毕业前，导师推荐给我一本书——《生活的艺术》，林语堂先生的作品，封皮上还著名“内参”。看来，是那个时代出版的。

书中的种种议论，其实可以用林先生所推崇的《半半歌》来归纳，谓之为生活的中庸之道。

中庸之道，还真是玄妙。

一、《半半歌》（李密庵）全文：
看破浮生过半，“半”之受无用边。半中岁月尽幽闲，半里乾坤开展。半郭半乡村舍，半山半水田园。半耕半读半经廛，半士半民姻眷。半雅半粗器具，半华半实庭轩；衾裳半素半轻鲜，肴馔半丰半俭。童仆半能半拙；妻儿半朴半贤；心情半佛半神仙；姓字半藏半显。一半还之天地；让将一半人间；半思后代与沧田，半想阎罗怎见。饮酒半酣正好，花开半时偏妍；半帆张扇免翻颠，马放半缰稳便。半少却饶滋味，半多反厌纠缠；百年苦乐半相参；会占便宜只半。
[注]：看破浮生过半，一作“看破红尘过半”；半里乾坤开展，也有版本为“半里乾坤宽展”。
二、《半半歌》英译（林语堂）：
The Half-and-Half Song
By far the greater half have I seen through
This floating life——ah,there\'s a magic word——
This "half"——so rich in implications.
It bids us taste the joy of more than we
Can ever own.Half-way in life is man\'s
Best state,when slackened pace allows him ease;
A wide world lies half-way\'twixt heaven and earth;
TO live in huts half-way between the town and country.
Have farms half-way between the streams and hills;
Be half-a-farmer,and half-a-scholar,and half
In business;half as gentry live,
And half related to the common folk;
And have a house that\'s half genteel,half plain,
Half elegantly furnished and half bare;
Dresses and gowns that are half plain,half light and bright.
And food half epicure\'s,half simple fare;
Have servants half clever and half dull;
A wife and children half simple and half smart——
So then,at heart,I feel I\'m half a Buddha,
And almost half a Taoist fairy blest,
And have a name half-known and half obscure.
One half myself to Father Heaven I
Return;the other half to children leave——
Half thinking how for my posterity
To plan and provide,and yet half minding how
To answer the God of Hell when my body\'s laid at rest.
He is most wisely drunk who is half drunk;
And flowers in half-bloom look their prettiest;
As boats at half-sail sail the steadiest,
And horses held at half-slack reins trot best.
Who half too much has,adds anxiety;
But half too little,adds possession\'s zest.
Since life\'s a compound of half sweet and half bitter,
Who tastes but half is wisest and cleverest.