关于读书，古往今来的饱学之士留下了许多名言隽语，今天是“世界读书日”，为大家分享几则，愿大家每天都能与好书相伴。

 

For out of olde feldes, as men seyth,

Cometh al this newe corn fro yer to yere;

And out of olde bokes, in good feyth,

Cometh al this newe science that men lere.

(Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Parliament of Fowls¹", l. 22)

人们说得好，在耕种多年的田地里，

一年又一年长出新的谷子；

完全可以相信，从读过的旧书里，

人们也一定能学到新的知识。

（乔叟，《众鸟之会》，第22行）

 

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read but not curiously²; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some book also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others.

(Francis Bacon, "Of Studies")

有些书可供浅尝，有些可以吞食，少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之，有些书只须读上部分，有些只须大体浏览，少数则须全读，读时须全神贯注，孜孜不倦。书也可请人去读，事后取其读书摘要。

（培根，《谈读书》）

 

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed³ and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.

(John Milton, "Areopagitica")

一本好书是一位鸿儒的宝贵心血，是立意奉献给子孙后代的不朽珍宝。

（弥尔顿，《论出版自由》）

 

Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know,

Are a substantial world, both pure and good;

Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,

Our pastime and our happiness will grow.

(William Wordsworth, "Personal Talk", sonnet⁴ 3)

梦和书构成各自的世界，大家清楚，

书籍是一个充实的世界，纯洁而精良；

我们的消遣和快乐随之增长，

那卷须就像血肉一般地强固。

（华兹华斯，《杂谈》，第3首十四行诗）

 

In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.

(Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship, v, "The Hero as Man of Letters")

书里蕴藏着全部过去时代的精魂，古昔发出的朗朗之声，而旧时的形体和物质恰如梦境一般，早已荡然无存。

（卡莱尔，《英雄与英雄崇拜》第5篇《作为文豪的英雄》 ）

 

’Tis the good reader that makes the good book.

(Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Success")

好书须得慧眼识。

（爱默生，《论成功》）

 

Books must be read as deliberately⁵ and reservedly as they are written.

(Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 3. "Reading")

读书和写作一样，必须深思熟虑，有所保留。

（梭罗，《瓦尔登湖》，第三章《读书》）

 

Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.

(John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, "Preface")

生命是短暂的，宁静的时刻尤少；我们应当阅读珍奇的书籍而不蹉跎时光。

（罗斯金，《芝麻与百合》，《序》 ）

 

Something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read. [A classic.]

(Mark Twain, Speech at dinner of the Nineteenth Century Club, 20 Nov., 1900)

经典作品就是人人都希望自己读过，却没有人愿意去读的东西。

（马克·吐温，在19世纪俱乐部午餐会上的讲话，1900年11月20日）

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