By Anonymous
The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality. The absence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is an invariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt will probably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.
Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and the sea. It gleams from the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And not only these minute objects but the oceans, the mountains, the clouds, the stars, the rising and the setting sun ---- all overflow our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think of the multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.
All persons should seek to become acquainted with the beauty in nature. There is not a worm we tread upon , nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls for our study and admiration. The power to appreciate beauty not merely increases our sources of happiness ---- it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels our cares. Go into the fields or the woods, spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, and all your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fears and petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find to beauty of goodness.
Vocabulary:
· condemnation n. 責難，譴責
· condemn vt. 責難，將….判刑
· nobleness n. 高尚，高貴
· all-pervading a.遍布的
· unfold vi.展現
· unfold into … 漸漸開展為
· haunt vt.出沒於；不斷糾纏
· gleam vi.發微光，閃爍
· congenial a.適合的；適意的
· multitude n. 許多，大批
· midst n. 中間
· leaf n. 樹葉(複數為leaves)
· leafy a. 多業的；葉滿枝的
· merrily adv. 快樂的；愉快的
· call for… 需要…
· restlessness n. 浮躁，不安
· dispel vt.驅逐，驅散
· perplexity n.困惑
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Key to Happiness
By James T. Mangan
To help others, you don’t have to be an efficient expert in the art; the main thing is the intention. You may be crude and clumsy, wasteful and ineffective, but if you sincerely try to help, your attempt produces nothing but good. The one you are trying to help knows your intention and is strengthened and encouraged by the magic of your sharing. In nearly every case, your simple desire to help, converted into action, produces the good sought. But perhaps the greatest good is the good that you yourself get out of the attempt. Service to others delivers more joy to you than the joy you deliver to them. In doing good, you free yourself from the terrible burden of self; you escape from yourself into a clean world of joy and light. The good you simply try to do, regardless of the outcome, is always a success inside yourself.
Unselfish giving is your most efficient formula for happiness, for you have embraced Eternity instead of Self; you have felt Life, and you are now the world bigger than you were before you began the project.
Vocabulary:
· crude a.粗魯的，粗俗的
· clumsy a. 笨拙的
· in an attempt to V
· attempt to V
· nothing but + N = only N 除了….都沒；只有/是
· convert A into B 將A轉變為B
· 人+ convert to + 宗教 某人皈依某宗教
· embrace vt. 擁抱
· eternity n.永恆；漫長的時間
· eternal a.永恆的
To help others, you don’t have to be an efficient expert in the art; the main thing is the intention. You may be crude and clumsy, wasteful and ineffective, but if you sincerely try to help, your attempt produces nothing but good. The one you are trying to help knows your intention and is strengthened and encouraged by the magic of your sharing. In nearly every case, your simple desire to help, converted into action, produces the good sought. But perhaps the greatest good is the good that you yourself get out of the attempt. Service to others delivers more joy to you than the joy you deliver to them. In doing good, you free yourself from the terrible burden of self; you escape from yourself into a clean world of joy and light. The good you simply try to do, regardless of the outcome, is always a success inside yourself.
Unselfish giving is your most efficient formula for happiness, for you have embraced Eternity instead of Self; you have felt Life, and you are now the world bigger than you were before you began the project.
Vocabulary:
· crude a.粗魯的，粗俗的
· clumsy a. 笨拙的
· in an attempt to V
· attempt to V
· nothing but + N = only N 除了….都沒；只有/是
· convert A into B 將A轉變為B
· 人+ convert to + 宗教 某人皈依某宗教
· embrace vt. 擁抱
· eternity n.永恆；漫長的時間
· eternal a.永恆的
Friendship
By Orison Swett Marden
No young man starting life could have better capital than plenty of friends. They will strengthen his credit, support him in every great effort, and make him what unaided, he could never be. Friends of the right sort will help him more ---- to be happy and successful ---- than much money or great learning.
Friendship is no one-sided affair. There can be no friendship without reciprocity. One cannot receive all and give nothing, or give all and receive nothing, and expect to experience the joy and fullness of true companionship.
Those who would make friends must cultivate the qualities which are admired and which attract. If you are mean, stingy and selfish, nobody will admire you. You must cultivate generosity and large-heartedness; you must be magnanimous and tolerant; you must have positive qualities, for a negative shrinking, apologizing, roundabout man is despised. You must believe in yourself. If you do not, others will not believe in you. You must look upward and be hopeful, cheery, and optimistic. No one will be attracted to a gloomy pessimist.
Vocabulary:
· capital n. 資金，資本；首都 a. 大寫的
· capitalize vt. 用大寫字母寫 vi. 利用(與介詞 on 並用)
· lowercase a.小寫字體的
· a capital of + 金額 一筆….資金
· unaided a.無幫助的，無援助的
· aid sb in Ving = assist sb in Ving = help sb (to) V
· one-sided a.單方面的
· reciprocity n. 互惠
· cultivate vt. 培養
· stingy a.吝嗇的，小氣的
· generosity a.寬大，慷慨
· magnanimous a.寬宏大量的，有雅量的
· tolerant a. 寬容的，寬大的
· roundabout a. 迂迴的
· despise vt.輕蔑，瞧不起
· optimistic a. 樂觀的 optimist
· pessimistic a. 悲觀的 pessimist
· be optimistic/ pessimistic about
· gloomy a.憂鬱的；黯淡的
No young man starting life could have better capital than plenty of friends. They will strengthen his credit, support him in every great effort, and make him what unaided, he could never be. Friends of the right sort will help him more ---- to be happy and successful ---- than much money or great learning.
Friendship is no one-sided affair. There can be no friendship without reciprocity. One cannot receive all and give nothing, or give all and receive nothing, and expect to experience the joy and fullness of true companionship.
Those who would make friends must cultivate the qualities which are admired and which attract. If you are mean, stingy and selfish, nobody will admire you. You must cultivate generosity and large-heartedness; you must be magnanimous and tolerant; you must have positive qualities, for a negative shrinking, apologizing, roundabout man is despised. You must believe in yourself. If you do not, others will not believe in you. You must look upward and be hopeful, cheery, and optimistic. No one will be attracted to a gloomy pessimist.
Vocabulary:
· capital n. 資金，資本；首都 a. 大寫的
· capitalize vt. 用大寫字母寫 vi. 利用(與介詞 on 並用)
· lowercase a.小寫字體的
· a capital of + 金額 一筆….資金
· unaided a.無幫助的，無援助的
· aid sb in Ving = assist sb in Ving = help sb (to) V
· one-sided a.單方面的
· reciprocity n. 互惠
· cultivate vt. 培養
· stingy a.吝嗇的，小氣的
· generosity a.寬大，慷慨
· magnanimous a.寬宏大量的，有雅量的
· tolerant a. 寬容的，寬大的
· roundabout a. 迂迴的
· despise vt.輕蔑，瞧不起
· optimistic a. 樂觀的 optimist
· pessimistic a. 悲觀的 pessimist
· be optimistic/ pessimistic about
· gloomy a.憂鬱的；黯淡的
Saturday, January 10, 2009
I Have a Dream
I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
I say to you today, my friends, that is in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have dream that one day “every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning:
My country, ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my father died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
(an excerpt from “I have a Dream” by Martin Luther King)
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
I say to you today, my friends, that is in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have dream that one day “every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning:
My country, ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my father died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!
And if America is to be great nation this must become true.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
(an excerpt from “I have a Dream” by Martin Luther King)
Vocabulary:
· promissory adj. 許諾的、保證的
· inalienable adj.不可剝奪的、密不可分的
· sacred adj.神聖的
· desolate adj.荒涼的
· creed n.[C] 信念、理念
· swelter vi. 熱得難受
· oppression n.[U] 壓迫
· exalt vt. 提高；讚揚
· crooked adj. 彎曲的
· discord n.[C,U] 不和諧的聲音；不協調
· spiritual n.[C] 黑人靈歌；adj. 心靈的、精神上的
· vault n.[C] 金庫、保險庫
· sunlit adj. 陽光照耀的
· quicksand n.[C,U]流沙
· oasis n.[C] 綠洲
· hew vt. 砍、劈
· jangle vi. 發出刺耳的聲響
· pilgrim n.[C] 朝聖者(此處指早期來到美洲的英國清教徒)
· hamlet n.[C] 小村落
· Jew n.[C] 猶太人
· Gentile n.[C] 非猶太人
· Protestant n.[C] 清教徒
· fall heir to 成為….繼承人
· rise up (against sb./sth.) 起義、反叛
· live out 實踐、身體力行
· (up)on demand 一經要求
· promissory adj. 許諾的、保證的
· inalienable adj.不可剝奪的、密不可分的
· sacred adj.神聖的
· desolate adj.荒涼的
· creed n.[C] 信念、理念
· swelter vi. 熱得難受
· oppression n.[U] 壓迫
· exalt vt. 提高；讚揚
· crooked adj. 彎曲的
· discord n.[C,U] 不和諧的聲音；不協調
· spiritual n.[C] 黑人靈歌；adj. 心靈的、精神上的
· vault n.[C] 金庫、保險庫
· sunlit adj. 陽光照耀的
· quicksand n.[C,U]流沙
· oasis n.[C] 綠洲
· hew vt. 砍、劈
· jangle vi. 發出刺耳的聲響
· pilgrim n.[C] 朝聖者(此處指早期來到美洲的英國清教徒)
· hamlet n.[C] 小村落
· Jew n.[C] 猶太人
· Gentile n.[C] 非猶太人
· Protestant n.[C] 清教徒
· fall heir to 成為….繼承人
· rise up (against sb./sth.) 起義、反叛
· live out 實踐、身體力行
· (up)on demand 一經要求
Friday, January 9, 2009
如何閱讀一本書
作者: Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren
摘要:
· 閱讀的層次:
1. 基礎閱讀
2. 檢視閱讀
3. 分析閱讀
4. 主題閱讀
· 如何做一個自我要求的讀者
回答四個幾本問題:
1. 整體來說，這本書到底在談寫什麼?
2. 作者細部說了什麼，怎麼說的?
3. 這本書說得有道理嗎? 是全部有道理，還是部分有道理?
4. 這本書跟你有什麼關係?
· 作筆記的方法:
1. 畫底線
2. 在畫底線處的欄外再加畫一道線
3. 在空白處做星號或其他符號
4. 在空白處編號
5. 在空白處記下其他頁碼
6. 將關鍵字或句子圈出來
7. 在頁碼的空白處做筆記
· 筆記的類型與閱讀層次
1. 結構筆記：檢視閱讀
2. 概念筆記：分析閱讀
3. 主題筆記：主題閱讀
· 檢視閱讀的方法
A. 有系統的略讀或粗讀
1. 先看書名頁，如果有序就看序。
2. 研究目錄頁。
3. 如果書中附有索引，也要檢閱一下。
4. 讀一下作者的介紹。
5. 挑幾個看來跟主題息息相關的篇章來看。
6. 最後一步，把書打開來，東翻翻西翻翻，念個一、兩段，有時候連續讀幾頁，但不要太多。
B. 粗淺的閱讀
§ 頭一次面對一本難讀的書的時候，從頭到尾先讀完一遍，碰到不懂的地方不要停下來查詢或思索。
§ 閱讀的速度: 因書因目的而調整。秘方:在閱讀一本書的時候，慢不該慢到不值得，快不該快到有損於滿足與理解。
§ 矯正眼睛逗留或倒退的卻失
· 分析閱讀的三個階段
A. 找出一本書在談什麼的規則
1. 依照書的種類與主題來分類。
2. 使用最簡短的文字說明整本書在談些什麼。
3. 將主要部分案順序與關聯性列出來。將全書的大崗烈出來，並將各個部分的大綱也列出來。
4. 確定作者想要解決的問題。
B. 詮釋一本書的內容規則
5. 詮釋作者的關鍵字，與他達成共識。
6. 又最重要的句子中，抓到作者的重要主旨。
7. 知道作者的論述是什麼，從內容中找出相關句子，在重新架構出來。
8. 確定作者已經解決了哪些問題，還有哪些是沒解決的。在判斷哪些事作者知道他沒解決的問題。
C. 像是溝通知失一樣的評論一本書的規則
I. 智慧禮節的一般規則
9. 除非你已經完成大綱架構，也能全是整本書，否則不要輕易評論。
10. 不要爭強好勝，非辯到底。
11. 在說出評論之前，你要能證明自己區別得出真正的知識與個人觀點的不同。
II. 批評觀點得特別標準
12. 證明作者的知識不足。
13. 證明作者的知識錯誤。
14. 證明作者不合邏輯。
15. 證明作者的分析與理由是不完整的。
· 主題閱讀的步驟
A. 觀察研究的範圍：主題閱讀的準備階段
1. 針對你要研究的主題，設計一份試驗性的書目。你可以參考圖書館的目錄、專家的建議、與書中的書目索引。
2. 瀏覽這份書目上所有的書，確定哪些與你的主題相關，並就你的主題建立起清楚的概念。
B. 主題閱讀：閱讀所有第一階段收集到的書籍
1. 瀏覽第一階段被認可與你主題相關的書，找出最相關的章節。
2. 根據主題創造出一套中立的詞彙，帶引作者與你達成共識------無論作者是否實際用到這些詞彙，所有的作者，或至少絕大部分的作者都可以用這套詞彙來詮釋。
3. 建立一個中立的主旨，列出一連串的問題------無論作者是否明白談過這些問題，所有的作者，或者至少大多數作者都要能解讀為針對這些問題提供了他們的回答。
4. 界定主要及次要議題。然後將作者針對各個問題的不同意見整理陳列在各個議題之旁。你要記住，各個作者之間或之中，不見得一定存在某個議題。有時候，你需要針對一些不是作者主要關心範圍的事情，把他的觀點解讀，才能建構出這種議題。
5. 分析這些討論。這得把問題和議題按順序排列，以求凸顯主題。比較有共通性的議題，要放在比較沒有共通性的議題之前。各個議題之間的關係也要清楚地界定出來。
注意: 理想上，要一直保持對話式的疏離與客觀。要做到這一點，每當你要解讀某個作者對一個議題的觀點時，必須從他自己的文章中引一段話來並列。
Newsweek: A Plan of Attack for Piece
Newsweek, Jan 12, 2009, p.28-p.31
This is a cover story of n the current situation in Mideast written by Daniel Klaidman.
War is diplomacy in the Middle East. It is still true today as Israel continues its attack on Hamas in Gaza, that were prompted by Hamas missile strikes on Israel. On Dec. 27 2008, Israeli ground forces began to move in Gaza. This military action was not just a reaction but also a calculation. Olmert, the prime minister of Israel, first wants to stop missiles which Hamas was sending into Israel and to force to renewal of the ceasefire. Second he wants to crush Hamas completely.
Looking for ”peace process” has been failed many times. There are many difficult details to be worked out: the exact border of a two-state compromise; the fate of Palestinian refugees; the future of Jerusalem. President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will face these challenges.
This is a cover story of n the current situation in Mideast written by Daniel Klaidman.
War is diplomacy in the Middle East. It is still true today as Israel continues its attack on Hamas in Gaza, that were prompted by Hamas missile strikes on Israel. On Dec. 27 2008, Israeli ground forces began to move in Gaza. This military action was not just a reaction but also a calculation. Olmert, the prime minister of Israel, first wants to stop missiles which Hamas was sending into Israel and to force to renewal of the ceasefire. Second he wants to crush Hamas completely.
Looking for ”peace process” has been failed many times. There are many difficult details to be worked out: the exact border of a two-state compromise; the fate of Palestinian refugees; the future of Jerusalem. President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will face these challenges.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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
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
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