Of Studies 论读书 By Francis Bacon
Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.
读书足以怡情,足以博采,足以长才。其怡情也,最见于独处幽居之时;其博采也,最见于高谈阔论之中;其长才也,最见于处事判事之际。
For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned.
练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节,然纵观统筹,全局策划,则舍好学深思者莫属。
To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affection; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humour of a scholar.
读书费时过多易惰,文采藻饰太盛则矫,全凭条文断事乃学究故态。
They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, excerpt they be bounded in experience.
读书补天然之不足,经验又补读书之不足,盖天性犹如自然花草,读书然后知如何修剪移接;而书中所示,如不以经验示之,则又大而无当。
Crafty men contempt studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that there is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.
有一技之长者鄙读书,无知者羡慕读书,唯明知之士用读书,然书不以用处告人,用书之智不在书中,而在书外,全凭观察得之。
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.
读书时不可存心诘难作者,不可尽信书上所言,亦不可只为寻章摘句,而应推敲细思。
Some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but what would be only in the less important arguments, and meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things.
书有浅尝辄止者,有可吞食者,少数须咀嚼消化,换言之,有只须读其部分者,有只须大体涉猎者,少数则须全读,读时须全神贯注,孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读,取其所作摘要,但只限题材较次或价值不高者,否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏,淡而无味矣。
Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer litter, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.
读书使人充实,讨论使人机智,笔记使人准确。因此不常做笔记者须记忆特强,不常讨论者须天生聪颖,不常读书者须有欺世之术,始能无知而显有知。
Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. 读史使人明智;读诗使人灵秀;数学使人周密;科学使人深刻;伦理学使人庄重,逻辑修饰使人善辩;凡有所学,皆成性格。 |