All the wisdom of the ages,all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries,are easily and cheaply available to all of us within the covers of books but we must know how to
avail（avail [a·vail || ə'veɪl]n. 效用; 協助; 利益; 利潤
v. 有用於; 有助於; 有益於; 有協助; 有益於; 有用） ourselves of this treasure and how to get the most from it.The most unfortunate people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books. I am most interested in people,in them and finding out about them.Some of the most remarkable people I've met existed only in a writer's imagination,then on the pages of his book,and then,again,in my imagination.I've found in books new friends,new societies,new words. 人類世世代代的聰明才智,千百年來令人們陶醉的故事,都可以輕而易舉而又無需耗費許多錢財便從書中獲得.不過,我們必須知道如何擷取這一財富並從中吸取最大的教益.世上最不幸者就是那些從未領略過閱讀佳作樂趣的人. 我對人極感興趣,對人本身以及發現人生都感興趣.我所結識的一些最卓越的人物僅寓於作家的想象之中,生活於他的某些作品中,然後又存在於我的想象之中,我從書中結識了新朋友,瞭解了新的社會形式,也學會了新的言詞.If i am interested in people,others are interested not so much in who as in how.Who in the books includes everybody from science fiction superman two hundred centuries in the future all the way back to the first figures in history.How covers everything from the ingenious explanations of Sherlock Holmes to the discoveries of science and ways of teaching manners to children. Reading is pleasure of the mind,which means that it is a little like a sport: your eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader.Reading is fun,not because the writer is telling you something,but because it makes your mind work.Your own imagination works along with the author's or even goes beyond his.Your experience,compared with his,brings you to the same or different conclusions,and your ideas develop as you understand his. 如果說我是對人感興趣,那麼其他人的興趣則在於如何而不是人物.書中的人物可以包括從科幻小說中描寫的兩百世紀以後的超人,直到曆史上最早的人;而如何則包括從關於福爾摩斯對案情的巧妙敘述到眾多的科學發現及教育孩子識禮的方法. 讀書是精神享受,也就是說讀書有點像體育運動:你的求知慾望、你的知識和機智敏捷使你成為一個善於讀書的人.讀書之所以是一種樂趣,並非因為作者向你講述了什麼,而是因為讀書使你開動腦筋思考.你的想象隨作者的想象馳騁,甚至超越作者的想象.你的經曆與作者的經曆相應對比,使你得出與他相同或不同的結論,而隨著你對作者思想的理解,你的思想也會有所發展.Every book
stands by itself,like a one-family house,but books in a library are like houses in a city.Although they are separate,together they all add up to something,they are connected with each other and with other cities.The same ideas,or related ones,turn up in different places;the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in literature,but with different solutions according to different writings at different times.Books influence each other;they link the past,the present and the future and have their own generations,like families.Wherever you start reading you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas,and in the long run,you not only find out about the world and the people in it;you find out about yourself,too. Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be.If you concentrate on books somebody tells you you “ought” to read,you probably won't have fun.But if you put down a book you don't like and try another till you find one that means something to you,and then relax with it,you will almost certainly have a good time--and if you become,as a result of reading,better,wiser,kinder,or more gentle,you won't have suffered during the process. 每一部書都有如獨門獨戶的房舍,
孑然自立.而圖書館的藏書則像城市中鱗次櫛比的建築,儘管它們各成一體,但卻共同構成一個整體;不僅它們之間相互關聯,而且也與其它城市相互聯絡.相同的或者相關聯的觀點,在不同的地方出現.人類生活中反覆遇到的問題在文字作品中也反覆出現,但其解決方案在不同時期的不同作品中卻大相徑庭.書本之間相互影響,把過去、現在、將來緊密地聯絡起來,一代一代,形同各個家族.無論你從何時何地讀起,你都會把自己同某一觀點聯絡起來;而從長遠來看,你不僅僅從書中瞭解世界,理解人生,你也會認識你自己. 只有你把讀書當作一種樂趣,它才成其為樂趣.假如你把注意力放在別人告訴你“該”讀的書上,你很可能覺得索然寡味.但是,假如你放下自己不喜歡的書,另試一本,直到找到對自己有意義的書,然後心情輕鬆地讀下去,那麼,幾乎可以肯定,你會感到其樂無窮.假如你由於博覽群書而變得更為高尚、聰慧、善良、文雅,你就不會覺得讀書是一種負擔了.
