1、“For the more languages a man can speak,一个人会讲的语言愈多 His talent has but sprung the greater leak; 愈益暴露其才学的漏洞。And, of the industry he has spent upont, 这儿那儿把心血呕Must full as much some other way discount. 总免不了大打折扣。The Hebrew, Chaldee, and the Syriac 希伯来文、加尔蒂文和叙利亚文，Do, like their letters, set mens reason ba
2、ck, 一如其写法，让人理智颠倒And turn their wits that strive to understand it 若要竭力研读它(Like those that write the characters) left-handed. 就像用左手写字Yet he that is but able to express 然而，若要表达超前No sense at all in several languages, 根本不用几种语言Will pass for learneder than he thats known 用母语发出最强音To speak the strongest reas
3、on in his own.通常被认为更有学问“ Butler 巴特勒1.The description 种类 of persons who have the fewest ideas of all others are mere authors and readers 人群中对周围事物了解最少的是那些只会写和读的人. It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else. A lounger 闲逛者 who is ordinarily seen with a book in h
4、is hand is (we may be almost sure) equally without the power or inclination to attend either to what passes around him or in his own mind.整日手捧书本而不务世事的人,我们几乎可以肯定,既无力也无心去关心他周围或脑子里的事物 Such a one may be said to carry his understanding about with him in his pocket, or to leave it at home on his library s
5、helves. He is afraid of venturing on any train of 一系列 reasoning 他不敢做深思, or of striking out 提出 any observation 评论 that is not mechanically suggested to him by passing his eyes over certain legible 清晰的 characters 他不敢做任何评论，除非他亲眼看到的文字机械地提议他这样做; shrinks from the fatigue of thought, which, for want of pra
6、ctice, becomes insupportable to him他害怕苦思冥想，因为他缺少实践，无从可想; and sits down contented with an endless, wearisome succession of words and half-formed 模糊 images, which fill the void 空虚 of the mind, and continually efface 抹去 one another.他整日独坐，满足于和那些冗长乏味的词句以及模糊不清的形象为伴，这些东西填充着他空虚的头脑，同时也不停彼此磨损、消失 Learning is,
7、in too many cases, but a foil 陪衬 to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge 很多情况下，书本只是常识的陪衬真知的替补. Books are less often made use of as spectacles to look at nature with, than as blinds to keep out its strong light and shifting scenery from weak eyes and indolent dispositions 性情. 与其说书本是用来观察自然的 “
8、眼镜”，还不如说它会遮蔽那些视弱和怠懒的人的眼睛，使他们看不到大自然炫目的光线和变幻的美景 The book-worm wraps himself up in his web of verbal generalities 空泛言辞, and sees only the glimmering 微弱 shadows of things reflected from the minds of others Nature puts him out. The impressions of real objects, stripped of 剥去 the disguises of words and vo
9、luminous 大量的 roundabout 迂回 descriptions, are blows that stagger him; 真实物体印象，一旦被剥去文字的伪装和各种迂回的描述，对他简直就是迎头痛击，令他脚步跟舱，站立不稳 their variety distracts, their rapidity exhausts him 它们的丰富多彩令他无所适从，它们的飞速变化令他筋疲力尽; and he turns from the bustle 喧闹, the noise, and glare 目眩, and whirling motion of the world about him
10、 (which he has not an eye to follow in his fantastic changes, nor an understanding to reduce to 归纳为 fixed principles 他既不关注其巨大的变化，也不懂得如何归纳出固有的规律), to the quite monotony of the dead languages, and the less startling and more intelligible combinations of the letters of the alphabet 他转身离开这个隋闹哨杂，使人头晕目眩的世
11、界()，转向那些单调的已经没有生气的语言，以及那些乏味的，不太令人吃惊，不太难懂的字母单调组合. It is well, it is perfectly well. Leave me to my repose让我安宁吧, is the motto of the sleeping and dead. You might as well ask the paralytic 偏瘫病人 to leap from his chair and throw away his crutch, or, without a miracle, to take up his bed 收拾床铺 and walk, as
12、 expect the learned reader to thrown down his book and think for himself. He clings to 紧抱 it for his intellectual support 知识支柱; and his dread of being left to himself is like the horror of a vacuum 真空. He can only breathe a learned atmosphere, as other men breath common air. He is a borrower of sens
13、e. 他的感觉都借自别人 He has no ideas of his own, and must live on those of other people. The habit of supplying our ideas from foreign sources 外界资源 enfeebles 削弱 all internal strength of thought 削弱一切内在思维力量 as a course of dram drinking destroys the tone of the stomach 就像长期地少量饮酒也会慢慢地损坏肠胃一样. The faculties of th
14、e mind 思维器官, when not exerted, or when cramped 束缚 by custom and authority, become listless 倦怠, torpid 麻木, and unfit for the purposes of thought or action. Can we wonder at the languor 呆滞 and lassitude 疲乏 which is thus produced by a life of learned sloth 怠惰 and ignorance 对学问人这种倦怠和无聊的生活人民已经习以为常，这种盲从而慵
15、懒的生活使人精神倦怠，身心疲惫; by poring over 苦心钻研 lines and syllables that excite little more idea or interest than if they were the characters of an unknown tongue, till the eye closes on vacancy, and the book drops from the feeble hand 学问人苦心钻研空洞无聊的字句和音节，直到两眼发黑，书本从无力的手中滑落下来! I would rather be a wood-cutter 伐木工,
16、 or the meanest 地位卑微 hind 农夫, that all day sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and at night sleeps in Elysium 太阳底下挥汗劳作，夜晚就在追逐世界里美美地睡觉, than wear out 耗费 my life so, twixt dreaming and awake 半睡半醒. The learned author differs from the learned student in this, that the one transcribes what the other reads 一个抄书
17、，另一个读书. The learned are mere literary drudges 文字长工. If you set them upon original compositions their heads turn, they dont know where they are. The indefatigable 孜孜不倦 readers of books are like the everlasting不停 copiers of pictures, who, when they attempt to do anything of their own, find they want a
18、n eye quick enough, and hand steady enough，and clours bright enough,to trace the living forms 生动形态 of nature. 人群中对周围事物了解最少的是那些只会写和读的人。不会读又不会写，比起只会读和写，倒要好一些。整日手捧书本而不务世事的人我们几乎可以肯定既无力也无心去关心他周围或脑子里的事物。像这样的人，或许有人会说，已经把自己的理解力装在了口袋里，或遗在家里的书架上了。他不敢做深思；他不敢做任何评论，除非他亲眼看到的文字机械地提议他这样做；他害怕苦思冥想，因为他缺少实践，无从可想；他整日独坐，
19、满足于和那些冗长乏味的词句以及模糊不清的形象为伴。这些东西填充着他空虚的头脑，同时也不停地彼此磨损、消失。在很多情况下，书本只是常识的陪衬，真知的替补。与其说书本是用来观察自然的“眼镜”，还不如说它会遮蔽那些视弱和怠懒的人的眼睛，使他们看不到大自然炫目的光线和变幻的美景。书呆子把自己包裹在其织就的文字之网中，只能看见别人脑中反映出来的事物的微弱阴影。大自然比他目眩；真实物体的印象，一旦被剥去文字的伪装和各种迂回的描述，对他简直就是迎头痛击，令他脚步跟舱，站立不稳；它们的丰富多彩令他无所适从，它们的飞速变化令他筋疲力尽；他转身离开这个隋闹哨杂，使人头晕目眩的世界(他既不关注其巨大的变化，也不懂得
20、如何归纳出固有的规律)，转向那些单调的已经没有生气的语言，以及那些乏味的，不太令人吃惊，不太难懂的字母单调组合。这没什么不好，非常可取。“让我安宁吧!”这是睡者和死者的箴言。期望学问人能放下书本去独立思考，就像让一个偏瘫病人撇开拐杖从椅子上跳起来，或者不靠什么奇迹就能收起床铺迈步走一样，是不可能的。他紧抱书本不敢，把它作为自己的知识支柱；他害怕被独白遗下，就像害怕真空一样。他仅能呼吸学术空气，就像别人呼吸自然空气一样。他的感觉都借自别人，没有自己的思想，必须靠别人的思想为生。这种依靠外界资源给自己提供思想的习惯会“削弱一切内在思维力量”，就像长期地少量饮酒也会慢慢地损坏肠胃一样。思维器官被弃置
21、不用或受到习俗或者权威的束缚时，就会变得倦怠、麻木，不再适合支配行动和思考。学问人苦心钻研空洞无聊的字句和音节，直到两眼发黑，书本从无力的手中滑落下来。对学问人这种倦怠和无聊的生活人民已经习以为常，这种盲从而慵懒的生活使人精神倦怠，身心疲惫。我宁愿做一个伐木工，或地位卑微的农夫，整日在“太阳底下挥汗劳作，夜晚就在追逐世界里美美地睡觉”，也不愿意这样半睡半醒，耗费我的生命。有学问的作者和谈者之间的区别在于：一个抄书，另一个读书。做学问的人只是文字长工。如果你让他们真正自己写一篇文章，他们会觉得头昏脑涨，不知自己身处何处。孜孜不倦地读书就像那些不停地临摹别人画的人，在他们尝试自己做画时，却发现自己
22、的眼睛不够快，手不够稳健，用色不够鲜艳，而无法描绘大自然的生动形态2.Anyone who has passed through 经过 the regular gradations 分级 of a classical education, and is not made a fool by it, may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape 凡是经过正规的传统教育的人，即使若没有被教成一个傻瓜，也会合动厩余生之感. It is an old remark 老生常谈 , that boys who shine at school
23、 do not make the greatest figure 最突出 when they grow up and come out into the world.The things, in fact, which a boy is set to learn at school, and on which his success depends, are things which do not require the exercise either of the highest or the most useful faculties of the mind 事实是，孩子在学校里学习的东西
24、，即他们成功所在往往不需要运用大脑中最有用的功能. Memory is the chief faculty called into play in conning over 学习 and repeating lessons by rote in grammar, in languages, in geography, arithmetic, etc., so that he who has the most of this technical memory 机械记忆, with the least turn 转移 for other things, which have a stronger
25、and more natural claim upon his childish attention, will make the most forward school-boy. The jargon 术语 containing the definitions of the parts of speech 语言成分定义的术语,the rules for casting up 计算 an account 运算的法则, or the inflections 变音 of a Greek verb, can have no attraction to the tyro 初学者 of ten year
26、s old, except as they are imposed as a task upon him by others, of from his feeling the want of sufficient relish 食欲 or amusement in other things. A lad with a sickly constitution 身体赢弱 and no very active mind, who can just retain 记住 what is pointed out to him, and has neither sagacity 智慧 to distingu
27、ish, nor spirit to enjoy for himself, will generally be at the head of his form. An idler 懒散 at school, on the other hand, is one who has high health and spirits, who has the free use of his limbs 四肢灵活, with all his wits about him 头脑敏捷, who feels the circulation of his blood and the motion of his he
28、art, who is ready to laugh and cry in a breath, and who had rather chase a ball or a butterfly, feel the open air in his face, look at the fields or the sky, follow a winding path 感受户外空气吹拂, or enter with eagerness into all the little conflicts and interests of his acquaintances and friends, than doz
29、e over 打盹 a musty 陈腐 spelling book 课本, repeat barbarous 格格不入 distichs 句子, after his master, sit so many hours pinioned to 拴在 a writing-desk, and receive his reward for the loss of time and pleasure in paltry prize-medals at Christmas and Midsummer施礼约翰节 不愿为了在圣诞节和施礼约翰节上得到一些无足轻重奖励而失去时间和乐趣. There is ind
30、eed a degree of stupidity which prevents children from learning the usual lessons, or ever arriving at these puny 寥寥 academic honours. But what passes for 被认为 stupidity is much oftener a want of interest, of a sufficient motive to fix the attention and force a reluctant application of the dry 枯燥 and
31、 unmeaning 无聊 pursuits of school learning. The best capacities are as much above this drudgery 苦差事 as the dullest are beneath it 人类最高的能力远高于读书这个苦差事，就像最笨的学生的能力要远远低于它一样. Our men of the greatest genius have not been most distinguished for their acquirements成就 at school or at the university.凡是经过正规的传统教育的人
32、，即使若没有被教成一个傻瓜，也会合动厩余生之感。学校里的尖子学生长大进入社会后却不是最突出的，这已经是名生常谈了；事实是，孩子在学校里学习的东西，即他们成功所在往往不需要运用大脑中最有用的功能。在学习语法、语言、地理、算术等科白时，依靠的主要是以最低级层次的功能去糊弄，去记忆。因此，那些机械记忆力最强却很少关注其他事情那些事情能激起儿童更强的兴趣的学生会名列前茅。对于一个十多岁的初学者来说，包含语言成分定义的术语、运算的法则、希腊语动词的曲折变化，这些都没有任何吸引力，除非是作为任务强加给他们或者他们对其他事情没有浓厚兴趣。身体赢弱、思维不活的孩子，刚好能记作老师指定的功课，他虽然没有明辨是非
33、的智慧，也没有自娱自乐的精神，往往会是年级的尖子：另一方面，学校里的那些懒学生，他们有健康的体魄和充沛的活力，四肢灵活、头脑敏捷，他们可以感觉到体内血液的流动和心脏的跳动；他们任意哭笑；他们宁愿追逐皮球和蝴蝶，感受户外空气的吹拂，或瞩目原野和天空，或信步于婉蜒的小径，或急切地与朋友争论或讨论，也不愿意面对陈腐的课本而昏昏欲睡，或者跟着老师重复那些格格不入的句子，或久久地被拴在课桌旁；不愿意为了在圣诞节和施礼约翰节上得到一些无足轻重的奖励而失去时间和乐趣。确实，他们学不会学校的普通课程，或得不到那些寥寥的学习荣耀在一定程度上是因为他们笨，但往往是因为他们没有兴趣，缺乏学习动机，不愿花力气到枯燥而
34、且无聊的学业中右，而这却往往被错认为是愚笨。人类最高的能力远高于读书这个苦差事，就像最笨的学生的能力要远远低于它一样。我们最伟大的天才在小学或大学里的成绩并不都是最好的3.Th enthusiast Fancy was a truant ever.爱幻想的学生都曾逃过学。4.Gray 格雷 and Collins 科林斯 were among the instances of this wayward disposition. Such persons do not think so highly of the advantages, nor can they submit their ima
35、ginations so servilely 屈从 to the trammels 束缚 of strict scholastic discipline. There is a certain kind and degree of intellect in which words take root 来源, but into which things have not power to penetrate 确实有某些智力在一定程度上是文句的来源，但是客观事物却无法渗透进. A mediocrity 平庸之才 of talent, with a certain slenderness of mo
36、ral constitution 道德欠佳, is the soil that produces the most brilliant specimens of successful prize-essays 产生奖章作家和的沃土 and Greek epigrammatists 希腊语讽刺许人. It should not be forgotten that the least respectable character among modern politicians was the cleverest boy at Eton. 我们别忘现代政客中最不体面家伙曾是伊顿公学中最聪明学生。格雷
37、和科林斯就是这种任性的例证。他们这些人对学校严格的纪律不以为然，更不会让他们的想象力受其束缚。确实有某些智力在一定程度上是文句的来源，但是客观事物却无法渗透进去。那些道德欠佳的平庸天才正是产生奖章作家和希腊语讽刺许人的沃土。我们不要忘了现代政客中最不体面的家伙曾经是伊顿公学中最聪明的学生5.Learning is the knowledge of that which is not generally known to others, and which we can only derive at second-hand from books or other artificial sourc
38、es.学问是不为常人所知只能间接地从书本或其他人为的来源中获得的知识 The knowledge of that which is before us, or about us, which appeals to 需要 our experience, passions, and pursuits, to the bosom 心灵 and businesses of men, is not learning 我们眼前的、周围的需要我们用经验、情感、追求或需要我们心灵和事业的知识不是学问. Learning is the knowledge of that which none but the l
39、earned know 学问只有有学问的人知道而其他人一概不知. He is the most learned man who knows the most of what is farthest removed from common life and actual observation, that is of the least practical utility, and least liable to be brought to the test of experience 最经不起实验检验 , and that, having been handed down 层层相传 throu
40、gh the greatest number of intermediate stages 中间阶段, is the most full of uncertainty, difficulties and contradictions. It is seeing with the eyes of others, hearing with their ears, and pinning 依赖 our faith on their understandings. The learned man prides himself in the knowledge of names and dates, n
41、ot of men or things.有学问的人为他们知道的名字和历史日期而感到骄傲，而不懂得人和事本身 He thinks and cares nothing about his next-door neighbours, but is deeply read in the tribes and castes 等级制度 of the Hindoos and Calmuc Tartars 挞旦卡尔马克人. He can hardly find his way into the next street, though he is acquainted with the exact dimens
42、ions 大小of Constantinople and Pekin. He does not know whether his oldest acquaintance is a knave 无赖 or a fool, but he can pronounce a pompous lecture on 夸夸而淡 all the principal characters 重要人物 in history. He cannot tell whether an object is black or white, round or square, and yet he is a professed 资深
43、 master of the laws of optics 光学定律 and rules of perspective透视法则. He knows as much of what he talks about as a blind man does of colours. He cannot give a satisfactory answer to the plainest question, nor is he ever in the right in any one of his opinions upon any one matter of fact that really comes
44、 before him 遇见的实际问题, and yet he gives himself out for宣称 an infallible 绝无错误 judge on all those points, of which it is impossible that he or any other person living should know anything but by conjecture 推测 意见从未正确过，然而却总是宣称，他对其本人或全人都不可能知道，只能揣测一二的事情他是绝对正确的权威. He is expert in all the dead and in most of
45、the living languages; but he can neither speak his own fluently, nor write it correctly. A person of this class, the second Greek scholar of his day, undertook to point out several solecisms 语法错误 in Miltons Latin style 弥尔顿拉丁文; and in all is own performance there is hardly a sentence of common Englis
46、h. Such was Dr. Such is Dr. . Such was not Porson Richard Porson (1759-1808). He was an exception 例外 that confirmed the general rule, a man that, by uniting talent and knowledge with learning, made the distinction between them more striking and palpable.以前的某某博士是这样，现在的某某博士是这样，波尔森却不是这样。他这个例外则证实了这条通则它把
47、学问和才能结合起来，使它们之间的区别更加鲜艳夺目。学问是不为常人所知只能间接地从书本或其他人为的来源中获得的知识。我们眼前的、周围的需要我们用经验、情感、追求或需要我们心灵和事业的知识不是学问：学问只有有学问的人知道而其他人一概不知。最有学问的人只知道那些远离。常生活和实际观察的知识，而这些知识是最没有实际作用，最经不起实验检验，再加上历经数不清的中间阶段的层层相传，其中充满了疑难、矛盾和不确定性。他用别人的眼睛看，用别人的耳朵听，完全相传和依赖别人的理解。有学问的人为他们知道的名字和历史日期而感到骄傲，而不懂得人和事本身。他无心考虑也不关心邻家之事，却精通印度人和挞旦卡尔马克人的等级制度和部
48、落群体。他不知道邻街的道路如何走，却准确地知道君士坦丁堡和北京有多大。他不知道他的老朋友是一个无赖还是一个傻瓜，但却可以就历史上所有重要人物夸夸而淡。他辨不清物体是黑还是白，是方还是凶，却是光学定律和透视法则的资深专家；他谈论色彩，就像瞎子谈论色彩一样，对所谈对象一无所知。对于最简单的问题，他也不能给予满意的答复；对于他遇见的实际问题，他的意见从未正确过，然而却总是宣称，他对其本人或全人都不可能知道，只能揣测一二的事情他是绝对正确的权威。他精通所有已经理没的语言以及大多数还在使用的语言；但他既不能流利地讲、也不能正确地与其母语。有这样一个二流的希腊语学者，曾指出弥尔顿拉丁文中存在的一些语法错误
49、，但在他自己的文章中，却几乎没合一句规范的英语句子。以前的某某博士是这样，现在的某某博士是这样，波尔森却不是这样。他这个例外则证实了这条通则它把学问和才能结合起来，使它们之间的区别更加鲜艳夺目6.A mere scholar, who knows nothing but books, must be ignorant even of them 一个只懂书本知识纯粹学者，对书本上知识其至也无法领会. Books do not teach the use of books 书不会告诉你如何使用书本 . How should he know anything of a work who knows nothing of the subject of it? The learned pedant 书架 is conversant with 精通 books only as they are made of other books, and those again of others, without end. 那些书呆子精通书本，只是因为这些书源于另外一些，而另外一些书源自其他的书，如此循环不尽 He parrots those who have parroted others. He can translate
