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, 1 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 2 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 [Studies pass into and influence manners]. 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; 3 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 [splitters of hairs]. 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.
译文:
我译Of Studies (论读书)
读书可作娱乐，可修身，可增长才干。 娱乐在于独处静谧之时；修养表现在人的谈吐之中；而才干则体现在处事之中。行家做事能涉及细枝末节，但论纵观全局非博学者莫属。 读书耗时过多无异于怠惰；读书多供装饰则显得矫揉造作；读而不思，按书照搬，则实为书呆子所为。人之天性如自然之花木，需学问的修剪，方可弥缺补拙；而学问本身无边无际，需经验加以约束。投机的人藐视学问，无知的人羡慕之，而智者运用学问；且这是一种学问之外而高于学问的智慧，需要通过观察得以实现。读书不可带有抵触之情；也不可对书中内容深信不疑，理所当然；更不可把读书当作谈资；而要适当掂量和思考。有的书浅尝辄止，有的书需要吞咽，少部分书则要咀嚼消化；即，有的书只需部分阅读，有的书不必深入阅读，而极少部分书需通读，并且投入时间精力。有的书也可找人代读，吸收别人提炼的观点；但是这种方式只限于不太重要的论述和相对劣等的书籍，因为经人提炼的书籍犹如蒸馏水淡而无味。读书使人充实，交谈使人机敏，写作使人心思缜密。因此如果一个人写得少，他就需要好记性；如果他很少交谈，他就要才思敏捷；而如果他读的少，他就要学会取巧。读史使人明智，读诗育人才思，数学教人敏锐，哲学使人深刻，道德予人庄重，逻辑修辞赋人雄辩之才。 总之[读书养性]. 并且，只要读书有当，就能弥补心智不足；这就好像适当锻炼可以医治百病一样。如打保龄有益于结识和肾，射击有益于胸肺，散步养胃，骑马健脑等等。故心智游离者可多练数学，因为数学需全神贯注，稍有分散注意，就要重新思考。难辨差异者可多读经院哲学，因其细微之处犹如毛发。不善断事或用一物阐证另一物者，令其多读律师案卷。如此凡头脑有缺陷的人都能对症下药，获得专门的医治。