[A] accepting [B] analytical [C] battling [D] books [E] concretely

[F] critical [G] emerge [H] express [I] fictional [J] immersing

[K] positively [L] refugees [M] register [N] resolutions [O] shelves

For authors of self-help guides, no human problem is too great or too small. Want to become fitter, richer or happier in the future? There are books for it—【C1】________upon shelves of them.

As we settle down to our New Year’s【C2】_____, we’ll turn in droves to self-help books. But the truth is that all good literature changes us, and a growing body of research suggests you might do better in【C3】_____life’s challenges after browsing through fiction for support. Think of it less as self-help than “shelf help”.

Reading has been proven to sharpen【C4】_____thinking, enabling us to better discern patterns—a handy tool when it comes to the often baffling behaviour of ourselves and others. But fiction in particular can make you more socially able and empathetic. Last year, the Journal of Applied Social Psychology published a paper showing how reading Harry Potter made young people in the U.K. and Italy more【C5】__disposed towards stigmatised (使蒙上污名的) minorities such as【C6】__. And in 2013, psychologists found that literary fiction enhanced people’s ability to【C7】_____and read others’ emotions.

We think of novels as places in which to lose ourselves, but when we【C8】_____, we take with us inspiration from our favourite characters. A 2012 study by researchers at Ohio State University found that this process could actually change a reader’s behaviour. In one experiment, participants strongly identifying with a【C9】_____character who overcame obstacles to vote proved significantly more likely to vote in a real election.

They may not promise transformation in seven easy steps, but gripping novels can inform and motivate us.

Sometimes an author helps by simply taking your mind off a problem and【C10】________you so fully in another’s world and outlook that you transcend yourself, returning recharged and determined.

【C4】