327、英语小故事（英汉对照）“读书的价值”

The Value of Reading

You do not need to read a book for the book's sake（目的）, but for your own.

你看书不是为了书，而是为了你自己。

You may read because in your high-pressure life, studded with（布满） problems and emergencies,

你看书可能是因为在你高压而又满是问题和紧急情况的生活中，

you need periods of relief and yet recognize that peace of mind does not mean numbness（麻木） of mind.

你需要片刻放松，但又认识到内心平静不意味着头脑麻木。

You may read because you never had an opportunity to go to college, and books give you a chance to get something you missed.

你看书可能是因为你没有机会上大学，而书则给了你机会去追求你错过的东西。

You may read because your job is routine, and books give you a feeling of depth in life.

你看书可能因为你的工作是日常事务，而书则给了你一种生活的深度。

You may read because you did go to college.

你看书可能因为你去上了大学。

You may read because you see social, economic and philosophical problems which need solution,

你看书可能因为你看到有社会、经济和哲学问题需要解决，

and you believe that the best thinking of all past ages may be useful in your age, too.

而你相信过去时代中最好的思想在你的时代可能也同样有用。

You may read because you are tired of the shallowness（浅） of contemporary life,

你看书可能是因为你厌倦了当代生活的浅薄，

bored by the current conversational commonplaces, and wearied（厌倦） of shop talk and gossip about people.

厌倦了时下的日常寒暄，厌倦了商店里的闲言碎语和他人的蜚语流言。

Whatever your dominant personal reason, you will find that reading gives knowledge, creative power, satisfaction and relaxation.

无论你看书的主要原因是什么，你会发现阅读会带给你知识、创造力、满足感和放松。

It cultivates your mind by calling its faculties into exercise.

它通过锻炼你的头脑机能来培养你的思维。

Books are a source of pleasure — the purest and the most lasting.

书籍是快乐的源泉——最为纯洁，最为持久。

They enhance your sensation of the interestingness of life.

书籍增强了你对生活乐趣的感知。

Reading them is not a violent pleasure like the gross enjoyment of an uncultivated（未开化的） mind, but a subtle（微妙的） delight.

阅读书籍不像粗野之人享受的那种强烈的快乐，而是一种微妙的喜悦。

Reading dispels prejudices which hem（包围） our minds within narrow spaces.

阅读能消除把我们的思想禁锢在狭小空间里的偏见。

One of the things that will surprise you as you read good books from all over the world and from all times of man is that

当你博览全世界的好书，读遍各个时代优秀作家的名作，有一件事会令你感到惊讶，

human nature is much the same today as it has been ever since writing began to tell us about it.

那就是人类本性从写作最开始讲述它那天起到今天为止，几乎一直没变。

Some people act as if it were demeaning to them to wish to be well-read,

有些人表现得好像希望博览群书是对他的贬低，

but you can no more be a healthy person mentally without reading substantial books than you can be a vigorous（尽力充沛的） person physically without eating solid food.

但如果你没有阅读过大量书籍就无法成为精神健康的人，就像你不吃固体食物就无法精力充沛一样。