如果要选一生必读的两本书，我手边的是《小王子》和《苏轼选集》。
圣修伯里的《小王子》，童年时读，迷恋那奇异的星球与玫瑰；年岁渐长，品味狐狸说的：“真正重要的东西，用眼睛是看不见的。”人与人之间的连结，不在于占有，而在于用心。
王水照选注的《苏轼选集》，则是另一种陪伴。苏轼一生宦海浮沉，从朝廷重臣到荒远谪居，却从未失去对生命的热情与好奇。“不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中”，苏轼比《小王子》更通透，他告诉我们：即使用眼睛看不清，但是意识到自己就在这人生的大山里，随遇而安，处处能体会到美好的风景。
读《小王子》，发现意义；读《苏轼选集》，活出意义。我在阅读中成长，一次次遇见柳暗花明。
2026年6月21日，新加坡《联合早报》
Growing
Through Reading
I Lo-fen
If I had to choose two
books one must read in a lifetime, the two I have at hand are The Little
Prince and Selected Works of Su Shi.
When I read Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince as a child, I was enchanted by its
strange planets and its rose. As I grew older, I came to savour what the fox
says: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” The bonds between people do
not lie in possession, but in the heart’s devotion.
Selected
Works of Su Shi, edited and annotated by Wang Shuizhao, has been
another kind of companion. Su Shi’s life was full of political ups and downs.
He went from being an important official at court to living in exile in distant
places, yet he never lost his passion for life or his curiosity about the
world. “I cannot know the true face of Mount Lu, / because I am here within
this mountain.” Su Shi is even more penetrating than The Little Prince.
He tells us that even when our eyes cannot see clearly, once we realize that we
ourselves are within this great mountain of life, we may settle into
circumstance and discover beautiful scenery everywhere.
Reading The Little
Prince, I discovered meaning; reading Selected Works of Su Shi, I
learned to live out meaning. Through reading, I have grown, again and again
encountering a path opening where the willows darken and the flowers brighten.
Published in Singapore’s Lianhe
Zaobao, June 21, 2026.
