培根“Of studies”(附王佐良中译文)

Francis Bacon

Of Studies∗

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 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.To spend too much time in studies is sloth;to use them too much for ornament,is affectation;to make judgment wholly by their rules,is the humor 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 mores.1Nay,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.Bowling is good for the stone and reins;shooting for the lungs and breast;gentle walking for the

∗THE ESSAYS OR COUNSELS,CIVIL AND MORAL,OF FRANCIS Ld.VERULAM VISCOUNT ST.ALBANS

1Studies pass into the character.

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 sectores2.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.

談讀書♣

讀書足以怡情，足以傅彩，足以長才。其怡情也，最見於獨處幽居之時；其傅彩也，最見於高談闊論之中；其長才也，最見於處世判事之際。練達之士雖能分別處理細事或一一判別枝節，然縱觀統籌、全局策劃，則捨好學深思者莫屬。讀書費時過多易惰，文采藻飾太盛則矯，全憑條文斷事乃學究故態。讀書補天然之不足，經驗又補讀書之不足，蓋天生才幹猶如自然花草，讀書然後知如何修剪移接；而書中所示，入不以經驗範之，則又大而無當。有一技之長者鄙讀書，無知者羡讀書，惟明智之士用讀書，然書並不以用處告人，用書之智不在書中，而在書外，全憑觀察得之。讀書時不可存心詰難作者，不可盡信書上所言，亦不可祇為尋章摘句，而應推敲細思。書有可淺嚐者，有可吞食者，少數則須咀嚼消化。換言之，有祇須讀其部分者，有祇須大體涉獵者，少數則須全讀，讀時須全神貫注，孜孜不倦。書亦可請人代讀，取其所作摘要，但祇限題材較次或價值不高者，否則書經提煉猶如水經蒸餾，淡而無味矣。

讀書使人充實，討論使人機智，筆記使人準確。因此不常作筆記者須記憶特強，不常討論者須天生聰穎，不常讀書者須欺世有術，始能無知而顯有知。讀史使人明智，讀詩使人靈秀，數學使人周密，科學使人深刻，倫理學使人莊重，邏輯修辭之學使人善辯：凡有所學，皆成性格。人之才智但有滯礙，無不可讀適當之書使之順暢，一如身體百病，皆可借相宜之運動除之。滾球利睾腎，射箭利胸肺，慢步

2Dividers of cumin seeds,or hair-splitters

♣王佐良译：《英国诗文选译集》（北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1980），p.7&p.9