[Owning Books] William Phelps(1)

论藏Owning Books [美国] 威廉·菲尔普斯William Phelps The habits of reading is one of the greatest resources of mankind; and we enjoy reading books that belong to us much more than if they are borrowed. A borrowed book is like a guest in the house; it must be treated with punctiliousness, with a certain considerate formality. 读书的习惯是人类学得知识的最重要的方法之一;我们在阅读属于自己的书时所得到的乐趣,远远大于阅读借来的书时所得的乐趣。一本借来的书就像是家里的一位客人,必须小心翼翼地,以一种十分周到的态度来对待。 You must see that it sustains no damage; it must not suffer while under your roof. You cannot leave it carelessly, you cannot mark it, you cannot turn down the pages, you cannot use it familiarly. And then, some day, although this is seldom done, you really ought to return it. 你务必使它完好无损,使它在家里不遭破坏。你不能漫不经心地随手乱放,你不能在书里做记号,你不能折书页,你不能随便使用它。而且,有一天你得将它归还原处,尽管你很少做到这一点。 But your own books belong to you; you treat them with that affectionate intimacy that annihilates formality. Books are for use, not for show; you should own no book that you are afraid to mark up, or afraid to place on the table, wide open and face down. 但是你自己的书是属于你的,你可以毫无拘束地用一种深情的亲昵态度来对待它们。藏书是为了使用,不是为了炫耀;你害怕做上记号的书,或者不敢摊开翻转过来放在桌上的书,你就不应该拥有它们。 A good reason for marking favorite passages in books is that this practice enables you to remember more easily the significant sayings, to refer to them quickly, and then in later years, it is like visiting a forest where you once blazed a trail. You have the pleasure of going over the old ground, and recalling both the intellectual scenery and your own earlier self. 在书内你所喜欢的段落标上记号的一个重要原因是,这种做法可以使你更容易地记住那些重要的话,很快地查阅它们,若干年后再读到时,就像来到一座你曾在树皮上刻过印痕的森林。你会享受一种重游故地的乐趣,回忆起寓意深邃的景色和你本人早期的自我。Everyone should begin collecting a private library in youth; the instinct of private property, which is fundamental in human beings, can here be cultivated with every advantage and no evils. One should have one's own bookshelves, which should not have doors, glass windows, or keys; they should be free and accessible to the hand as well as to the eye. 每一个人都应在青年时期就始搜集和收藏书籍;人占有私有财产的这种基本的本能,在这里可得以有百利而无一弊地加以培养。人们应该有自己的书柜,书柜应该没有门、玻璃窗或锁;它们应该是开放的、方便的,眼一见到即可伸手取得 The best of mural decorations are books; they are more varied in color and appearance than any wall-paper, they are more attractive in design, and they have the prime advantage of being separate personalities so that if you sit slone in the room in the fire light, you are surrounded with intimate friends. The knowledge that they are there in plain view is both stimulating and refreshing. 最好的墙壁饰物是书,它们的颜色和外观丰富多彩,胜过任何墙纸,它们的图样也更有吸引力。它们还有一个最大的好处:集中了许多各不相同的名人,当你独自坐在室内炉火旁时,你会觉得身边围聚着不少知心朋友。你知道一眼就能看到他们,这是令人既激动又振奋的。 You do not have to read them all. Most of my indoor life is spent in a room containing six thousand books; and I have a stock answer to the invariable question that comes from strangers. " Have you read all of these books?" " Some of them twice." This reply is both true and unexpected. 你不必读遍全部藏书。我的室内生活多半是在一间存放着6000册书的房间里度过的;对于陌生人提出的那个千篇一律的问题,我有一个常备的答案。“这些书你全都读过了吗?”“有些书读过两遍。”这个回答既真实,又出乎他们的意料。 There are of course no friends like living, breathing, corporeal men and women; my devotion to reading has never made me a recluse. How could it? Books are of the people, by the people, for the people. Literature is the immortal part of history; it is the best and most enduring part of personality. 最好的朋友当然是活生生的,能喘气的,有血有肉的男男女女;我对读书的挚爱从未使我成为遁世的隐士。这是怎么做到的?书籍是人所拥有的,由人使用的,为人服务的。文学是历史的永存部分;它是人的品格中最好的、最持久的部分。 Book-friends have this advantage over living friends; you can enjoy the most truly aristocratic society in the world whenever you want it. The great dead are beyond our physical reach, and the great living are usually almost as inaccessible; as for our personal friends and acquaintances, we cannot always see them, Perchance they are asleep, or away on a journey. 书籍朋友较之有生命的朋友有着这样的长处:任何时候只要你愿意,你可以接触到世界上最真正高贵的人们,从他们那儿获得乐趣。已故的伟人是我们无法亲身接触的,而活着的伟人通常几乎也是同样地无法接近的,至于我们个人的朋友和熟人,我们也不能经常看见他们,他们或许已经就寝,或许已经出门旅行去了。 But in a private library, you can at any moment converse with Socrates or Galsworthy. And there is no doubt that in these books you see these men at their best. They wrote for you. They " laid themselves out", they did their best.可是,在你的私人图书馆内,你可以在任何时候同苏格拉底,或莎士比亚,或卡莱尔,或大小仲马,或狄更斯,或萧伯纳,或巴里,或高尔斯华绥交谈。而且毫无疑问,在这些书里,你可以看到这些人正处于他们的最佳状态。 They did their ultimate best to entertain you, to make a favorable impression. You are necessary to them as an audience is to an actor; only instead of seeing them masked, you look into their inmost heart of heart. 他们为你而写作。他们“展示了他们自己”,他们尽力以最好的东西款待你,给你一个好印象。就像观众对演员是必要的一样,你对这些作家是必要的;只不过你不是看见他们戴着面具,而是洞察到了他们内心的最深处。 punctiliousness 小心谨慎 considerate 考虑周到的 formality 拘泥形式 sustain 保持忍受支持 turn down 拒绝 familiarly 亲近地,友好地 annihilate 消灭,取消 mark up 写评注 blaze 燃烧,闪耀 blaze a trail 开拓道路,倡导 accessible to 可使用的 mural 壁饰 prime 首要的 stimulating 使人振奋的 refreshing 使人精神爽快的 stock 常备的 invariable 不变的,始终如一的 recluse 遁世,隐居者 literature 文学,写作 immortal 不朽的,永世的 perchance间或 lay oneself out 尽最大努力 make an impression 留下好印象 A borrowed book is like a guest in the house 一本借来的书就像是家里的一位客人。 经典传诵 You are necessary to them as an audience is to an actor; only instead of seeing them masked, you look into their inmost heart of heart. 他们需要你就像演员需要观众一样,只不过你不是看见他们戴着面具的样子,而是看到了他们的内心最深处。