Of Studies [🏛️公版经典 B2]
📖 阅读导读
弗朗西斯・培根是英国文艺复兴时期著名哲学家、散文家，《Of Studies》出自《培根随笔集》，1625 年定稿，是西方散文史上不朽的短篇。
这篇短文凝练地探讨读书的价值、读书的误区与读书方法。培根提出：读书可以怡情、增文采、增长处事才干，但不能死读书。他那句 “有些书浅尝，有些书吞食，少数需要咀嚼消化” 流传至今。
文章句式多用排比，语言精炼古朴。作为 B2 原版精读材料，重点学习并列结构、虚拟语气、古英语遗留词汇，适合备考四六级、雅思的学习者精读。
🇬🇧 英文原文
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 pruning 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. 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. 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. 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 sectores. 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.
🇨🇳 中文译文（本站自译）
读书可以带来乐趣、增添谈吐文采，也能提升处事能力。独处隐居之时，最能体会读书带来的愉悦；与人交谈之间，学识能彰显谈吐的风雅；而在判断、处理事务时，学识最能发挥才干。
精通实务的人，可以落地执行，逐一判断细碎琐事。但宏观谋划、统筹安排事务，唯有博学之人最为擅长。
花费过多时间读书是懒惰；一味依靠学识装点言谈，属于矫揉造作；完全套用书本教条做判断，则是书呆子的习气。
学问可以完善人的天性，经验又可以完善学问。天赋如同野生草木，需要依靠读书修剪；而书本给出的道理容易空泛，必须经由经验约束，才能落地。
心机世故之人轻视读书，浅薄之人仰慕读书，智者善用读书。书本本身不会告诉你如何运用知识；用书的智慧超脱书本之外，依靠日常观察习得。
读书不要存心去辩驳质疑，不要全盘采信、视为理所当然，也不要只为搜集谈资；读书的目的，是权衡与思考。
有些书只需浅尝，有些可以粗略通读，仅有少数需要细品、消化。也就是说，部分书只读节选，部分书粗略浏览不必深究，少数好书则要完整精读、专心研读。
次要题材、价值一般的书籍，可以读他人整理的摘要；但若是好书，提炼摘要后的内容如同蒸馏白水，寡淡无味。
读书使人学识充实，讨论使人反应敏捷，写作使人严谨精确。因此很少写作的人，必须拥有超强记忆力；很少与人讨论的人，需要天生机敏；很少读书的人，则需要靠伪装，假装知晓自己本不懂的事物。
读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人缜密，自然哲学使人深刻，伦理学使人庄重，逻辑修辞使人善辩。学问会沉淀为人的品性。心智中的任何障碍，都可以通过合适的学习化解，正如身体疾病可以通过运动调理。
滚石锻炼肾脏；射箭有益于胸肺；慢走养护肠胃；骑行有益头脑。同理，如果人心思涣散，就学数学；数学推导一旦分心，就必须从头再来。
若一个人不擅长辨析差异，就读经院学者著作，他们擅长辨析毫厘；若不擅长层层梳理、类比论证，就研读法律判例。心智的每一种缺陷，都有对应的读书良方。
📚 重点词汇
- ornament /ˈɔːnəmənt/n. 装饰；谈吐文采
- disposition /ˌdɪspəˈzɪʃn/n. 安排，处置
- particulars /pəˈtɪkjʊləz/n. 细节，琐事
- sloth /sləʊθ/n. 懒惰，怠惰
- affectation /ˌæfekˈteɪʃn/n. 矫揉造作
- prune /pruːn/v. 修剪（草木）；删减
- contemn /kənˈtem/v. 蔑视，轻视（书面古词）
- confute /kənˈfjuːt/v. 驳斥，驳倒
- diligence /ˈdɪlɪdʒəns/n. 勤勉，认真
- deputy /ˈdepjuti/n. 代理人；by deputy 由他人代做
- extract /ˈekstrækt/n. 摘录，选段
- flashy /ˈflæʃi/adj. 华而不实，空洞乏味
- rhetoric /ˈretərɪk/n. 修辞学；辩术
- impediment /ɪmˈpedɪmənt/n. 阻碍，障碍
- cunning /ˈkʌnɪŋ/n. 狡黠，巧妙
🔍 长难句语法解析
1. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.
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> 平行结构（parallelism），培根散文标志性写法。三个介词短语并列作目的状语，句式工整，增强气势，B2 精读重点句式，写作可模仿。
2. 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.
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> 分号连接并列句；`for`在这里是连词，表原因 = because；`won by observation`是过去分词后置定语，修饰 wisdom，意为 “通过观察获得的智慧”。`without them`：在书本之外。
3. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
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> 省略结构，others 后面省略 are；`be to be done`不定式被动结构，表 “应当被……”，属于正式书面表达。
4. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
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> maketh = makes（古英语第三人称单数后缀）；后两句均省略动词，高度凝练排比，英语散文经典名句。
5. 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.
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> 虚拟式 be wandering，古体虚拟语气，现代英语多用 is wandering；`never so little` = even a little，哪怕一点点。