第2章 读书的乐趣The Pleasure of Reading

佚名/Anonymous

人类世世代代的聪明才智，以及几百年来愉悦人们的故事，都可以轻松实惠地从书中获得。不过，我们必须懂得利用知识，进而获得最大收益。世上最不幸的人是那些从未体会过阅读佳作所带来的快乐的人。

我对人很感兴趣，对他们本身和了解他们同样兴趣十足。我认识的一些卓越的人物只存在于作家的想象中，出现在作家的作品之中，最后变成我的想象。我从书中结识了新朋友，扩大了社会知识，也学到了新的语言。

如果说我是对人干兴趣，那么其他人则是关注方式方法而非人物。书中的人物可谓丰富多彩，不仅有科幻小说中描写的两万年后的超人，还可以追溯到历史上最早的人。方式方法则是千奇百怪的，包括对福尔摩斯侦探故事的巧妙叙述，到科学发现和管教孩子的方法。

读书是一种精神享受，有点儿像体育运动。善于读书的人需要强烈的求知欲、丰富的知识和敏捷的反应。读书之所以是一种乐趣，并不在于作者告诉你什么，而是因为读书使你积极思考。在作者的引导下，你的想象任意驰骋，甚至超越作者的想象。对比作者的经历，你会得出自己的结论，也许相同，也许相悖，而随着你对作者思想的理解，你也会变得越来越深刻。

每一部书都独自存在，犹如独户房子。而图书馆的书籍则像城市中的建筑。尽管它们各成一体，但共同构成一个整体。不仅它们之间相互关联，而且也与其他城市相互联系。相同或相近的看法会在不同的地方出现。文学作品中反映的就是人们生活中经常出现的事情，但在不同时期作者的处理大相径庭。书籍之间也相互影响，它们传承过去，体现现在，预测将来，相互联系，代代相传，形同各个家族。不管你从何时读起，都会有一种观点与你相符。长远来看，你不仅从书中了解世界，体验别人的生活，也会认识你自己。

只有你诚心读书，阅读才会成为一种乐趣。假如你读的是别人认为“该”读的书，你很可能觉得索然无味。假如你放下自己不喜欢的书，另试一本直到发现自己觉得有意义的书，然后轻松地读下去，你肯定会感到心情畅快。假如你因阅读而变的更加高尚、聪明、善良和文雅，读书就不再是一种负担了。

All the wisdom of the ages，all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries，are easily and cheaply available to all of us within the covers of books but we must know how to avail ourselves of this treasure and how to get the most from it.The most unfortunate people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books.I am most interested in people，in them and finding out about them.Some of the most remarkable people I’ve met existed only in a writer’s imagination，then on the pages of his book，and then，again，in my imagination.

I’ve found in books new friends，new societies，new words.If I am interested in people，others are interested not so much in who as in how.Who in the books includes everybody from science fiction superman two hundred centuries in the future all the way back to the first figures in history.How covers everything from the ingenious explanations of Sherlock Holmes to the discoveries of science and ways of teaching manner to children.Reading is pleasure of the mind，which means that it is a little like a sport：your eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader.Reading is fun，not because the writer is telling you something，but because it makes your mind work.Your own imagination works along with the author’s or even goes beyond his.Your experience，compared with his，brings you to the same or different conclusions，and your ideas develop as you understand his.Every book stands by itself，like a one-family house，but books in a library are like houses in a city.

Although they are separate，together they all add up to something，they are connected with each other and with other cities.The same ideas，or related ones，turn up in different places；the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in literature，but with different solutions according to different writings at different times.Books influence each other；they link the past，the present and the future and have their own generations，like families.Wherever you start reading you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas，and in the long run，you not only find out about the world and the people in it；you find out about yourself，too.Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be.If you concentrate on books somebody tells you you“ought”to read，you probably won’t have fun.But if you put down a book you don’t like and try another till you find one that means something to you，and then relax with it，you will almost certainly have a good time—and if you become，as a result of reading，better，wiser，kinder，or more gentle，you won’t have suffered during the process.