中英雙語雞湯版――勸學

死讀書的人只記住一些詞藻和事物之皮毛，完全沒有消化之，充斥著頭腦，空虛著心靈。如果能充分利用書本，你就會有一種前所未有的感覺，覺得自己是有所作為的人。

Perhaps no other thing has such power to lift the poor out of his poverty, the wretched out of his misery, to make the burden-bearer forget his burden, the sick his suffering, as books. They are friends to the lonely, companions to the deserted, joy to the joyless, hope to the hopeless, good cheer to the disheartened, a helper to the helpless. They bring light into darkness, and sunshine into shadow.

也許只有書籍能讓窮人脫貧，讓可憐的人擺脫苦楚，讓心懷重負的人釋懷，讓生病的人脫離痛苦。當你孤獨時書是朋友，當你被拋棄時書是伴侶，當你無趣時書是快樂，當你灰心時書是希望，當你氣餒時書是鼓勵，當你無助時書是救世主。書籍把光明撒入黑暗，把陽光照進陰影。

We may be poor, socially ostracized, shut out from all personal association with the great and the good, and yet be in the best society in the world, in books.

也許是因為貧窮，我們受到排斥，被上流社會拒之門外，然而，我們依然身處世間最好的圈子裡，這個圈子就是書籍。

The trend of many a life for good or ill, for success or failure, has been determined by a single book. The books which we read early in life are those which influence us the most.

早年閱讀的書籍對我們一生影響甚大，或成功，或失敗，或從善，或從惡，一個人的一生也許就取決於小小的一本書。

The greatest advantage of books does not always come from what we remember of them, but from their suggestiveness. A good book often serves as a match to light the dormant -powder within us.

讀書的益處不是從書本中記住某些東西，而是從書本中得到啟發。只要我們能挖掘出來，大多數人內部蘊藏著足夠的潛能，一本好書就是點燃內部潛能的火柴。

There is explosive material enough in most of us if we can only reach it. A good book or a good friend often excites thought in great writers, even upon entirely different subjects. We often find in books what we thought and felt, we could have expressed ourselves. Indeed, we get acquainted with ourselves in books. We discover one feature in Emerson, another lineament in Shakespeare, an expression in Homer, a glimpse of ourselves in Dante, and so on until we spell out our whole individuality. True, we get many pleasing reflections of ourselves from fiends, many mirrored deformities from our enemies and a characteristic here and there from the world; but in calm and unbiased way we find the most of ourselves, our strength, our weakness, our limitations, our opinions, our tastes, our harmonies and discords, our poetic and prosaic qualities, in books.

即便在不同的主題中，一本好書或者說一位好友都能與偉大的作家激起相思之火花。我們曾經有過而從未表達出來的相思與感受都可以在書本中找到。的確，我們只有多讀書，才能更好地認識自我。在愛默生，莎翁的作品中我們可以找到自己的角色，在荷馬史詩中可以找到自我表達，在但丁的畫作裡可以看到自己的身影，只有多讀書我們才能全面地認識自己。誠然，在朋友身上可以找到我們的優點，在敵人面前可以發現自己的缺陷，我們周圍的世界裡處處都有各種品質。以平和不帶偏見的眼光，全面地看待自己，看我們的強項，看我們的短板，看我們的侷限，看我們的態度，看我們的品味，看我們的認同與分歧，看我們的優雅與樸實。

We form many of our opinions from our favorite books. The author whom we prefer is our most potent teacher; we look at the world through his eyes. If we habitually read books that are elevating in tone, pure in style, sound in reasoning, and keen in insight, our minds develop the same characteristics. The best books are those which stir us up most and make us the most determined to do something and be something ourselves.

當我們偏好於某一類書籍，把作者奉為我們深信的導師，以他們的眼光看世界，從而形成我們對世事的看法。當閱讀成為習慣，經常閱讀基調向上，風格淳樸，說理有據，有洞察力的書籍，我們的頭腦也會內生出同樣的品質。有的書能深深觸動我們的內心，讓我們朝著某個方向去成為一個什麼樣的人，這類書才是最好的書。

Libraries are no longer a luxury, but a necessity. A home without books and periodical sand newspapers is like a house without windows. Children learn to read by being in the midst of books; they unconsciously absorb knowledge by handling them. No family can now afford to be without good reading. "No entertainment is so cheap as reading", says Mary Worley Montagu, "nor any pleasure so lasting." Good books elevate the character, purify the taste, take the attractiveness out of low pleasures, and lift us upon a higher plane of thinking and living.

上圖書館已不再是一件奢侈的事，而是必須的。沒有書籍或報刊的屋子就如一座沒有窗戶的房子。書堆裡的孩子學會了閱讀，在閱讀中孩子們無形中吸收了知識。沒有接觸不到好書的家庭，只有不好好讀書的一家人。瑪麗.沃特菜.蒙塔格說過："讀書是最便宜，而且得到的快樂也是最持久的一種娛樂方式。"好的書籍能鼓舞精神，提升品味，使人脫離低級趣味，使人的相思和生活都得到提升。

Whatever you read, read with enthusiasm, with energy, read with the whole mind, if you would increase your mental stature. Learn to absorb the mental and the moral life of a book, and assimilate it into your life. He is the best reader who consumes the most knowledge and converts it into character. Mechanical readers remember words, the husks of things, but digest nothing. They cram their brains but starve their minds. If you are getting the most out of a book, you will feel a capacity for doing things which you never felt before.

無論讀什麼書，只有全神貫注地，聚精會神地，帶著熱情去讀，才能真正提高我們的相思境界。學會把從書本中吸收的倫理道德與精神相思轉化到自己的生活中去，能把知識充分消化並轉化成自己品質的讀者才是最好的讀者。死讀書的人只記住一些詞藻和事物之皮毛，完全沒有消化之，充斥著頭腦，空虛著心靈。如果能充分利用書本，你就會有一種前所未有的感覺，覺得自己是有所作為的人。