培根名篇:《论读书》何新译文

 

1． Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.

何新译文：读书可以作为消遗，可以作为装饰，也可以增长才干。

 

 

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

何新译文：孤独寂寞时，阅读可以消遣。高谈阔论时，知识可供装饰。处世行事时，正确运用知识意味着才干。

 

 

3．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.

何新译文：懂得事务因果的人是幸运的。有实际经验的人虽能够处理个别性的事务，但若要综观整体，运筹全局，却唯有学识方能办到。

 

 

4．To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affection; to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. 

何新译文：读书太慢会驰惰，为装潢而读书是欺人，只按照书本办事是呆子。

 

 

5．They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in experience.

何新译文：求知可以改进人性，而经验又可以改进知识本身。人的天性犹如野生的花草，求知学习好比修剪移裁。学问虽能指引方向，但往往流于浅泛，必须依靠经验才能扎下根基。

 

 

6．Crafty men contempt 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.

何新译文：狡诈者轻鄙学问，愚鲁者羡慕学问，聪明者则运用学问。知识本身并没有告诉人怎样运用它，运用的智慧在于书本之外。这是技艺，不体验就学不到。读书的目的是为了认识事物原理。

 

 

7．Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

何新译文：为挑剔辩驳去读书是无聊的。但也不可过于迷信书本。求知的目的不是为了吹嘘炫耀，而应该是为了寻找真理，启迪智慧。

 

 

8．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.

何新译文：为挑剔辩驳去读书是无聊的。但也不可过于迷信书本。求知的目的不是为了吹嘘炫耀，而应该是为了寻找真理，启迪智慧。

 

 

9．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.

何新译文：有的书可以请人代读，然后看他的笔记摘要就行了。但这只应限于不太重要的议论和质量粗劣的书。否则一本书将象已被蒸馏过的水，变得淡而无味了。

 

 

10．Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

何新译文：读书使人充实，讨论使人机敏，写作则能使人精确。

 

 

11．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.

何新译文：因此，如果有人不读书又想冒充博学多知，他就必须很狡黠，才能掩饰无知。如果一个人懒于动笔，他的记忆力就必须强而可靠。如果一个人要孤独探索，他的头脑就必须格外锐利。

 

 

12．Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to content. Abeunt studia in mores.

何新译文：读史使人明智，读诗使人聪慧，演算使人精密，哲理使人深刻，道德使人高尚，逻辑修辞使人善辩。总之，“知识能塑造人的性格”。

 

 

13．Nay there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises.

何新译文：不仅如此，精神上的各种缺陷，都可以通过求知来改善——正如身体上的缺陷，可以通过适当的运动来改善一样。

 

 

14．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.

何新译文：例如打球有利于腰背，射箭可扩胸利肺，散步则有助于消化，骑术使人反应敏捷，等等。

 

 

15．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.

何新译文：同样，一个思维不集中的人，他可以研习数学，因为数学稍不仔细就会出错。

 

 

16．If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores.

何新译文：缺乏分析判断力的人，他可以研习形而上学，因为这门学问最讲究繁琐辩证。

 

 

17．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.

何新译文：不善于推理的人，可以研习法律案例，如此等等。

 

 

18．So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

何新译文：这种种心灵上的缺陷，都可以通过求知来治疗。