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The Delights of Books读书的乐趣
Books are to mankind what memory is to the individual. They contain the history of our race , the discoveries we have made, the accumulated knowledge and experience of ages; they picture for us the marvels1 and beauties of nature; help us in our difficulties, comfort us in sorrow and in suffering, change hours of weariness into moments of delight, store our minds with ideas, fill them with good and happy thoughts, and liftus out of and above ourselves.
There is an Oriental story of two men: one was a king, who every night dreamt he was a beggar; the other was a beggar, who every night dreamt he was aprince and lived in a palace. I am not sure that the king had very much the best of it. Imagination is sometimes more vivid than reality. But, however this may be, when we read we may not only (if we wish it) be kings and live in palaces, but, what is far better, we may transport ourselves to the mountains or the seashore, and visit the most beautiful parts of the earth, without fatigue2, inconvenience, or expense.
Many of those who have had, as we say, all that this world can give, have yet told us they owed much of their purest happiness to books. Ascham , in "The Schoolmaster", tells a touching3 story of his last visit to Lady Jane Grey . He found her sitting in an oriel window reading Plato's beautiful account of the death of Socrates . Her father and mother were hunting in the park, the hounds were in full cry and their voices came in through the open window. He expressed his surprise that she had not joined them. But, said she, "I wist that all their pleasure in the park is but a shadow to the pleasure I find in Plato."
Macaulay had wealth and fame, rank and power, and yet hetells us in his biography that he owed the happiest hours of his life to books. In a charming letter to a little girl, he says:"Thank you for your very pretty letter. I am always glad to make my little girl happy, and nothing pleases me so much as to see that she likes books, for when she is as old as I am, she will find that they are better than all the tarts4 and cakes, toys and plays, and sights in the world. If any one would make me the greatest king that ever lived, with palaces and gardens and fine dinners, and wines and coaches, and beautiful clothes, and hundreds of servants, on condition that I should not read books. I would not be a king. I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading."
Books, indeed, endow us with a whole enchanted5 palace of thoughts. There is a wider prospect6, says Jean Paul Richer , from Parnassus than from a throne. In one way they give us an even more vivid idea than the actual reality, just as reflections are often more beautiful than real nature. "All mirrors," says George Macdonald . "The commonest room is a room in a poem when I look in the glass."
Precious and priceless are the blessings7 which the books scatter8 around our daily paths.We walk, in imagination, with the sublime9 and enchanting10 regions.
Without stirring from our firesides we may roam to the most remote regions of the earth, or soar into realms where Spenser's shapes of unearthly beauty flock to meet us, where Milton's angels peal11 in our ears the choral hymns12 of Paradise. Science, art, literature, philosophy, —all that man has thought, all that man has done, — the experience that has been bought with the sufferings of a hundred generations, — all are garnered13 up for us in the world of books.
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1 marvels | |
n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 );令人惊奇的事物(或事例);不平凡的成果;成就v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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2 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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3 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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4 tarts | |
n.果馅饼( tart的名词复数 );轻佻的女人;妓女;小妞 | |
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5 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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6 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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7 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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8 scatter | |
vt.撒,驱散,散开;散布/播;vi.分散,消散 | |
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9 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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10 enchanting | |
a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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11 peal | |
n.钟声;v.鸣响 | |
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12 hymns | |
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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13 garnered | |
v.收集并(通常)贮藏(某物),取得,获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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