Companionship of Books

By Samuel Smiles

A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity of distress. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the love they each have for a book. The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he, in them.

A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out, for, the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temple and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors’ minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page.

Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.

Vocabulary:
· turn one’s back upon sb.: 背棄某人
· in time of… : 處於…時期
· adversity: n. 逆境、患難
· adverse: a. 敵對，不利的
· distress: n. 困難；痛苦、苦惱　＆ vt. 使痛苦、始苦惱
· amuse ：v. 娛樂、使開心
· console: vt. 安慰、慰問
· affinity: n. 喜愛、吸引力
· sympathize: vi. 同情；看法一致、有同感
· urn: n. 甕 ;此處指寶藏
· enshrine: vt. 置於神櫃內；祀奉；此為”珍藏”
· essence: n. 本質
· immortality: n. 不死、不朽性
· by far + 最高級性容詞: 最最
· vividly: adv. 鮮明地，歷歷在目地
· as + adj./adv. + as ever: 非常地
· grieve : vi. 悲傷 (常與 over 並用) & vt. 使悲傷
· in a / some measure = to a certain degree