作者：唐静
出版社：西安交通大学出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
书海逸趣——有书陪伴的人生不寂寞试读：
前言
在这个世界上，有这样一些人——他们一走近书店，心就怦怦乱跳，不管有多少琐事缠身，总忍不住进店转转；见到一本心仪的书，不弄到手就坐立难安，哪怕买了书就要挨饿，也觉得心满意足。他们最爱做的，是在午后时分沏一杯香茶，捧读一本墨香淡淡、诗意浓浓的好书；他们最难忍的，是眼见好书被人蹂躏却无可奈何，抑或爱书在眼皮底下被抢去借走；他们最渴望的，莫过于拥有一间窗明几净、翰墨芬芳的书房，坐拥书城、徜徉书海。这些人，便是所谓的爱书之人了。
许多名人亦为爱书人，他们会在文章中经意不经意地流露爱书之情。这些文章林林总总，篇幅不一，或论读书历程和体会，或谈购书方法与艰辛，或道藏书室中的轶闻趣事，或抒群书散尽的悲伤感触。这套专为爱书人准备的“新东方双语书话译丛”系列之中，就收录了百余篇这样的文章。
此套丛书共五本，分别是：
.探讨读书方法与阅读境界的《书林辟径——邂逅生命中挚爱的书》
.分享书海轶闻与随想感悟的《书海逸趣——有书陪伴的人生不寂寞》
.介绍书籍天敌与呵护爱书的《护书之苦——书若安好，便是晴天》
.讲述静处书斋与淘书苦乐的《藏书之乐——书架上的珍宝》
.谈及爱书缘起与书虫定义的《一派书心——缘何此生只爱书》
在这套书中，你将看见形形色色的爱书人。有些以清新隽永的文字，如炉边谈话般将阅读心得娓娓道来；有些以诙谐幽默的笔触，令你或是会心微笑或是心有戚戚；有
此套丛书共五本，分别是：
.探讨读书方法与阅读境界的《书林辟径——邂逅生命中挚爱的书》
.分享书海轶闻与随想感悟的《书海逸趣——有书陪伴的人生不寂寞》
.介绍书籍天敌与呵护爱书的《护书之苦——书若安好，便是晴天》
.讲述静处书斋与淘书苦乐的《藏书之乐——书架上的珍宝》
.谈及爱书缘起与书虫定义的《一派书心——缘何此生只爱书》
在这套书中，你将看见形形色色的爱书人。有些以清新隽永的文字，如炉边谈话般将阅读心得娓娓道来；有些以诙谐幽默的笔触，令你或是会心微笑或是心有戚戚；有些担忧书的未来演进，如数家珍地罗列自己与书的陈年往事；有些则对此不以为然，并以各种事例证明，书籍永远是人类的挚友......同为爱书人的你，是否深有共鸣？
值得一提的是，为了让读者在文山书海遨游的同时，能够领略大师笔下清晰明澈的英文，“新东方双语书话译丛”系列特以中英对照的形式呈现。其中每一篇英文，无不经过多方查找、层层筛选，意图穷尽西方books about books的经典之作，以及《纽约书评》《伦敦书评》等报刊的最新评述；每一篇译文，也都经过反复修改、多重校对，力求在贴近原文风格的同时，更符合当代读者的眼光、口味。“新东方双语书话译丛”系列虽只有小小五本，但从策划、选文到翻译、注释再到编辑、出版却尝尽了“十月怀胎”的艰辛。在这漫长的征程中，我与王岑卉、钱卫、陈滢、姚洋、李鹏程等诸位优秀译者常常为一个句子的结构推敲再三，也曾为一个短语的用法争执良久，为一个动词的译法辗转半宿更是稀松平常之事。足足十个月废寝忘食的坚持，才有了今天呈现于诸位眼前的精美小书。然而，书海无垠、译界无涯。该系列虽为悉心打造之作，但难免存在疏漏之处。如果您认为选取篇目尚可斟酌、译文质量仍可精进，欢迎随时与我们联系沟通！
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最后，要感谢俞敏洪老师的殷切鼓励，感谢新东方大愚文化传播有限公司的鼎力协助。没有你们的激励与帮助，就没有今天这套“新东方双语书话译丛”系列的诞生。
谨以此书献给天下爱书人！愿各位畅享阅读之乐！唐静第一章阅读·感悟The Commerce of Reading 阅读的价值
Michel de Montaigne
蒙田
作者简介
蒙田（Michel de Montaigne，1533—1592），文艺复兴时期最具影响力的法国作家之一，欧洲近代散文的创始人，代表作为晚年所写的《蒙田随笔》（Essays）。
在《蒙田随笔》中，作者几乎无所不谈，日常生活、传统习俗、人生哲理等都有涉及，他旁征博引了许多古希腊、古罗马作家的论述。各章篇幅长短不一，文章结构随意自然，文笔平易通畅，语言生动而充满睿智。该书与《培根随笔》（Bacon’s Essays）和《帕斯卡尔思想录》（Pascal’s Pensées）一起，被誉为欧洲近代哲理散文三大经典。
本文即节选自《蒙田随笔》。该书出版于1580年，本篇经威廉.哈兹利特（William Hazlitt）根据17世纪查尔斯.科顿（Charles Cotton）的经典英译本修改而成。从文中可见，蒙田对读书之乐深有体会，但又不为书所缚，能够以理智的态度对待阅读，他深邃辩证的思考值得爱书人细细领悟。
The [commerce of books] goes side by side with me in my whole course, and everywhere is assisting to me; it comforts me in my age and solitude; it eases me of a troublesome weight of idleness, and it delivers me at all hours from company that I dislike; and it blunts the point of griefs if they are not extreme, and have got an entire possession of my soul.
To divert myself from a troublesome fancy’tisbut to run to my books; they presently fix me to them, and drive the other out of my thoughts; and do not mutiny at seeing I have only recourse to them for want of other more real, natural, and lively conveniences; they always receive me with the same kindness.“He may well go a-foot,” say they, “who leads his horse in his hand.”
人生旅途中，我始终与书相伴而行。每当我需要帮助，书给我指引；当我年老孤寂，书给我宽慰；书让我免于无所事事，随时带我远离我厌恶的人群，缓解我未到极致的悲伤。书已占据我的全部灵魂。
为逃离白日梦的烦扰，我奔向书的怀抱；书即刻吸引我的注意，将旁心杂念尽数驱散；我依赖书，只为寻求更加真实、自然、鲜活之物；书也从不背叛，始终以善意相待。书中有云：“扬鞭策马者，亦有步行时。”
……
In the experience and practice of this sentence, which is a very true one, all the benefit I reap from books consists; and yet I make as little use of it almost as those who know it not; I enjoy it as a miser does his money, in knowing that I may enjoy it when I please; my mind is satisfied with this right of possession.I never travel without books, either in peace or war; and yet I sometimes pass over several days, and sometimes months, without looking at them; I will read by and by, say I to myself, or tomorrow, or when I please, and time meanwhile steals away without any inconvenience; for it is not to be imagined to what degree I please myself, and rest content in this consideration, that I have them by me, to divert myself with them when I am so disposed, and call to mind what an ease and assistance they are to my life.’Tis the best viaticum I have yet found out for this human journey, and I very much pity those men of understanding who are unprovided with it.I rather accept of any sort of diversion, how light soever, in the feeling that this can never fail me.
When at home, I a little more frequent my library from whence I at once survey all the whole concerns of my family.As I enter it, I thence see under me my garden, court, and base-court, and into all the parts of the building.There I turn over now one book, and then another, of various subjects, without method or design.One while I meditate; another I record, and dictate as I walk to and fro, such whimsies as these with which I here present you.
’Tis in the third story of a tower, of which the ground-room is my chapel, the second story an apartment with a with drawing-room and closet, where I often lie to be more retired; above it is this great wardrobe, which formerly was the most useless part of the house.In that room I pass away most of the days of my life, and most of the hours of the day; in the night I am never there.There is within it a cabinet handsome and neat enough, with a very convenient fireplace for the winter, and windows that afford a great deal of light, and very pleasant prospects; and were I not afraid, less of the expense than of the trouble, that frights me from all business, I could very easily adjoin on either side, and on the same floor, a gallery of an hundred paces long, and twelve broad, having sound walls already raised for some other design, to the requisite height.
Every place of retirement requires a walk; my thoughts sleep if I sit still; my fancy does not go by itself, my legs must move it; and all those that study without a book, are in the same condition.The figure of my study is round, and has no more bare wall than what is taken up by my table and chair; so that the remaining parts of the circle present me a view of all my books at once, set upon five rows of shelves round about me.
It has three noble and wide prospects, and is sixteen paces in diameter.I am not so continually there in winter; for my house is built upon an eminence, and no part of it is so much exposed to the wind and weather as that, which pleases me the better for being of troublesome access and a little remote, as well upon the account of exercise, as being also there more retired from the crowd.’Tis there that I am in my kingdom, and there I endeavor to make myself an absolute monarch, and to sequester this one corner from all society, whether conjugal, filial, or social; elsewhere I have but verbal authority only, and of a confused essence.That man, in my opinion, is very miserable, who has not a home where to be by himself, where to entertain himself alone, or to conceal himself from others.
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此话乃真知灼见，一语道破书的种种益处，经得起细细体味，乃至实践检验。不过，正如那些不知开卷有益之人一般，我对书远未物尽其用。我爱书，正如守财奴爱钱；他们想到拥有金钱就心花怒放，我则想到拥有书籍就心满意足。无论战争年代还是和平时期，我外出旅行必携书同往；可有时一连几天，甚至数月，我都无暇捧书；我告诉自己，回头再看，明天再读，或有了兴致再说吧。然而，时间早在不知不觉中溜走。难以想象，书给了我多少欢乐。只要有书相伴，我就乐在其中；想到书带来的慰藉和帮助，我就心满意足。书是我在人生旅途中发现的最佳食粮。在我看来，无书做伴之人实在可怜！书带给我的每一种愉悦，无论多么微不足道，我都欣然接受。因为我深知，书永远不会令我失望。
在家时，我经常待在书房，全家上下尽收眼底。走进书房，向下俯视，花园、庭院、后院、屋子的大小角落，都一览无余。在书房，我时而看看这本，时而翻翻那本，随心所欲地浏览各类书籍。我有时陷入沉思，有时做些记录；一边来回踱步，一边口授随感；眼前这篇小文，便是我一时兴起之作。
书房位于塔楼三层。塔楼一层是礼拜堂，二层是带客厅和壁橱的套房，我的休憩之所，三层的书房原是整座房子最没用的大更衣室。我生活的大部分时光、白天的大部分时间，都在书房度过；但我晚上从不待在这里。书房里的小隔间舒适整洁，带有冬日取暖的壁炉，还有几扇窗户；屋里光线充足，屋外风景宜人。其实，书房与同层另一侧的屋子之间，已有两堵高度合适的坚实墙壁，完全可以建个百步长、12步宽的小长廊；但我不爱花钱，更怕麻烦，想到此类琐事就觉头疼。
每个休憩之所都该有踱步的空间；如果我静坐不动，思维就会陷入沉睡；只有双腿活动起来，思想才会随之前行。有些人不用书也能学习，原因正在于此。我的书房呈圆形，墙边除了一张书桌和一把椅子外，全是书架。我被五排书架环绕，所有藏书一览无余。
书房直径约16步，三面视野开阔，景色优美。冬天，我不会一直待在这儿，因为书房居高临下，风霜雨雪皆无遮挡。不过，当初我爱上这里，正是因为它地处偏僻，进出不便，不仅远离尘嚣，还可锻炼腿脚。书房是我专制的王国，我在此自封为王；在这个与世隔绝的角落，我能真正摆脱所有姻亲和社交往来；而在别处，我只有口头权威，并无实际用处。在我看来，人若没有一个独处自娱、逃离喧嚣的港湾，实属悲哀。
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If any one shall tell me that it is to degrade the muses to make use of them only for sport, and to pass away the time, I shall tell him that he does not know the value of that sport and pastime so well as I do; I can hardly forebear to add further, that all other end is ridiculous.I live from hand to mouth, and, with reverence be it spoken, only live for myself; to that all my designs tend, and in that terminate.I studied when young for ostentation; since, to make myself wise; and now for my diversion, never for gain.A vain and prodigal humor that I had after this sort of furniture, not only for supplying my own need, but moreover for ornament and outward show, I have long ago quite abandoned.
Books have many charming qualities to such as know how to choose them; but every good has its ill; ’tis a pleasure that is not pure and unmixed any more than others; it has its inconveniences, and great ones too; the mind, indeed, is exercised by it, but the body, the care of which I have not forgotten, remains in the meantime without action, grows heavy and melancholy.I know no excess more prejudicial to me, nor more to be avoided in my declining age.
如果有人告诉我说，只将沉思视为运动，用来打发时间，是有失体统的。那么我要告诉他，他不像我这样了解这种“运动”和“消遣”的价值。我不想多说什么，多说无益。我生活清贫，只能勉强糊口。如果说得体面些，我只是为自己而活。这是我的人生追求，也是我的生活目标。年轻时，我学习只为炫耀；后来，是为了更睿智；如今，我只为消遣，不再试图从中获利。过去，我读书不仅为满足自身需要，还为炫耀所学。而现在，我早已打消了这种虚荣、卖弄的念头。
对于懂得如何选书之人而言，书的魅力难挡。然而，事无完美。阅读的乐趣，与其他消遣一样，并不纯粹。阅读既有优点，也有缺陷。阅读确实可以锻炼心智，但与此同时，身体却会缺乏锻炼，以致体重增加、情绪低落。不过，我倒是一直重视锻炼身体。走向暮年之后，我懂得了阅读也须适可而止，趋利避害。On Reading and Books 读书与书籍
Arthur Schopenhauer
亚瑟·叔本华
作者简介
亚瑟.叔本华（Arthur Schopenhauer，1788—1860），德国著名哲学家，唯意志论哲学的创始人，带有强烈的悲观主义倾向。他同时也是涉猎广泛的美学家，对音乐、绘画、诗歌和歌剧等皆有研究。
叔本华凭借《意志和表象的世界》（The World as Will and Representation）奠定了自己的哲学体系。他的悲观主义、形而上学和美学思想不仅影响了存在主义和其他哲学运动，还影响了一大批作家和艺术家，如威廉.理查德.瓦格纳（Wilhelm Richard Wagner）、列夫.托尔斯泰（Lev Tolstoy）、马塞尔.普鲁斯特（Marcel Proust）等。叔本华虽不以文采斐然取胜，但其文章思路清晰，文字澄明透彻，易于阅读。
本文选自2004年英译版《亚瑟.叔本华作品集》（The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer）。作者以其惯常的独到思维剖析了读坏书的害处和读好书的益处，文章充满哲理，读来令人眼明气畅，对哲人的孤高情操平添几分神往。
ONE
When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process.It is the same as the pupil, in learning to write, following with his pen the lines that have been penciled by the teacher.
Accordingly, in reading, the work of thinking is, for the greater part, done for us.This is why we are consciously relieved when we turn to reading after being occupied with our own thoughts.But, in reading, our head is, however, really only the arena of someone else’s thoughts.And so it happens that the person who reads a great deal—that is to say, almost the whole day, and recreates himself by spending the intervals in thoughtless diversion, gradually loses the ability to think for himself; just as a man who is always riding at last forgets how to walk.Such, however, is the case with many men of learning: they have read themselves stupid.For to read in every spare moment, and to read constantly, is more paralysing to the mind than constant manual work, which, at any rate, allows one to follow one’s own thoughts.Just as a spring, through the continual pressure of a foreign body, at last loses its elasticity, so does the mind if it has another person’s thoughts continually forced upon it.And just as one spoils the stomach by overfeeding and thereby impairs the whole body, so can one overload and choke the mind by giving it too much nourishment.For the more one reads the fewer are the traces left of what one has read; the mind is like a tablet that has been written over and over.Hence it is impossible to reflect; and it is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read if one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost.Indeed, it is the same with mental as with bodily food: scarcely the fifth part of what a man takes is assimilated; the remainder passes off in evaporation, respiration, and the like.
From all this it may be concluded that thoughts put down on paper are nothing more than footprints in the sand: one sees the road the man has taken, but in order to know what he saw on the way, one requires his eyes.
...
一
我们读书时，别人替我们思考——我们仅在重复他的思维过程，就像学生依照老师的笔迹学习写字一样。
同样，阅读时绝大部分思考都是现成的。这就是为什么即便心里充斥自己的想法，阅读也能让我们感到放松。但在阅读时，我们的头脑实际上只是别人思想活动的场所。因此，那些几乎整天读书的博览群书之人，通过这种无须费神的消遣得到了放松，却逐渐失去了自主思考的能力。这就好比经常骑马的人最后会忘记怎么走路。然而，许多学者正是这样把自己读成了傻瓜。因为一有空就读书，或总是读书，比持续干体力活更容易使思维僵化。正如弹簧持续受到外力压迫，最终会失去弹性；头脑持续受到别人的影响，最终也会失去活力。暴饮暴食有害身体健康；摄入过多精神食粮，则会使头脑不堪重负。因为头脑就像一块反复涂写的黑板，读过的内容越多，留下的痕迹越少，令人无从深思。而只有通过深思，人们才能消化所读内容。如果一味地读书而不作思考，读过的东西则无法铭记于心，其大部分终将被遗忘殆尽。人类摄入的食物只有五分之一能被身体吸收，其余则被蒸发、呼吸等活动消耗了。事实上，头脑与身体吸收营养的方式一样。
总而言之，写在纸上的思想，不过是留在沙上的足迹。人们能看见行者走过的路，但要了解他的沿途所见，则要借助他的双眼。
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TWO
It is the same in literature as in life.Wherever one goes one immediately comes upon the incorrigible mob of humanity.It exists everywhere in legions; crowding, soiling everything, like flies in summer.Hence the numberless bad books, those rank weeds of literature which extract nourishment from the corn and choke it.
They monopolise the time, money, and attention which really belong to good books and their noble aims; they are written merely with a view to making money or procuring places.They are not only useless, but they do positive harm.Nine-tenths of the whole of our present literature aims solely at taking a few shillings out of the public’s pocket, and to accomplish this, author, publisher, and reviewer have joined forces.
There is a more cunning and worse trick, albeit a profitable one.Litterateurs, hack-writers, and productive authors have succeeded, contrary to good taste and the true culture of the age, in bringing the world elegante into leading-strings, so that they have been taught to read a tempo and all the same thing—namely, the newest books order that they may have material for conversation in their social circles.Bad novels and similar productions from the pen of writers who were once famous, such as Spindler, Bulwer, Eugene Sue, and so on, serve this purpose.But what can be more miserable than the fate of a leading public of this kind, that feels always impelled to read the latest writings of extremely commonplace authors who write for money only, and therefore exist in numbers? And for the sake of this they merely know by name the works of the rare and superior writers, of all ages and countries.Literary newspapers, since they print the daily smatterings of commonplace people, are especially a cunning means for robbing from the aesthetic public the time which should be devoted to the genuine productions of art for the furtherance of culture.
Hence, in regard to our subject, the art of not reading is highly important.This consists in not taking a book into one’s hand merely because it is interesting the great public at the time—such as political or religious pamphlets, novels, poetry, and the like, which make a noise and reach perhaps several editions in their first and last years of existence.Remember rather that the man who writes for fools always finds a large public, and only read for a limited and definite time exclusively the works of great minds, those who surpass other men of all times and countries , and whom the voice of fame points to as such.These alone really educate and instruct.
One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind.In order to read what is good, one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.
二
文学领域和生活中的情况一样。无论走到哪里，人们总能立刻碰上无可救药的乌合之众。这种人为数众多，无处不在。他们像夏日飞蝇一般，聚集成群，污染一切。坏书同样数不胜数。它们像杂草一般，攫取谷物的养分，并将其扼杀。
坏书占据了原本属于好书及其崇高使命的时间、金钱和精力；作者写这些书，只为获取金钱和地位。坏书不仅无益，而且有害。现在的书有九成都只为从公众兜里掏钱。为达此目的，作家、出版商、评论家沆瀣一气。
还有更加阴险恶劣的牟利把戏。文人骚客、雇佣写手和多产作家没有带来良好的品位和真正的当代文化，而是成功地引导了世界的审美风向，让人们养成与出版同步的阅读习惯，读同样的书，即新近出版的作品，以获得社交场合的谈资。斯平德勒、布尔沃、欧仁·苏等名噪一时的作家创作的拙劣小说和类似的作品，用途不过如此。平庸之极的作家为钱写作，所以新作迭出不穷。主流公众受到引导，总认为自己有必要阅读这些新作。还有什么能比这些人的命运更悲惨？正因为这样，他们对古往今来的各国名著了解甚少，只知其名。文学报刊尤其卑劣。它们刊登庸人的日常言论，窃取了具备审美能力的公众读好书的时间。那些好书才是推动文化发展的真正杰作。
因此，在我们谈论的这个话题中，“不读”的艺术尤为重要。“不读”意味着不因某书迎合大众一时的口味就去读它。这类书包括政治或宗教小册子、小说和诗歌等。它们或许风光一时，或许在其在世的前几年和最后几年里再版过几次，然后便销声匿迹。切记，写给傻瓜看的书总是最受欢迎。在特定的时间里，只读伟人的作品。这些人类历史上卓尔不群的伟人，拥有千古流芳的美名。他们的作品才能真正给人教益和指导。
坏书读来不嫌少，好书读来不嫌多。坏书是头脑的毒药，会摧毁心智。人生苦短，时间、精力有限。因此，多读好书须以不读坏书为前提。
THREE
It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time to read them; but one usually confuses the purchase of books with the acquisition of their contents.To desire that a man should retain everything he has ever read, is the same as wishing him to retain in his stomach all that he has ever eaten.He has been bodily nourished on what he has eaten, and mentally on what he has read, and through them become what he is.As the body assimilates what is homogeneous to it, so will a man retain what interests him: in other words, what coincides with his system of thought or suits his ends.Every one has aims, but very few have anything approaching a system of thought.This is why such people do not take an objective interest in anything, and why they learn nothing from what they read: they remember nothing about it.
Repetitio est mater studiorum.Any kind of important book should immediately be read twice, partly because one grasps the matter in its entirety the second time, and only really understands the beginning when the end is known; and partly because in reading it the second time one’s temper and mood are different, so that one gets another impression; it may be that one sees the matter in another light.
Works are the quintessence of a mind, and are therefore always of by far greater value than conversation, even if it be the conversation of the greatest mind.In every essential a man’s works surpass his conversation and leave it far behind.Even the writings of an ordinary man may be instructive, worth reading, and entertaining, for the simple reason that they are the quintessence of that man’s mind—that is to say, the writings are the result and fruit of his whole thought and study; while we should be dissatisfied with his conversation.Accordingly, it is possible to read books written by people whose conversation would give us no satisfaction; so that the mind will only by degrees attain high culture by finding entertainment almost entirely in books, and not in men.
There is nothing that so greatly recreates the mind as the works of the old classic writers.Directly one has been taken up, even if it is only for half an hour, one feels as quickly refreshed, relieved, purified, elevated, and strengthened as if one had refreshed oneself at a mountain stream.Is this due to the perfections of the old languages, or to the greatness of the minds whose works have remained unharmed and untouched for centuries? Perhaps to both combined.
三
如果能买到读书的时间，那么买书是件好事；但人们往往将买书与获取书中知识混为一谈。想记住读过的所有书，就像想用胃装下吃过的所有东西一样。人靠进食获取身体所需的养分，靠阅读获取头脑所需的养料。二者使人之为人。正如身体只能吸收可以消化的食物，人只能记住自己感兴趣的内容，即与自己思想体系相符、与自身目标吻合的内容。人人皆有目标，但很少人拥有思想体系。这些人对凡事皆无兴致，从读过的书里学不到东西。因为他们记不住读过的内容。
重复乃学习之母。任何重要作品都应在读过一遍之后立即重读。一是重读时可把握整体脉络；知晓末尾才能真正理解开篇。二是重读时心境不同，因此会有不同的感悟，或许能从另一个角度领会作品的精髓。
著作是思想的结晶，故其价值远甚于谈话，即便是伟人的谈话。从任何角度来看，一个人的著作都远比他所说的话更有价值。即便是普通人的作品，也可能有益、有趣、值得一读。原因很简单——这是他的思想结晶。也就是说，尽管某人的谈话可能令人失望，但他的著作却是他毕生思考、研究的成果。因此，言谈乏味之人的作品或许也值得一读。所以，心智的逐步提升几乎完全归功于在书中寻找乐趣，而非与人交谈。
没有什么能比古老的经典著作更令人放松。拿起一本来，即使只读半小时，人们也会感到振作、放松、纯净、崇高和强健，仿佛刚在山泉中沐浴过一般。这是因为古代语言尽善尽美，还是因为卓越的作者使作品历久弥新？或许二者兼而有之。
人靠进食获取身体所需的养分，靠阅读获取头脑所需的养料。二者使人之为人。Arthur Schopenhauer 亚瑟·叔本华A Defence of Poetry 诗辩
Percy Bysshe Shelley
珀西·比希·雪莱
作者简介
珀西.比希.雪莱（Percy Bysshe Shelley，1792—1822），英国文学史上最具浪漫情怀的抒情诗人之一，与约翰.济慈（John Keats）和乔治.戈登.拜伦（George Gordon Byron）齐名。
雪莱的作品热情而富哲理思辨，诗风自由不羁，惯用梦幻象征手法和远古神话题材，常任天上地下、时间空间、神怪精灵变幻驰骋。其代表作包括评论人间事物的长诗《仙后麦布》（Queen Mab）、支持意大利民族解放斗争的政治诗《自由颂》（Ode to Liberty）、表现革命热情和胜利信念的《西风颂》（Ode to the West Wind）等。1822年，雪莱在出海时遭遇风暴不幸遇难，年仅30岁。斯人已逝，但他那饱含美好希冀的预言“如果冬天已经来临，春天还会远吗？”长留世人心间。
本文节选自1840年出版的雪莱文集《诗辩》（A Defence of Poetry），该书可视为他一生创作与文艺思想的总结。本篇文采飞扬，细数诗歌超凡脱俗之美。.
Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.We are aware of evanescent visitations of thought and feeling sometimes associated with place or person, sometimes regarding our own mind alone, and always arising unforeseen and departing unbidden, but elevating and delightful beyond all expression: so that even in the desire and the regret they leave, there cannot but be pleasure, participating as it does in the nature of its object.It is as it were the interpenetration of a diviner nature through our own; but its footsteps are like those of a wind over the sea, which the coming calm erases, and whose traces remain only, as on the wrinkled sand which paves it.These and corresponding conditions of being are experienced principally by those of the most delicate sensibility and the most enlarged imagination; and the state of mind produced by them is at war with every base desire.
The enthusiasm of virtue, love, patriotism, and friendship, is
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