每日一譯:書籍到了我的手里,我的習(xí)慣是先看序文,次看目錄。

字號(hào):

1. 書籍到了我的手里,我的習(xí)慣是先看序文,次看目錄。頁(yè)數(shù)不多的往往立刻通讀,篇幅大的,只把正文任擇一二章節(jié)略加翻閱,就插在書架上。除小說(shuō)外,我少有全體讀完的大部的書,只憑了購(gòu)入當(dāng)時(shí)的記憶,知道某冊(cè)書是何種性質(zhì),其中大概有些什么可取的材料而已。什么書在什么時(shí)候再去讀再去翻,連我自己也無(wú)把握,完全要看一個(gè)時(shí)期一個(gè)時(shí)期的興趣。關(guān)于這事,我常自比為古時(shí)的皇帝,而把插在架上的書譬諸列屋而居的宮女。
    As soon as a new book comes to hand, I always read the preface first and then the table of contents. If it happens to be a thin one, I often finish reading it at one sitting. Otherwise, I often browse through one or two chapters or sections before putting it onto my bookshelf. I seldom read a thick book from cover to cover unless it is a novel. By dint of the first impression it made on me at the time of buying, I have a rough idea of what a book is about and what useful materials in it are available to me. But I have little idea which book is to be read or looked over again at what time. It is completely subject to the whims of the moment. This often prompts me to liken myself and the books on my shelves respectively to an ancient emperor and his concubines housed separately in a row of adjoining rooms.
    2. It may be said that the measure of the worth of any social institution is its effect in enlarging and improving experience, but this effect is not a part of its original motive. (33 words) (英譯漢)
    可以說(shuō),要衡量任何社會(huì)制度的價(jià)值,就要看它對(duì)擴(kuò)大和改進(jìn)經(jīng)驗(yàn)方面的影響,但是這種影響并不是其原來(lái)動(dòng)機(jī)的一部分。