code: def read(parts):
      
      cur_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
      with codecs.open(os.path.join(cur_dir, *parts), "rb", "utf-8") as f:
          return f.read()
docs: Build an absolute path from parts array and and return the contents
      of the resulting file.  Assume UTF-8 encoding.