#HonorsProgram#養成閱讀習慣#VIS菁英班

【春節連假你讀了什麼書？】

李瑞中教授給菁英班學生出的寒假作業是：讀一本有博士學位（Ph.D., M.D. or J.D./S.J.D.）作者的專書。

同學們這週在課堂上報告自己寒假讀的書，有同學讀了哈佛特聘教授Michèle Lamont的“The Dignity of Working Men“，Lamont教授是李瑞中教授恩師的好朋友，沒想到再次聽到她的名字竟是從高中生的口中；李瑞中教授問學生是如何得知這位學者與她的書，學生說他只是很自然地到Harvard University Press（哈佛大學出版社）的網站上翻看一本本的書，直到找到這本最吸引他的書……。

大部分的人會認為，很多事情必須達到一定歲數才做得來，就連教育者也常會以年紀評估能力。事實上，不要小看孩子們，引發他們的興趣，為他們推開一扇門，他們會自己走進去，開展屬於他們的天地。

以下是菁英班同學們選讀的書單，領域遍佈經濟學、社會學、心理學 與 自然科學，邀請大家一同養成閱讀的好習慣。

而今天要介紹的是：Dunkirk: The Complete Story of the First Step in the Defeat of Hitler

【 Dunkirk: The Complete Story of the First Step in the Defeat of Hitler 】

In May of 1940, in the midst of World War II, the Germans very nearly destroyed the British Expeditionary Force stationed at the French port of Dunkirk--and probably would have succeeded had Hitler, worried about lengthening supply lines, not called a temporary halt on the morning of May 24. This fortuitous event became popularly known as the first ``miracle'' of Dunkirk. Following it in quick succession was the second ``miracle'': an impromptu, heroic effort called Operation Dynamo, in which a motley armada of pleasure steamers, coal barges, fishing boats, yachts and motorboats was marshalled and, in a 10-day ferrying feat back and forth across the English Channel, brought home some 350,000 soldiers who most likely would have been captured or killed when the Germans eventually closed in with ground troops and air forces. The story of the rescue is told in vivid detail by Gelb ( The Berlin Wall ), who also provides the political and strategic contexts of this major turning point in the war.