Encountering 'Visual English Interpretation' at This Late Stage
Recently, I have been reading Kazuo Ito's 'Visual English Interpretation.' I knew of it as a masterpiece among university entrance exam reference books, but now that I am actually reading it, I find it more accessible than I expected. It is an interesting book where the philosophy of how to read English breathes through the dialogue, rather than just being a dry explanation of syntax.
Of course, it is a reference book from nearly forty years ago. Today's entrance exam English involves longer passages and places a strong demand on information processing skills. If you ask whether this book alone can handle modern entrance exam English, the answer would be no. There are also parts where you can feel the era in the atmosphere of the English passages and the explanations.
Even so, there is much to be gained. Just because a phrase follows a noun, do not immediately assume it is an omitted relative pronoun. Do not mechanically translate the to-infinitive as 'to do' or 'in order to.' Look at the relationship between words, grasp the skeleton of the sentence, and determine the meaning within the flow of the context. Such an approach still holds plenty of value today.
I wonder what it would have been like if I had read this book when I was a high school student. My university entrance exam results were quite good, as I managed to pass a school that was close to my 'reach' range based on my academic ability at the time. Honestly, I do not think I would have gotten into a higher-ranked university just because I had encountered this book. However, I do think I might have grown to like English a little more.
Reading English is not just the task of picking out words and translating them; it is also an endeavor of encountering the daily lives of different cultures, learning about foreign histories that are usually out of reach, and unraveling small mysteries one by one. This book teaches that joy.
As a weapon for entrance exams, it has its age. But as a book that reminds you of the joy of reading English, it is still very much alive. Encountering a reference book that arrived late, now that I am in my fifties, is not a bad thing at all.