The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old. The imperial intellects of the world are as much alive now as they were ages ago.

书是人们至仍在聆听的思想回声，永远充满着活力，就如同在他所生活的时代，今天依旧显示着强大的生命力。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

It is simple enough to say that since books have classes-fiction, biography, poetry--we should separate them and take from each what is right that each should give us.

既然书籍有不同的种类，如小说、传记、诗歌等，我们就应该把它们区分开来，并从每种中汲取应当对我们有用的成分。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Yet few people ask from books what books can give us.

然而，很少有人能从书籍中获得书籍所提供的有用价值。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices.

通常我们总心不在焉，毫无目的地去看书:要求小说情节真实，要求诗歌内容虚构，要求传记阿谀奉承，要求历史能加深自己的偏见。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning.

如果我们读书时能抛弃这些偏见，那将是一个令人羡慕的开端。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Do not dictate to your author; try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice.

我们无须盲从作者，而应站在作者的立场上，把自己当成作者的创作伙伴。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

If you hang back, and reserve, and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read.

假如一开始你就退缩不前，持保留甚至批判的态度，就会妨碍自己从阅读中得到最大的益处。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

But if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness, from the twist, and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other.

然而如果你能尽量敞开思想，那么，从开头几句迂回曲折的话里，可以发现那些几乎难以觉察的迹象和暗示，然后会把你引到一个与众不同的人物面前去。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Steep yourself in this, acquaint yourself with this, and soon you will find that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite.

是自己深入进去，进一步体味作者的用心，很快就会领悟作者正在给你或试图给你某些更为明确的东西。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

The thirty-two chapters of a novel--if we consider how to read a novel first--are an attempt to make something as formed and controlled as a building

倘若我们首先考虑怎样读小说，那么，一部小说中的32章就是企图创造出像一座建筑物那样既有形势又能控制的东西

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

But words are more impalpable than bricks, reading is a longer and more complicated process than seeing.

不过词句要比砖块难以捉摸，阅读要比看更费时、更复杂。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Perhaps the quickest way to understand the elements of what a novelist is doing is not to read, but to write, to make your own experiment with the dangers and difficulties of words.

也许理解小说家创作要素的捷径并不是读，而是写作，亲自去尝试写作的艰难。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Recall, then, the street, perhaps, you passed tow people talking a tree shook, an electric light danced, the tone of the talk was comic, but also tragic, a whole vision, an entire conception, seemed contained in that moment.

那么，回想一下给你留下鲜明印象的事项--比如，你走过大街拐角碰见两个人说话时的情景，树在摇曳、灯光在晃动，谈话的语气时喜时悲，这一瞬间就是一个完整的画面，一个整体的构思。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

There are some people, who are proud and wise and practical, who say that it is not in human nature to be generous

有一些很骄傲、明智、实际的人们，他们说，宽厚并不是人类的本性

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

That men will always fight one another, that the strong will conquer the weak, and that there can be no real moral foundation for man’s civilization.

人们将永远互相争斗，强者将会征服弱者，人类的文明是不可能有真实的道德基础。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

We cannot deny the facts of their assertion that the strong have power in the human world, but I refuse to accept this as a revelation of truth

我们不能不论他们所说的强者在人类世界上具有权势这个事实，但我们拒绝把这种说法当作真理的启示而加以接受……

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

We should know that truth, any truth that man acquires, is for everyone.

我们应该知道，真理--人类所获得的任何真理--是为一切人而设的。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

Money and property belong to individuals, to each of you, but you must never exploit truth for your personal aggrandizement; that would be selling God’s blessing for a profit.

金钱和财产属于你们当中的每一个人，但是你们绝对不能利用真理来增长你们个人的财富和权势，因为那样做就等于出卖上帝的恩泽，借以牟利。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

However, science is also truth; it has its place in the healing of the sick, and in giving more food and leisure for life.

可是科学也是真理，它适当的职责在于救治病人，并为人类生活提供更多的食物与闲暇。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝

When it helps the strong crush the weak, and rob those who are asleep, it is using truth for impious ends.

如果它帮助强者去压迫弱者,去掠夺那些在沉睡中的人们，它就是在利用真理去达成不虔敬的目的。

属类：文学表达-外国散文-书海拾贝