第3單元　弗朗西斯?培根

Of Marriage and Single Life

1Is marriage an impediment or help to one’s career development?

Key: Sometimes, marriage can be an impediment, and sometimes, it can help one develop his or her career as well, because it depends on the quality of the marriage. As the saying goes “A peaceful family will prosper”, so we can say that husbands and wives can benefit a lot from good marriages, while a terrible marriage will ruin both sides. In a good marriage, husband and wife will be happier, and they will help and encourage each other, which will be good for their careers. On the contrary, in an unhappy marriage, husband and wife usually quarrel a lot and things tend to be worse.

2In what sense are wife and children “a kind of discipline of humanity”?

Key: A single man has no others to think about, so he is likely to think of himself and spend a lot of money on himself. What’s more, he tends to take any risk if he wants to, for he does not need to be responsible for anyone. However, a married man cannot be so go-as-you-please, because he has wife and children, and he must be responsible for them. Furthermore, he has to work hard to fulfill his wife and children’s expectation. He becomes a loving man, who not only loves his wife and children, but also loves others. A loving husband and a qualified father can contribute the greatest merit to the public to a large extent. In this sense, we can say that wife and children are “a kind of discipline of humanity”.

3Bacon prefers marriage to single life. Do you find his arguments convincing?

Key: Yes, I think Bacon’s arguments are convincing. He proves his points by comparison. He clearly points out the disadvantages of single life and the advantages of marriage. For instance, a single person only cares about himself, and does not pay attention to the future; a married man tends to become responsible, tender, enthusiastic and warm-hearted. As the sentence goes “wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses” which means that when a man is young, his wife can make many decisions and arrangements for the family; when he comes to middle age, wife always stays with him as a companion; when he becomes old, wife will take care of him till the end of life. Even though a woman marries a bad husband, marriage offers a chance for husband to correct themselves. These points all are reasonable, which make Bacon’s arguments very convincing.

Of Study

1We are now living in the age of “information explosion”. What lessons can we learn from Bacon’s “Of Studies” in our access to information?

Key: According to Bacon’s opinion: “studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience”. We should combine theory and practice together. That is, practicing what we have learned is quite important.

Bacon’s idea that “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.” also teaches us to use different methods of reading in terms of the quality and content of the book. When we face information, we should do some selections rather than easily trust them all. More importantly, we should have an independent mind.

2In what sense does reading make a full man?

Key: As Bacon says “Histories make men wise, poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend”, we can know that different books and subjects have their different influences on people. Some books can make people wiser and make fewer mistakes; some books can make people wittier and more sensible to beauty; some books can make people think in a more scientific and accurate way…So reading can cultivate and better a man. In this sense, reading makes a full man.