Unit thirty-one
On Reading

Studies serve for delight, for ornament¹, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourses²; and for ability, is in the judgement and disposition⁴ of business; for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth⁵; to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar; they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning⁶ by study; and studies themselves do give forth⁷ directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty⁸ men contemn⁹ studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation. Read nor to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse³, but to weigh and consider. 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 curiously¹⁰; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner sort of books; else distilled¹¹ books are, like common distilled waters, flashy tings. Reading make a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets, witty¹³; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic¹⁴ and rhetoric¹⁵, able to contend. There is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought¹⁶ out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises; bowling¹⁷ is good for the stone and reins¹⁸, shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head, and the like; so if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations²⁰, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate²¹ another, let him study the lawyers’ cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

---------Francis Bacon

ornament n.1.装饰品,点缀品 2.装饰,点缀 vt.装饰,点缀,美化

private a.1.私人的,个人的 2.秘密的,私下的 3.私立的,私营的 n.士兵,列兵
privateness n.1.私人,个人 2.秘密,私下
privacy n.1.个人自由 2.隐私,私生活,私事

disposition n.1.性情,性格 2.意向,倾向 3.排列,部署
[联想词]               temperament²² n.气质,性格
               array n.1.展示,陈列 2.排列,队形 3.衣服,盛装 vt.1.排列,配置 2.打扮,装饰

marshal n.1.元帅,最高指挥官 2.总指挥,司仪 3.执法官,警察局长,消防队长 vt.整理,排列,集结
[联想词]               lieutenant²³ n.陆军中尉,海军上尉
               sergeant²⁴ n.中士,警官

sloth n.懒散,怠惰

affectation n.1.做作,假装 2.矫揉造作

prune²⁵ vt.1.修剪,修整 2.删除,削减

contradict vt.1.反驳,否认…的真实性 2.与…发生矛盾

confute vt.驳斥,驳倒
[联想词]               refute vt. 驳斥,驳倒

diligent²⁶ a.勤勉的,勤奋的
diligence n. 勤勉,勤奋