佚名/Anonymous

人類世世代代的聰明才智，以及幾百年來愉悅?cè)藗兊墓适拢伎梢暂p松實惠地從書中獲得。不過，我們必須懂得利用知識，進而獲得最大收益。世上最不幸的人是那些從未體會過閱讀佳作所帶來的快樂的人。

我對人很感興趣，對他們本身和了解他們同樣興趣十足。我認(rèn)識的一些卓越的人物只存在于作家的想象中，出現(xiàn)在作家的作品之中，最后變成我的想象。我從書中結(jié)識了新朋友，擴大了社會知識，也學(xué)到了新的語言。

如果說我是對人干興趣，那么其他人則是關(guān)注方式方法而非人物。書中的人物可謂豐富多彩，不僅有科幻小說中描寫的兩萬年后的超人，還可以追溯到歷史上最早的人。方式方法則是千奇百怪的，包括對福爾摩斯偵探故事的巧妙敘述，到科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)和管教孩子的方法。

讀書是一種精神享受，有點兒像體育運動。善于讀書的人需要強烈的求知欲、豐富的知識和敏捷的反應(yīng)。讀書之所以是一種樂趣，并不在于作者告訴你什么，而是因為讀書使你積極思考。在作者的引導(dǎo)下，你的想象任意馳騁，甚至超越作者的想象。對比作者的經(jīng)歷，你會得出自己的結(jié)論，也許相同，也許相悖，而隨著你對作者思想的理解，你也會變得越來越深刻。

每一部書都獨自存在，猶如獨戶房子。而圖書館的書籍則像城市中的建筑。盡管它們各成一體，但共同構(gòu)成一個整體。不僅它們之間相互關(guān)聯(lián)，而且也與其他城市相互聯(lián)系。相同或相近的看法會在不同的地方出現(xiàn)。文學(xué)作品中反映的就是人們生活中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的事情，但在不同時期作者的處理大相徑庭。書籍之間也相互影響，它們傳承過去，體現(xiàn)現(xiàn)在，預(yù)測將來，相互聯(lián)系，代代相傳，形同各個家族。不管你從何時讀起，都會有一種觀點與你相符。長遠來看，你不僅從書中了解世界，體驗別人的生活，也會認(rèn)識你自己。

只有你誠心讀書，閱讀才會成為一種樂趣。假如你讀的是別人認(rèn)為“該”讀的書，你很可能覺得索然無味。假如你放下自己不喜歡的書，另試一本直到發(fā)現(xiàn)自己覺得有意義的書，然后輕松地讀下去，你肯定會感到心情暢快。假如你因閱讀而變的更加高尚、聰明、善良和文雅，讀書就不再是一種負(fù)擔(dān)了。

All the wisdom of the ages，all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries，are easily and cheaply available to all of us within the covers of books but we must know how to avail ourselves of this treasure and how to get the most from it.The most unfortunate people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books.I am most interested in people，in them and finding out about them.Some of the most remarkable people I’ve met existed only in a writer’s imagination，then on the pages of his book，and then，again，in my imagination.

I’ve found in books new friends，new societies，new words.If I am interested in people，others are interested not so much in who as in how.Who in the books includes everybody from science fiction superman two hundred centuries in the future all the way back to the first figures in history.How covers everything from the ingenious explanations of Sherlock Holmes to the discoveries of science and ways of teaching manner to children.Reading is pleasure of the mind，which means that it is a little like a sport：your eagerness and knowledge and quickness make you a good reader.Reading is fun，not because the writer is telling you something，but because it makes your mind work.Your own imagination works along with the author’s or even goes beyond his.Your experience，compared with his，brings you to the same or different conclusions，and your ideas develop as you understand his.Every book stands by itself，like a one-family house，but books in a library are like houses in a city.

Although they are separate，together they all add up to something，they are connected with each other and with other cities.The same ideas，or related ones，turn up in different places；the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in literature，but with different solutions according to different writings at different times.Books influence each other；they link the past，the present and the future and have their own generations，like families.Wherever you start reading you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas，and in the long run，you not only find out about the world and the people in it；you find out about yourself，too.Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be.If you concentrate on books somebody tells you you“ought”to read，you probably won’t have fun.But if you put down a book you don’t like and try another till you find one that means something to you，and then relax with it，you will almost certainly have a good time—and if you become，as a result of reading，better，wiser，kinder，or more gentle，you won’t have suffered during the process.