英语名篇诵读 培养一种业余爱好

Cultivating a Hobby

培养一种业余爱好

Winston Churchill(温斯顿·丘吉尔)

The cultivation¹ of a hobby and new forms of interest is a policy of the first importance to a

public man. But this is not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improvised² by a

mere³ command of the will. The growth of mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be

carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously⁴ tended, if the fruits

are to be at hand when needed.

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they

must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such

an attempt only aggravates⁵ the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of

topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet get hardly any benefit or relief. It is no use doing

what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided

into three classes: those who are toiled⁶ to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are

bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week's sweat and

effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use

inviting⁷ the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying

about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling⁸ things at the weekend.

It may also be said that rational, industrious⁹, useful human beings are divided into two

classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly¹⁰, those whose

work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations

. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of

sustenance¹¹ , but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But

Fortune's favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them

the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays, when they

come, are grudged¹² as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vacation. Yet to both classes, the

need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential.

Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means

of banishing¹³ it at intervals¹⁴ from their minds.

培养一种业余爱好和新型的兴趣对于从事社会活动的人来说是首要的方略。但这不是

一日之功，也不是单凭意志一蹴而就的事。心智兴趣的培养是一个长期的过程。种子必须

精心挑选，然后播撒到肥沃的土壤里，必须勤勉地护理，方能在需要之时随时采摘到果

实。

要想生活幸福、安宁，培养起两三种爱好是必要的，它们也必须是真正的爱好。人生

很晚时才开始培养兴趣，说“我要对这个或那个感兴趣”，这是没用的。这种想法只能加重

精神的紧张。一个人可能获得与其日常工作不相关的专题的丰富知识，而却不能从中得到

任何益处或身心放松。做你喜欢的事是没用的，你必须喜欢你所做的事。大致说来，人可

以分为三类：累死的人，愁死的人，烦死的人。一个体力劳动者，辛辛苦苦干了一周的重

活，疲惫不堪，给他个机会让他周六下午去踢足球或打棒球，这是没用的。政治家、专业

人士或商人，一连六天都在忙碌或为重大事情忧心，邀请他在周末干点或想点鸡毛蒜皮的

小事，这也是没用的。

也可以这样说，理性、勤劳而有用的人可以分为两类：其一，工作和娱乐泾渭分明

者；其二，视工作为乐趣者。前者占大多数。他们都有回报。办公室或工厂里的长时间工

作，带给他们的报偿不仅是维持生计的收入，而且还有对乐趣的强烈渴望，哪怕是以最简

单和最朴素的形式。但是天之骄子属于第二类。他们的生活是自然的和谐。对于他们，工

作时间从来不会太长。每一天都是节假日，而当平常的节假日到来时，他们会抱怨自己饶

有兴趣的假期被强行中断了。然而，对这两种人来说，都需要转换一下视角，改变一下氛

围，转移一下注意力，这些都是必不可少的。事实上，那些视工作为乐趣的人，最需要想

办法时不时地把工作从头脑中驱逐出去。

1 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

2 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

3 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

4 sedulously   

ad.孜孜不倦地

参考例句：

• In this view they were sedulously abetted by their mother, aunts and other elderly female relatives. 在这方面，他们得到了他们的母亲，婶婶以及其它年长的女亲戚们孜孜不倦的怂恿。
• The clerk laid the two sheets of paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents. 那职员把两张纸并排放在前面，仔细比较。

5 aggravates   

使恶化( aggravate的第三人称单数 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火

参考例句：

• If he aggravates me any more I shall punish him. 如果他再惹我生气，我就要惩罚他。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each pther. 没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

6 toiled   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• They toiled up the hill in the blazing sun. 他们冒着炎炎烈日艰难地一步一步爬上山冈。
• He toiled all day long but earned very little. 他整天劳碌但挣得很少。

7 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

8 trifling   

adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的

参考例句：

• They quarreled over a trifling matter.他们为这种微不足道的事情争吵。
• So far Europe has no doubt, gained a real conveniency,though surely a very trifling one.直到现在为止,欧洲无疑地已经获得了实在的便利，不过那确是一种微不足道的便利。

9 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

10 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

11 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

12 grudged   

怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The mean man grudged the food his horse ate. 那个吝啬鬼舍不得喂马。
• He grudged the food his horse ate. 他吝惜马料。

13 banishing   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• And he breathes out fast, like a king banishing a servant. 他呼气则非常迅速，像一个国王驱逐自己的奴仆。 来自互联网
• Banishing genetic disability must therefore be our primary concern. 消除基因缺陷是我们的首要之急。 来自互联网

14 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。