对美国太空计划的成功起到了重要作用。

书籍简介：

相信很多人都是通过同名电影《隐藏人物》了解到了这个故事，其实在这本书被拍成奥斯卡提名电影之前，它已经是一本非常优秀的读物。玛格特·李·谢特利的非小说类书籍讲述了四位真实非洲裔美国妇女的生活，这些女性在20世纪50年代在美国国家航空航天局担任数学家和工程师的专职工作，协力将第一位美国宇航员送入太空。凯瑟琳·约翰逊，多罗西·沃恩，玛丽·杰克逊和克莉丝汀·达登都是令人倾佩的女性，她们的故事应该被更多人所知晓和分享。

Before it became an Oscar-nominated film, it was an incredible read. Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book follows the lives of four African-American women who helped send the first American astronaut into space through their dedicated work as mathematicians and engineers for NASA in the 1950s. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Darden are some fierce ladies whose story should be known and shared.

Neverwhere，《乌有乡》

GoodReads评分：4.17/5分

作者简介：

Neil Gaiman（尼尔·盖曼），是一名移居美国的英国作家。他是记者、诗人、词作者、影视编剧、制片人和导演；二十七岁着手创作《睡魔》系列漫画，并一炮打响，其中第十九期《仲夏夜之梦》更赢得世界奇幻奖的殊荣，成为第一部获取文学奖项的漫画作品。

书籍简介：

在伦敦的街道下，有一个大多数人做梦都无法想象的地方。一个由怪物和圣人，凶手和天使组成的城市，穿着盔甲的骑士和穿着黑丝绒的苍白女孩的城市。这是落入裂缝之间的人们的城市。年轻的商人理查德·梅休（Richard Mayhew）将了解更多有关伦敦的更多信息。一次仁慈的举动使他摆脱了工作日的生活，进入了一个立刻变得极为陌生而又异常离奇的世界。一个古怪的命运在他的故土地下等待着他：乌有乡。

Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

The Hate U Give，《你给的仇恨》

GoodReads评分：4.51/5分

作者简介：

Angie Thomas（安吉·托马斯），美国作家，出生，并住在密西西比州。她写了年轻的成长小说《你给的仇恨》并被翻拍为同名电影，由乔治·蒂尔曼（George Tillman）执导，《饥饿游戏》女演员阿曼德拉·斯坦伯格（Amandla Stenberg）出演。

书籍简介：

16岁的斯塔尔·卡特（Starr Carter）在两个世界之间移动：她生活的贫穷社区和她上学的郊区高级预科学校。当斯塔尔亲眼目睹了她儿时最好的朋友哈利勒被警察射死以后，这些世界之间的不安平衡被打破了。哈利勒没有持械。此后不久，他的去世成为全国头条新闻。有人称他为暴徒，甚至毒贩和黑帮。抗议者以哈利勒的名字走上街头。一些警察和当地毒枭试图恐吓斯塔尔及其家人。每个人都想知道的是：那天晚上到底发生了什么？唯一能回答这个问题的人就是斯塔尔。但是，斯塔尔的行动与否可能会颠覆她的社区，也可能危及她的生命。

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

The Scribe of Siena, 《锡耶纳抄书吏*》

GoodReads评分：3.82/5分

作者简介：

Melodie Winawer是哥伦比亚大学神经内科学的医师兼科学家。她毕业于耶鲁大学，宾夕法尼亚大学和哥伦比亚大学，并获得了生物心理学，医学和流行病学学位，她发表了五十多篇非小说类文章和书籍章节。她能说流利的西班牙语和法语，懂读写拉丁语，并且意大利语也很熟练。Winawer博士与她的配偶及其三个小孩住在纽约布鲁克林。《锡耶纳抄写员》是她的第一本小说。

书籍简介：

神经外科医生Beatrice Trovato知道，她对患者的同情开始阻碍她的工作。因此，当她心爱的兄弟去世时，悲痛中的她不得不去托斯卡纳的锡耶纳市（Siena）处理他的财产问题。但是，当她深入研究自己哥哥的事务时，发现了她从未想过的阴谋——一个700年前摧毁这座城市的阴谋。当比阿特丽斯（Beatrice）进一步探索证据时，她发现了十四世纪艺术家加布里埃尔·雅高西（Gabriele Accorsi）的日记和绘画。但是，当她吃惊得发现自己的画像时，她突然穿越到1347年。她在一个陌生的锡耶纳中醒来，而锡耶纳很快就会被瘟疫袭击。

Accomplished neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato knows that her deep empathy for her patients is starting to impede her work. So when her beloved brother passes away, she welcomes the unexpected trip to the Tuscan city of Siena to resolve his estate, even as she wrestles with grief. But as she delves deeper into her brother’s affairs, she discovers intrigue she never imagined—a 700-year-old conspiracy to decimate the city. As Beatrice explores the evidence further, she uncovers the journal and paintings of the fourteenth-century artist Gabriele Accorsi. But when she finds a startling image of her own face, she is suddenly transported to the year 1347. She awakens in a Siena unfamiliar to her, one that will soon be hit by the Plague.

*暂无简体中文版，非官方译名

The Thing Around Your Neck，《缠绕脖颈的东西*》

GoodReads评分：4.23/5分

作者简介：

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie（奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇埃）是尼日利亚当今最著名的女作家之一，生于1977年，2006年她发表《半轮黄日》，令她在全世界范围内获得极高声誉，该小说获得2007年橘子小说奖，2015年更被评为“橘子小说奖十年最佳小说”，她也因这部小说成为意大利诺尼诺国际文学奖史上最年轻的获奖者。奇玛曼达有“尼日利亚的托尔斯泰”之称，被视为最接近诺贝尔文学奖的70后作家之一。

书籍简介：

本书讲述了十二个令人眼花缭乱的故事，在这些故事中，她将目光投向了将男人和女人，父母与子女，尼日利亚和西方联系在一起的纽带。一名医学院学生与一名贫穷的穆斯林妇女一起躲藏在一场暴力骚乱中，穆斯林妇女的尊严和信仰迫使她面对现实，并担心她会被逼走。一个女人解开了围绕她哥哥死亡的毁灭性秘密。一位年轻母亲得知丈夫回到拉各斯后将自己的情妇搬进了自己的家，发现自己的舒适生活受到威胁。标题故事描绘了一个尼日利亚女孩令人窒息的孤独感，她移居美国，结果却与她所期望的国家完全不同。尽管坠入爱河使她的欲望几乎可以实现，但故土的死亡迫使她重新审视了他们的欲望。灼热而深刻，充满美丽，悲伤和向往，这是奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇埃出色的叙事能力的有力证明。

From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Orange Prize-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, come twelve dazzling stories in which she turns her penetrating eye on the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Nigeria and the West. In 'A Private Experience,' a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she's been pushing away. In 'Tomorrow Is Too Far,' a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother's death. The young mother at the center of 'Imitation' finds her comfortable life threatened when she learns that her husband back in Lagos has moved his mistress into their home. And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to re-examine them. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's prodigious storytelling powers.

*暂无简体中文版，非官方译名

This Is How It Always Is，《向来如此*》

GoodReads评分：4.27/5分

作者简介：

书籍简介：

这就是一个家庭保守秘密的方式……而这个秘密最终是如何保守他们的。

这就是一个家庭从此过着幸福快乐的生活……直到从此变得快乐起来变得复杂。

孩子们就是这样改变……然后改变世界。

这是克劳德。他五岁，是五个兄弟中最小的一个，并且喜欢花生酱三明治。他也喜欢穿衣服，梦想成为公主。

克劳德说，长大后，他想成为一个女孩。

罗西和佩恩希望克劳德成为克劳德想要成为的人。他们只是不确定是否准备与世界分享这一点。不久，整个家庭都将克劳德的秘密保密。直到有一天它爆炸。

《向来如此》是一本关于启示，转变，童话故事和家庭的小说。它涉及的是过去那些一成不变的东西：变革总是伴随艰辛、奇迹然后又变得艰辛，教育孩子就像是祈祷着、心跳着跳进未知世界，孩子成长但并非总是按计划进行。而且拥有秘密的家庭无法永远守住它们。

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them. This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated. This is how children change…and then change the world. This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes. This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

*暂无简体中文版，非官方译名

关于塔夫脱中学

The Taft School

(图片来源：taftschool.org)

建校历史：1890年

地理位置：康涅狄格州（康州），位于纽约与波士顿之间。

招收学生：9-12年级的男生女生

学校人数：606

师生比例：1:5

特色：优雅宁静的校园，设施齐全。学生允许追求自己感兴趣的项目，每年秋天，大约有20名学生将自己研究的课题交给ISP委员会审议，得到批准后就可以选择老师或者顾问指导课题研究。学校与纽约植物园有合作关系，每年欢迎植物园员工到学校做科学讲座活动。学生也可以进行暑期实习，与多名科学家、大学生、研究生并肩工作。