英语名篇诵读 读书之乐

读书之乐

Sir John Lubbock(约翰·卢伯克爵士)

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 marvels 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 lift us 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 a prince 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 fatigue, inconvenience, or expense. 

Macaulay  had wealth and fame, rank and power, and yet he tells 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 tarts 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.”

Precious and priceless are the blessings which the books scatter around our daily paths. We walk, in imagination, with the noblest spirits, through the most sublime  and enchanting  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 peal  in our ears the choral hymns 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 hundred generations — all are garnered  up for us in the world of books.

书籍之于人类恰如记忆之于个人。人类的历史、人类的发现、人类历经世代所积累的知识和验，全都贮藏在书中。书籍为我们展现大自然的奇观美景，帮助我们解决困难，抚平我们的悲伤痛苦，把沉闷的时光变成快乐的瞬间，用思想充实我们的头脑，使我们充满美好快乐的想法，摆脱小我，超越自我。

有一则关于两个男人的东方故事： 一个是国王，每夜都梦见自己是个乞丐；另一个是乞丐，每夜都梦见自己是个王子，住在宫殿里。我不能肯定国王过得最好。想象有时候比现实更为生动。但是不管怎么样，当我们读书的时候，我们不仅（如果我们愿意）能当国王，住在宫殿里，而且远胜此者，我们可以遨游群山海滨，走遍地球上最美的地方，无劳顿之苦，无不便之虞，无开销之忧。

麦克雷名利双收，位高权重，然而他在自传中告诉我们，他生活中最快乐的时光是读书带来的。在一封写给一个小姑娘的文采飞扬的信中，他说：“谢谢你那封非常可爱的信。

能让我的小姑娘快乐，我总是很开心，而且没有什么比看到她喜欢读书更使我高兴的了。因为等她到我这个岁数时，她会发现书籍比山珍海味、嬉戏玩耍、观光游历要好得多。如果有人让我成为历史上最伟大的国王，有宫苑无数，仆人成群，山珍海味，琼浆玉液，龙辇华盖，绫罗绸缎，但不可以读书，我不会当这种国王。我宁愿蛰居陋室与群书为伍，而不做不爱读书的国王。”

书籍使我们的日常生活充满最珍贵、无价的祝福，使我们可以随最崇高的灵魂穿行于最迷人、绚丽的地方。

足不出户，我们便能遨游天涯——走进斯宾塞笔下的神仙王国，享受成群仙女的恭候；来到弥尔顿笔下的浩瀚天国，倾听天使们合唱着天堂的圣歌。科学、艺术、文学、哲学——人类一切所思所为——无数世代用苦难换来的经验——全都贮存在书籍中，等待我们去潜心阅读，尽情享受。

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.

by Pearl Buck

想要懂得今天，就必须研究昨天。

——赛珍珠