Companionship of Books 以書為伴（節選）
A man may usually be known by the books he reads aswell as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as wellas of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be ofbooks or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It isthe same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the mostpatient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in timesof adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusingand instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by themutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover afriend by the admirationwhich both entertain for athird. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there ismore wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higherbond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other throughtheir favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshriningthe best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for themost part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries ofgood words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become ourconstant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are byfar the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, butbooks survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as freshtoday as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. Whatwas then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from theprinted page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products;for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bringus into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear whatthey said and did; we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize withthem, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and wefeel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which theydescribe.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed （銘記於心）in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. Itis an intellect to which on still listens.
通常看壹個讀些什麽書就可知道他的為人，就像看他同什麽人交往就可知道他的為人壹樣，因為有人以人為伴，也有人以書為伴。無論是書友還是朋友，我們都應該以最好的為伴。
好書就像是妳最好的朋友。它始終不渝，過去如此，現在如此，將來也永遠不變。它是最有耐心，最令人愉悅的伴侶。在我們窮愁潦倒，臨危遭難時，它也不會拋棄我們，對我們總是壹如既往地親切。在我們年輕時，好書陶冶我們的性情，增長我們的知識；到我們年老時，它又給我們以慰藉和勉勵。
人們常常因為喜歡同壹本書而結為知已，就像有時兩個人因為敬慕同壹個人而成為朋友壹樣。有句古諺說道：“愛屋及屋。”其實“愛我及書”這句話蘊涵更多的哲理。書是更為真誠而高尚的情誼紐帶。人們可以通過***同喜愛的作家溝通思想，交流感情，彼此息息相通，並與自己喜歡的作家思想相通，情感相融。
好書常如最精美的寶器，珍藏著人生的思想的精華，因為人生的境界主要就在於其思想的境界。因此，最好的書是金玉良言和崇高思想的寶庫，這些良言和思想若銘記於心並多加珍視，就會成為我們忠實的伴侶和永恒的慰藉。
書籍具有不朽的本質，是為人類努力創造的最為持久的成果。寺廟會倒坍，神像會朽爛，而書卻經久長存。對於偉大的思想來說，時間是無關緊要的。多年前初次閃現於作者腦海的偉大思想今日依然清新如故。時間惟壹的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因為只有真正的佳作才能經世長存。
書籍介紹我們與最優秀的人為伍，使我們置身於歷代偉人巨匠之間，如聞其聲，如觀其行，如見其人，同他們情感交融，悲喜與***，感同身受。我們覺得自己仿佛在作者所描繪的舞臺上和他們壹起粉墨登場。
即使在人世間，偉大傑出的人物也永生不來。他們的精神被載入書冊，傳於四海。書是人生至今仍在聆聽的智慧之聲，永遠充滿著活力。
·第四篇：If I Rest,I Rust 如果我休息，我就會生銹
If I Rest, I Rust
The significant inscription found on an old key---“IfI rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted withthe slightest(半點) bit of idleness. Even themost industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminderthat, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key,they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work requiredof them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept bygreat men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they mayunlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to theprofessions, to science, art, literature, agriculture---every department ofhuman endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasuryof achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry(采石場礦產),had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become afamous geologist. The celebrated（著名的） mathematician, Edmund Stone,would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the keyto science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, hadthe little Scotch lad（小夥子）, Ferguson, allowed the busybrain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead ofcalculating the position of the stars by a string of beads（珠子）,he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, orill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward awell-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of nobleand enduring success.
·第四篇：如果我休息，我就會生銹
在壹把舊鑰匙上發現了壹則意義深遠的銘文——如果我休息，我就會生銹。對於那些懶散而煩惱的人來說，這將是至理名言。甚至最為勤勉的人也以此作為警示：如果壹個人有才能而不用，就像廢棄鑰匙上的鐵壹樣，這些才能就會很快生銹，並最終無法完成安排給自己的工作。
有些人想取得偉人所獲得並保持的成就，他們就必須不斷運用自身才能，以便開啟知識的大門，即那些通往人類努力探求的各個領域的大門，這些領域包括各種職業：科學，藝術，文學，農業等。
勤奮使開啟成功寶庫的鑰匙保持光亮。如果休·米勒在采石場勞作壹天後，晚上的時光用來休息消遣的話，他就不會成為名垂青史的地質學家。著名數學家愛德蒙·斯通如果閑暇時無所事事，就不會出版數學詞典，也不會發現開啟數學之門的鑰匙。如果蘇格蘭青年弗格森在山坡上放羊時，讓他那思維活躍的大腦處於休息狀態，而不是借助壹串珠子計算星星的位置，他就不會成為著名的天文學家。
勞動征服壹切。這裏所指的勞動不是斷斷續續的，間歇性的或方向偏差的勞動，而是堅定的，不懈的，方向正確的每日勞動。正如要想擁有自由就要時刻保持警惕壹樣，要想取得偉大的，持久的成功，就必須堅持不懈地努力。
·第五篇：Ambition 抱負
Ambition
It is not difficult to imagine a world short ofambition. It would probably be a kinder world: with out demands, withoutabrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Suchwork as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity.Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension becomea thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would nolonger be troubling, but purely celebratory歡樂的in its functions. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die ofheart attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct.Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.
Ah, how unrelieved未減輕的boring life would be!
There is a strong view that holds that success is amyth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does notreally exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men andwomen are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events nownot all success, obviously, is worth esteeming（尊重）,nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is somethingone soon enough learns on one’s own. But even the most cynical secretly admitthat success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that thetrue myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believeotherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging.(打亂)It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for competence, interest inattainment, and regard for posterity（子孫）.
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose ourparents. We do not choose our historical epoch新紀元,the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. Wedo not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions ofour death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how weshall live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purposeor in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decidethat what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do.But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions,these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as wedecide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destinyis what ambition is about.
我們來決定什麽使我們有意義，通過我們做什麽或者我們拒絕做什麽，但是不管這個世界對我們的選擇與決定多麽漠視，這些選擇與決定的掌握權始終在我們手裏。
壹個缺乏抱負的世界將會怎樣，這不難想象。或許，這將是壹個更為友善的世界：沒有渴求，沒有磨擦，沒有失望。人們將有時間進行反思。他們所從事的工作將不是為了他們自身，而是為了整個集體。競爭永遠不會介入；沖突將被消除。人們的緊張關系將成為過往雲煙。創造的重壓將得以終結。藝術將不再惹人費神，其功能將純粹為了慶典。人的壽命將會更長，因為由激烈拼爭引起的心臟病和中風所導致的死亡將越來越少。焦慮將會消失。時光流逝，抱負卻早已遠離人心。
啊，長此以往人生將變得多麽乏味無聊！
有壹種盛行的觀點認為，成功是壹種神話，因此抱負亦屬虛幻。這是不是說實際上並不豐在成功？成就本身就是壹場空？與諸多運動和事件的力量相比，男男女女的努力顯得微不足？顯然，並非所有的成功都值得景仰，也並非所有的抱負都值得追求。對值得和不值得的選擇，壹個人自然而然很快就能學會。但即使是最為憤世嫉俗的人暗地裏也承認，成功確實存在，成就的意義舉足輕重，而把世上男男女女的所作所為說成是徒勞無功才是真正的無稽之談。認為成功不存在的觀點很可能造成混亂。這種觀點的本意是壹筆勾銷所有提高能力的動機，求取業績的興趣和對子孫後代的關註。
我們無法選擇出生，無法選擇父母，無法選擇出生的歷史時期與國家，或是成長的周遭環境。我們大多數人都無法選擇死亡，無法選擇死亡的時間或條件。但是在這些無法選擇之中，我們的確可以選擇自己的生活方式：是勇敢無畏還是膽小怯懦，是光明磊落還是厚顏無恥，是目標堅定還是隨波逐流。我們決定生活中哪些至關重要，哪些微不足道。我們決定，用以顯示我們自身重要性的，不是我們做了什麽，就是我們拒絕做些什麽。但是不論世界對我們所做的選擇和決定有多麽漠不關心，這些選擇和決定終究是我們自己做出的。我們決定，我們選擇。而當我們決定和選擇時，我們的生活便得以形成。最終構築我們命運的就是抱負之所在。