Andersen's Fairy Tales

When I was a little girl, I loved bedtime stories, especially those in Andersen's Fairy Tales. My mom often read them for me, but, most of the time, I enjoyed reading them myself. While I was proud of the ugly duckling who eventually evolved to a gorgeous swan, happy for Cinderella who suffered so much but found her prince in the end, and sorry for the little match girl who was found frozen to death on the last night of the old year, I was impressed by the author's solid knowledge of literature. He easily controlled my mood by merely applying some simple words. At that time, I thought literacy equaled a good story.

As time went by, I started to study in a primary school. Somehow, I went to a composition class in grade four and became the best student in that class by the end of that semester. However, at first, I did not understand the assignments. In my mind, I still loved stories, and all I wanted to write were lovely stories. However, a description of a building was the first required assignment. Since stories were the only writing style I knew, it made me so confused that I even did not know how to start . Nevertheless, I had no choice but tried to observe, touch and feel the object that I was going to write. Gradually, I found I fell in love with the process of watching before writing. It made me understand that literacy was not just a good story but came from a thorough observation of life.

Quickly I became a high school student. To prepare for the so-called Chinese SAT, I started to learn how to write an argument. Although I never gave up writing during the three years of middle school, it was not a small challenge for me to make an argument. I am not a rational person who can do things step by step; Rather, I am emotional. I once asked my teacher why a nonsense persuasive essay was mandatory. She told me that sometimes our world required rational literacy. Her words enlightened me and unraveled all my previous misunderstanding about literacy.

Now, I am a college student who is going to graduate next year. Looking back on the past 10 years, I improved my understanding of literacy through continual reading, writing and asking. Now I know that literacy is not just a simple word but a status of being cultivated and wise.