#there are many modes you can open files in. r means read.
file = open('C:Usersyournamefilesfile.txt','r')
text = file.read()
#you can write a string to it, too!
file = open('C:Usersyournamefilesfile.txt','w')
file.write('This is a typical string')
#don't forget to close it afterwards!
file.close()