第一册第5篇：阅读好书

5 Reading Good Books 阅读好书
Henry Addington Bruce H·爱丁顿·布鲁斯

Devote some of your leisure, I repeat, to cultivating a love of reading good books. Fortunate indeed are those who contrive¹ to make themselves genuine book-lovers. For book- lovers have some noteworthy advantages over other people. They need never know lonely hours so long as they have books around them, and the better the books the more delightful² the company(1). From good books, moreover, they draw much besides entertainment. They gain mental food such as few companions can supply.(2) Even while resting from their labors³ they are, through the books they read, equipping themselves to perform those labors more efficiently⁴. This albeit⁵~ they may not be deliberately⁶ reading to improve their mind. All unconsciously the ideas they derive⁷ from the printed pages(4) are stored up, to be worked over(5) by the imagination for their future profit.

中文译文：
我再说一遍，把你的一部分空闲时光用来培养阅读好书的爱好吧。那些设法把自己培养成为真正爱好读书的人，确实是幸运的。因为爱读书的人比之别人有着明显的好处。只要手头有书，他们就从来不知寂寞。书越好，读来越是津津有味。他们从好书中不但得到乐趣，而且受到很多教益。他们从中获得的那种精神食粮，从其他地方是很难得到的。即使是在工作休息时，通过读书，他们的工作效率也能更加提高，尽管他们未必有意识地想到读书是为了提高才智。在钱然不知不觉中，他们从书中吸取的知识积累起来，经过想想象力的加工，对将来大有用处。
 
英文注释：
(1) the better the books the more delightful the company:书越好，与书作伴就越快活。
(2) They gain mental food such as few companions can supply: 他们得到的那种精神食粮是没有什么同栏能提供的。此处such as相当于 such mental food as
(3) This: 指上句；albeit: 连词，含义是 although it be(尽管，虽然)，用于书面语。
(4) the printed pages:书本。
(5) to be worked over:以便加以研究。

1 contrive   

vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出

参考例句：

• Can you contrive to be here a little earlier?你能不能早一点来？
• How could you contrive to make such a mess of things?你怎么把事情弄得一团糟呢？

2 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

3 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

4 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

5 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

6 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

7 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。