I have removed the my Collins Concise Dictionary Plus from my top drawer to put it away to some other book shelves. My drawer has very little space. It is sort of prime real estate for my stuff. Since I have not really used the dictionary in the last 10 years, it does not make sense to for it take up valuable spaces.
I bought the dictionary in 1992. For me it was quite a find back then. The "Plus" in the title refers to the fact that it has extensive encyclopedic entries for biographical, scientific, political, geographical, historical, and the arts. Basically it was my Wikipedia at the time. 1992 is around the time I started to read a lot of English materials for general interests, like books and a whole stack of National Geographic. My English comprehension was quite limited. I pretty much have to look up a word for every paragraph I read, if not for every sentence. And I really appreciate the brief encyclopedic entries that give some background on prominent people, places or concepts. You know, it is like a mini-Wikipedia.
At the beginning, the dictionary was always by my side. Slowly I use it less and less. My vocabulary was improving. Besides, it was rather cumbersome to lookup dictionary all the time. I rather keep on reading and not to interrupt the flow. Later the web has come. If I have to look anything up, I go to the computer and I can find load of information instantaneously.
So the dictionary has settled in the drawer inactively. It is time for some spring cleaning. And it is a time to reminisce how wonderful it was to me.
2014.02.17 comments