Francis Bacon

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.　Their chief use
for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse;
and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.

For expert and execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but
the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best
form those that are learned.　To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to
use them too much for ornament, is affectation; 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 proyning by study; and studies themselves
do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by
experience.

Crafty men contemn 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 not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor
to find talk and discourse; 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 curiously; 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 distilled books are,
like common distilled waters, flashy things.

Reading maketh 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 witty; the mathematics subtile; natural
philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.　Abeunt
studia in morse.

Nay there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by
fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises.
Bowling is good for the stone and reins; 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
demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin
again.　If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him
study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores.　If he be not apt to beat
over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let
him study the lawyers’ cases.　So every defect of the mind may have a
special receipt.

论学习

弗朗西斯·培根
王佐良　译

读书足以怡情，足以傅彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其傅彩也，最
见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。

练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，然纵观统筹，全局策划，则舍好学深思者
莫属。读书费时过多易惰，文采藻饰太盛则矫，全凭条文断事乃学究故态。

读书补天然之不足，经验又补读书之不足，盖天生才干犹如自然花草，读书然后知如何
修剪移接，而书中所示，如不以经验范之，则又大而无当。

有一技之长者鄙读书，无知者羡读书，唯明智之士用读书，然书并不以用处告人，用书
之智不在书中，而在书外，全凭观察得之。

读书时不可存心诘难读者，不可尽信书上所言，亦不可只为寻章摘句，而应推敲细思。

书有可浅尝者，有可吞食者，少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之，有只需读其部分者，有只须
大体涉猎者，少数则须全读，读时须全神贯注，孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读，取其所作
摘要，但只限题材较次或价值不高者，否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏，淡而无味。

读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。因此不常做笔记者须记忆力特强，不常
讨论者须天生聪颖，不常读书者须欺世有术，始能无知而显有知。

读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，伦理学使人庄重，逻辑
修辞之学使人善辩；凡有所学，皆成性格。

人之才智但有滞碍，无不可读适当之书使之顺畅，一如身体百病，皆可借相宜之运动除
之。滚球利睾肾，射箭利胸肺，慢步利肠胃，骑术利头脑，诸如此类。如智力不集中，
可令读数学，盖演题需全神贯注，稍有分散即须重演；如不能辩异，可令读经院哲学，
盖是辈皆吹毛求疵之人；如不善求同，不善以一物阐证另一物，可令读律师之案卷。如
此头脑中凡有缺陷，皆有特效可医。

Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of
rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a
quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of
the deep springs of life.

Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the
appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of
60 more than a boy of 20.　Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.　We
grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder,
the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of
living.　In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless
station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and
power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism
and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as
your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die
young at 80.

青春

塞缪尔·厄尔曼

青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想
象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子
则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心
灵扭曲，意气如灰。

无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不
衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的
信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。

一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实
已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉
年轻。

　　有一个乞丐，总是遭到市民们的鄙视和欺负。那个乞丐很委屈地问：“天底下那么多乞丐，甚至连国王也是，你们为什么偏偏跟我过不去呢？”

　　市民们冷笑道：“你凭什么说国王是一个乞丐呢？如果你能够证明给大家看，我们也可以像尊敬国王一样尊敬你。”

　　他是一个身份卑贱的乞丐，但他决定要设法找到国王。国王是那样高高在上，他怎么能够接近国王呢？每当他试图接近国王时，国王的随从们就会把他痛打一顿，然后把他赶走。

　　但他终于找到了一个机会，他在王宫附近的僻静小道上等到了国王。那时，国王远远地离开了他的随从们，沿着小道独自走来，似乎在苦苦思索着什么。当乞丐从树林里突然出现时，简直吓了国王一大跳。

　　“你要干什么？”国王惊恐万状地问道。

　　“我不想干什么。”乞丐说，“我只想讨一点钱。”

　　国王舒了一口气，然后问：“你需要多少？”

　　乞丐说：“我只有一只破碗，你要能够装满它就行。”

　　国王笑了起来，说：“好吧，我答应你。”他唤来了仆人，命令他们去拿一些钱来。当这些钱倒入乞丐的破碗时，仅仅只停留了几秒钟，就消失得无影无踪。

　　怎么会发生这样的事情呢？国王感到非常诧异。他吩咐仆人们搬来更多的钱，但那些钱每一次都只能在乞丐的破碗中停留几秒钟，然后消失得无影无踪。最后，所有的钱都搬来了，所有的钱都在乞丐的破碗中消失得无影无踪。国王被惊骇得出了一身冷汗，扑通一声跪倒在乞丐面前，请求乞丐放过他。

　　现在，轮到乞丐冷笑了，他解释说：“这只破碗是一个填不满的穷坑，它的名字叫做欲望。因为这个欲望，你我其实都是乞丐。”

　　你也是一个有欲望的人，无论你有多少财富，你都会认为自己获得的太少。无论你有多少财富和能耐，你都是一个贫穷的乞丐。你是如此贫穷，以致于你不敢做那个晒太阳的渔夫。

　　是的，你是一个乞丐。你的太阳是一种虚构、一种来自欲望的诡计，它让你用各种不同的乞讨方式去占有。任何乞讨方式，无论是赌博、欺骗、哀求、以及任何形式的巧取豪夺。你是一个贫穷而又贪婪的乞丐，这是一个不幸的事实。

　　一方面你是如此贪婪，另一方面你又是如此恐惧。你是一个乞丐，但你害怕面对这个事实，你要掩饰它。于是，你伪装成一个高尚的人，你热中于各种虚荣——那些虚荣是你的面具上五颜六色的油彩——它们是那样斑斓、艳丽、令人目眩。从此，你只好生活在一张面具的后面，生活在一种人工的生命模式中，再也享受不到真实的太阳。

　　你甚至不得不信奉达尔文的“物竞天择”。进化论虽然无耻，但至少能够给你提供两大好处：第一，它让你相信，你仅仅是一个生存游戏中的竞争者，你所做出的任何自私自利的行为都应该理直气壮，不必愧疚，不必恐惧；第二，它让你相信，即使是乞丐也有高下之分，那些低级的乞丐只能任人辱骂，而那些高级的乞丐却可以凭借一张面具，坐在皇帝的宝座上装模做样、发号施令。