This is a common situation for beginner-level language learners—they want to read classic(经典的) books, but what their language skills allow are usually little more than children's books.
Oxford University Press tried to solve this problem back in 1988 by designing a series of graded English reading materials known as the Oxford Bookworms Library. It now has a collection of over 200 books—many of them simplified versions of classics—which fall into seven difficulty levels from "starter level" to level six.
However, there has always been a debate over whether shortened versions of classics have less value. Some worry that by reading them, students don't get to learn the essence of the original(原版的) text.
Rob Waring, a Japanese professor, mentions one of his students, Satoko, as an example in his booklet The "Whay" and "How" of Using Graded Readers. Satoko was a Japanese student majoring in English. But by the time she graduated, she had only managed to finish reading just one English book because it was far beyond her language level. "For Satoko, reading in English was a fight; a fight that she lost," wrote Waring, who suggested that reading easy texts is necessary because it helps language learners build up confidence and fluency in reading. By reading a lot—rather than getting stuck in one book—they can get used to kinds of English expressions and writing styles. Only by doing this can they reach what Waring calls the "reading-with-ideas" level of reading.
So it doesn't matter if the books are original classics or not-for beginner-level language learners, the simple act of reading is a form of learning in itself. "Stories offer a window to other cultures, other worlds, real or imagined, beyond the classroom," Jennifer Bassett, the first editor of the Oxford Bookworms Library, said in an interview with GetEnglishLessons.
