1、学习的乐趣Gilbert Highet在越来越多学校设立的今天，学习已成了一种义务。是应该做的，说严重点，是必须做的，靠固定的课时和严格的纪律来维持，这是很糟糕的。学生们对这些必修课嗤之以鼻，并竭尽全力抗拒它们。这种态度可能伴随一生。对于太多的人来说，学习似乎是自己的意愿屈服于外界的指引，是一种奴役。This is a mistake. Learning is a natural pleasure, inborn and instinctive, one of the essential pleasures of the human race. Watch a small child, at
2、an age too young to have had any mental habits implanted by training. Some delightful films made by the late Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University show little creatures who can barely talk investigating problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers, making discoveries with the passion and ab
3、sorption of dedicated scientists. At the end of each successful investigation, there comes over each tiny face an expression of pure heart-felt pleasure.这种观点是错的。学习是一种享受，是与生俱来的本能，是人类最基本的享受。看看那些尚未接在训练中获取任何心理定势的幼儿。已故耶鲁大学博士阿诺德.吉赛尔（Arnold Gesell）摄制了一组有趣的影片，它们显示：尚无语言能力的幼儿如探险家一样热切、兴奋地研究问题，如科学家一般热情、专注地寻求发现。
4、一旦探究成功，孩子们的小脸上就呈现出满心欢喜的表情。But if the pleasure of learning is universal, why are there so many dull, incurious people in the world? It is because they were made dull, by bad teaching, by isolation, by surrender to routine; sometimes, too, by the pressure of hard work and poverty; or by the toxin of r
5、iches, with all their ephemeral and trivial delights. With luck, resolution and guidance, however, the human mind can survive not only poverty but even wealth.但是，如果说学习的乐趣是带有普遍性的，那为什么还有那么多人麻木迟钝、对任何东西都不抱好奇心？这是因为，他们接受了糟糕的教育、处在孤陋寡闻的状态、向一成不变的日常生活妥协了，也许还为劳役和贫穷所困，或在金钱的毒害下耽于声色，因此变得既麻木又迟钝。然而，只要有适当的机会、坚定的决心和明
6、确的方向，作为人之本性的学习的乐趣完全可以保持下来，而不管生活富足与否。This pleasure is not confined to learning from textbooks, which are too often tedious. But it does include learning from books. Sometimes, when I stand in a big library like the Library of Congress, or Butler Library at Columbia, and gaze round me at the millions
7、of books, I feel a sober, earnest delight hard to convey except by a metaphor. These are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice, as inaudible as the streams of sound conveyed by electric waves beyond the range of our hearing; and just as
8、 the touch of button on our stereo will fill the room with music, so by opening one of these volumes, one can call into range a voice far distant in time and space, and hear it speaking, mind to mind, heart to heart.学习的乐趣并不仅仅来自书本，读书常是枯燥的活。但学习应当包括读书。当我站在一个大图书馆里，比如美国国会图书馆或哥伦比亚大学巴特勒图书馆（Butler Library a
9、t Columbia），环视周围的几百万册藏书时，心头会涌上一种神圣而强烈的欣喜感，这种感情只能用比喻来表达。这些书并非毫无生气的字纸堆，而是活在架上的心灵。它们有自己的话语，如同电波传送的声音那样不为人所觉；只要打开一本书，就如按下音响设备的电钮能让音乐充满房间那样，你能听见从遥远时空传来的话语，让那颗心灵对着你娓娓道来。But, far beyond books, learning means keeping the mind open and active to receive all kinds of experience. One of the best-informed men I
10、 ever knew was a cowboy who rarely read a newspaper and never a book but who had ridden many thousands of miles through one of the western states. He knew his state as thoroughly as a surgeon knows the human body. He loved it, and understood it. Not a mountain, not a canyon which had not much to tel
11、l him; not a change in the weather that he could not interpret. And so, among the pleasures of learning, we should include travel: travel with an open mind, an alert eye and a wish to understand other peoples, other places, rather than looking in them for a mirror image of oneself.除了读书以外，学习还包括保持心灵的开
12、放与活跃，让它能接受各种经验。我认识一名极为博识的牛仔，他很少看报，也从不读书，但已在西部的一个州骑马穿行了数千英里。他极为熟悉自己所在的州，如同外科医生极为熟悉人体一般。他爱那个州，并真正了解她。对于他来说，那儿每座山脉、每道峡谷都有许多可谈，而任何细小的天气变化都休想逃过他的感知。所以，学习的乐趣应当包括旅行带着开放的心态、敏锐的眼睛和渴望了解他人或异地的心情上路，而不是指望从他人或异地中找到自己的影子。Learning also means learning to practice, or at least to appreciate, an art. Every new art you
13、 learn appears like a new window on the universe; it is like acquiring a new sense. Crafts, too, are well worth exploring. A friend of mine took up book-binding because his doctor ordered him to do something that would give him relaxation and activity without tension. It was a difficult challenge at
14、 first, but he gradually learned to square off the paper and boards, sew the pages, fasten on the backstrip, and maintain precision and neatness throughtout.学习的概念还应当包含对艺术的学习，至少是对艺术欣赏的学习。你所学的每门新艺术都是一扇通往世界的新窗口，它能带给你新的感受。工艺品同样也是值得我们去探索的。我的一位朋友之所以从事装订工作，是因为他的医生建议他要多活动来放松他紧张的情绪。刚开始这的确是一个坚难的挑战，可是慢慢的，他学会了怎
15、么把纸和木板弄得方方正正的，学会了缝制书页，还学会了怎样固定书脊布条以及怎么精确整洁的把全部的过程都做好。As for reading books, this contains two different delights. One is the pleasure of apprehending the unexpected, such as when one meets a new author who has a new vision of the world. The other pleasure is of deepening ones knowledge of a special f
16、ield. One might enjoy reading about the Civil War, and then be drawn to a particularly moving part of it-the underground railway, say, which carried escaping slaves northward to freedom. One would then be impelled to visit the chief way stations along the route, reconstructing the lives of those res
17、olute organizers and thankful fugitives.而读书包含两种不同的乐趣。一种是邂逅新知，比如从陌生作者那儿获得对于世界的新看法。另一种是加深自己在特定领域内的知识。你要是爱读关于南北战争的书，那么你可能受到吸引去游览当时的某些地方比如地下铁路，它们曾将逃亡的黑奴们输送到自由的北方。你甚至还会有兴趣看看这条铁路上的主要车站，探究那些坚毅的组织者和心存感激的逃亡者的生活。Learning extends our lives (as Ptolemy said) into new dimensions. It is cumulative. Instead of dim
18、inishing in time, like health and strength, its returns go on increasing, provided.正如托勒密所言，学习能帮我们把生命扩展到新的维度。这种扩展效应可以累积。它不会象健康或气力那样随时光流逝而消亡，其回报历久弥厚，只要Provided that you aim, throughout your life, as you continue learning, to integrate your thought, to make it harmonious. If you happen to be an enginee
19、r and also enjoy singing in a glee club, connect these two activities. They unite in you; they are not in conflict. Both choral singing and engineering are examples of the architectonic ability of man: of his power to make a large plan and to convey it clearly to others. Both are esthetic and depend
20、 much on symmetry. Think about them not as though they were dissociated, but as though each were one aspect of a single unity. You will do them better, and be happier.只要你在持续一生的学习过程中始终注意整合与调和自己的思想。假如你是一名工程师，且喜欢参加合唱团的演唱，那么不妨把这两种活动联系起来。它们相互并不抵触，能够在你身上得到统一。合唱与工程活动都体现了人类的建构能力设计宏大计划，并将其清楚无误地传达至他人。两种活动都要求美
21、感和匀称性。别把它们看作是毫不相关的，要把它们看成同一整体的不同侧面。这样，你就能在两件事上都干得更出色、更快乐。Much unhappiness has been suffered by those people who have never recognized that it is as necessary to make themselves into whole and harmonious personalities as to keep themselves clean, healthy and financially solvent.Wholeness of the mind
22、and spirit is not a quality conferred by nature, or by God. It is like health, virtue and knowledge. Man has the capacity to attain it; but to achieve it depends on his own efforts. It needs a long, deliberate effort of the mind and the emotions, and even the body.有些人从未意识到，圆满、和谐的人格与整洁、健康的身体和稳健的财务状况同
23、样重要，因而他们郁郁寡欢。心灵与精神的圆满并非与生俱来的，也不是上帝赐给的。它和健康、美德、知识一样，要靠后天培养获得。人有能力达到它，但这取决于自身努力。达到这种圆满需要思想、情感甚至肉体付出长期不懈的努力。During our earthly life, the body gradually dies; even the emotions become duller. But the mind in most of us continues to live, and even grows more lively and active, enjoys itself more, works a
24、nd plays with more expansion and delight.随着我们年纪的增长，身体渐趋衰弱，情感也会日益迟钝。但大部分人的心灵在持续成长着，越来越活跃，越来越快乐，越来越开放。Many people have played themselves to death, or eaten and drunk themselves to death. Nobody has ever thought himself to death. The chief danger confronting us is not age. It is laziness, sloth, routin
25、e, stupidity,-forcing their way in like wind through the shutters, seeping into the cellar like swamp water. Many who avoid learning, or abandon it, find that life is drained dry. They spend 30 years in a club chair looking glumly out at the sand and the ocean; on a porch swing waiting for somebody
26、to drive down the road. But that is not how to live.许多人在玩乐中度过一生，许多人在吃喝中度过一生，但少有人在思考中度过一生。年龄并非主要问题。懒惰、松散、墨守成规、麻木迟钝才是它们悄悄地侵入我们，就象寒风透过布帘、泽水洇入地窖。许多人在逃避或放弃学习之后觉得生活枯燥乏味。他们花上30年的时间，坐在俱乐部的椅子上郁闷地看着大海和沙滩，或歇在门廊的秋千里等谁路过好搭便车。生活本不该如此。No learner has ever run short of subjects to explore. The pleasures of learning
27、are indeed pleasures. In fact, the word should be changed. The true name is happiness. You can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning.好学者永远有主题可攻。学习的乐趣名副其实。事实上，这个字眼可以改一改。我们应该称其为“幸福”。寻找并保持学习的幸福吧，你将因此活得更快乐、更充实、更长寿。on the shoulders of a hero 坐在英雄
28、的肩膀上 Hank WhittemoreMy father went into intensive care, his heart not working right. As word went out, each of his six grown children sped toward Venice Hospital in Florida, where he lay attached to various machines. Late that night, we stood around him with our mother, holding his hands and speakin
29、g close to his face as he strained against some powerful force that kept on pulling him away.父亲的心脏出了问题,需要精心护理.消息传出去,他的六个孩子很快赶到佛罗里达州威尼斯医院.父亲躺在床上,周围尽是各种各样的医疗器械.那天晚上我们和母亲守护在周围,握住他的手,轻轻地跟他说话.他努力挣扎,但那种巨大的力量却正在把他带走.“Good-bye, Dad,” we said. “We love you. Thank you, Day. Oh, no”再见.爸,我们对他说,我们爱你.谢谢你,爸.噢,不要.
30、.A breath left his body under our hands, and we turned to watch the numbers on the machines. Then we made an involuntary, collective groan, and he was gone. He was 75 years old.最后一口气从他的身体里,从我们的手中离开了.我们转过身看着那些医疗器具上的数据,忍不住齐声哭了起来.父亲走了,享年75岁.With his passing, I was abruptly stripped of and illusions abo
31、ut my own immortality: no longer might I comfort myself with the thought that he was in line ahead of me. I ws newly alone and vulncerable and, more than ever, responsible for my life.随着父亲的过世,我突然意识到生命是有限的;我再也不能用父亲会带我前行来安慰自己了.我突然变得孤立无助,而且比以往任何时候的责任都要大.Then I remembered one morning when I was five yea
32、rs old. After a snowstorm, Dad carried me on his shoulders for the mile from our apartment into town. As he marched bravely through the snowdrifts, I put my hands around his head to hold on, inadvertently covering his eyes with my mittens. “I cant see,” my father said, but he walked on nevertheless,
33、 a blind hero making his way with me on his back through a strange, magical land scape of untrodden snow. He had returned recently from World War II, and this ride would become my first experience with him to take hold as a genuine, lasting memory.后来,我想起五岁时的一天早晨:暴风雪过后,父亲把我背在肩上去城里.父亲迈着大步踏雪前行,我用手抱住他的头
34、.不经意地,我得手套蒙住了他的眼睛.我看不见了,父亲说着但他没有停下来.象一位失明的英雄带着我奋力前行,穿过一片陌生,神奇,不分路径的雪原.当时父亲刚从二战回来,这一次旅行成了我真正难忘的记忆中与父亲一起的第一次经历.As he was buried, other memories flooded in, and I found myself trying to put my feelings about him into perspective. How much of a father, really, had he been? Why hadnt I grieved more over
35、losing him? Had Iever forgiven him for his shortcomings?父亲安葬后,思绪带着对父亲的回忆如潮水般涌来.我发现自己开始试着正视我对父亲的感触.说实话,他在多大程度上象一个父亲呢?我为什么没有因为失去他而更加痛苦流涕呢?我是否原谅过他的缺点呢?From my teenage years onward, I had expected a grea deal of encouragement from my dad, but it seldom came. I told him. After senior year of high school,
36、 that I wanted to become an actor. He launched into a speech about the instaility of such a career： “The odds are youd wind up. Holding a tin cup on the corner.”从十几岁开始,我曾希望父亲能给我很多鼓励.但他却极少这样做.高中毕业时我告诉父亲,我想成为一名演员.他却给我大谈了一通这一行的不稳定:最终你可能会拿着钱罐站在街角.One time, after after we had argued over my decision to t
37、ake acting lessons in New York, he stormed up to my room. I met him at the doorway. We stood toe-to-toe, and I held up my fist and glared at him trembling, and said the issue was was settled unless he wanted to fight. The red fury drained from his face, and he turned, shoulders slumped, slumped, to
38、walk away. A rite of passage had taken place in a second, leaving me on my own without his resistance.有一次我决定到纽约去上表演课,与父亲争吵起来.他大骂着冲进我的房间,我在门口迎着了他.我们面对面站着,我握着拳头,全身发抖.我对父亲说这件事已经决定了,除非他要打架.他涨红的脸怒气渐消,肩膀也垂了下来.他转身走了.我的决定就这样在一秒钟内完成了.父亲不再反对,而我就要靠自己了.But his general air of caution continued. After I did becom
39、e a professional actor, he came to see me in a Broadway show and later remarked, “Of course, it would be wise to have something else to fall back on.”但他那种小心谨慎的脾气却没有改变.在我真正成为职业演员之后,有一次他到百老汇看我演出.之后他对我说,当然,转行做其他的也不失为明智之举.I fell back, so to speak, on newspaper work, only to quit when my first book was p
40、ublished. “Now,” he said, “ is the perfect time, with this credential, When I told him I intended to remain self-employed for as long as possible, he fell silent.在我的第一本书出版之后,我转行了(权且这么说吧),在一家报社工作.现在,父亲说,是最好的时机.有了这些条件你可以到一家公司求职了.当我告诉他,只要可能我会一直做一个自由职业者时,他沉默了.As the years went by, his ecpressions of dou
41、bt in response to my unspoken pleas for a fathers blind faith became predictable. And I came to realize that my fathers warnings were his way of relating to me. In earlier years I had thought He didnt care, but I came to understand that he was offering what he could.以后的岁月中，每当我默默期盼父亲的信任支持时，总会不出预料遇到一副
42、怀疑的表情。我意识到警告是父亲与我沟通的方式。渐渐地,我意识到父亲对我的警告正是他用来和我交流的方式.前些年我曾以为父亲根本不关心我,后来我发现他已经在尽力而为了.I also realized that he had even inspired menot by words, but by what he had done. He had come home from a terrifying war to raise six kids in a house with a yard. He had returned, with so many other men of his generat
43、ion to create stability and safety for those in his care and to give them a future.同时我也意识到父亲甚至曾经启发鼓励过我-没有言语,而是用他的行动.他从恐怖的战争中回来,却要负担养活有六个孩子的家.和许多同时代的人一样,他回来了,就要给需要他照顾的人稳定的生活和安全保障,并且让他们有光明的未来.He spent two decades in advertising and longer in real estate, meanwhile always taking us on vacations and sen
44、ding us through college. By providing a foundation, he enabled his children to feel strong enough to go their individual ways. As we scattered, he wrote frequent letters and planned our reunions.他先后从事二十多年的广告业务,从事房地产行业也达二十多年.在这期间经常利用假期陪我们消遣,后来又送我们读完大学.通过提供有力的基础,他让他的孩子们敢于充满自信去走自己的路.后来我们分开了,父亲就经常写信安排我们
45、团聚.Just two weeks bdfore he died, my father held a birthday celebration for Mom. We flew from our separate homes to Florida and, during our stay, joined him on a fishing trip. Dad did not look well.就在父亲去世前两星期,他们为母亲办了一次生日聚会.我们从各地的家飞到了弗洛里达.停留期间,我们陪父亲出去钓鱼.父亲看起来气色很不好.We had no idea then how perilous his
46、 condition had become. As I look back, its clear that he had deliberately kept all of that hidden from us to avoid spoiling our fun.我们对父亲的情况有多么严重一无所现在回想起来,很明显父亲是故意掩盖自己的病情，就是为了不扫我们的兴.The morning we were to leave Florida, be pulled me aside and pointed to a mysterious box about three feet long and two
47、 feet deep. Inside, to my astonishment, were hundreds of clippings relating to almost everything I had done in my life. “I figured you might like to have this,” Dad said.我们要离开弗洛里达的那天早上父亲把我拉进了里屋,让我看一个神秘的箱子.箱子大约有三英尺长两英尺深.另我震动的是,箱子里面竟是数百张的剪报-几乎包括了我过去所做的一切. 我猜你可能会想要这个,父亲说.We hugged each other, not knowi
48、ng it would be for last time, but my fathter must have sensed that he would not be around much longer.我们拥抱在一起,从未想到这竟是最后一次;但父亲一定是感到了自己将不会在我们身边多久了.Lifting the heavy box, I suddenly understood that no matter how negative his words had seemed, nothing could erase his concrete act of filling the box, piece by piece, ever since I left him. All that time, it turned out, he had been theresharing my life. 抬起沉重的箱子,我突然明白了不管父亲的话有多么难听,但也没有任何东西能阻止他在我离家之后一点一点往箱子里放剪报.所有那些时间都证明父亲一直在那里-与我共同体验人生.Then came word that he was dying and then came the months of thinking about him. Now a full yea
