1、 第一篇： Of Study论学习 (Francis Bacon) Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert and execute, and perhaps judge of partic
2、ulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best form those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect
3、 nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them;
4、 for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. （从此背起，注意有些单词为古英语并不是拼写错误） Some books are to be tasted, others t
5、o be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would
6、 be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man； conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little， he had need have a great memory; if he con
7、fer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtitle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in morse.（这句译成现代
8、英语就是 “Studies pass into and influence manners“.翻译成中文就是凡有所学皆成性格）背诵至此！ Nay there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle
9、walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a mans wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for
10、they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. 论 读 书 读书足以怡情，足以博彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其傅彩也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，
11、然纵观统筹、全局策划，则舍好学深思者莫属。读书费时过多易惰，文采藻饰太盛则矫， 全凭条文断事乃学究故态。读书补天然之不足，经验又补读书之不足，盖天生才干犹如自然花草，读书然后知如何修剪移接；而书中所示，如不以经验范之，则又大而无当。有一技之长者鄙读书，无知者羡读书，唯明智之士用读书，然书并不以用处告人，用书之智不在书中，而在书外，全凭观察得之。读书时不可存心诘难作者，不可尽信书上所言，亦不可只为寻章摘句，而应推敲细思。书有可浅尝者，有可吞食者，少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之，有只须读其部分者，有只须大体涉猎者，少数则须全读，读时须全神贯注，孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读，取其所作摘要，但只限题材较 次或价
12、值不高者，否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏、淡而无味矣。 读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。因此不常作笔记者须记忆特强，不常讨论者须天生聪颖，不常读书者须欺世有术，始能无知而显有知。读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，伦理学使人庄重，逻辑修辞之学使人善辩：凡有所学，皆成性格。人之才智但有滞碍，无不可读适当之书使之顺畅，一如身体百病，皆可借相宜之运动除之。滚球利睾肾，射箭利胸肺，慢步利肠胃，骑术利头脑，诸如此类。如智力不集中，可令读数学，盖演题须全神贯注，稍有分散即须重演；如不能 辨异，可令读经院哲学，盖是辈皆吹毛求疵之人；如不善求同，不善以一物阐证另一物，可令读律师之案卷。
13、如此头脑中凡有缺陷，皆有特药可医。（王佐良先生译 第二篇： Frankness-By Robert E. Lee 论坦诚 You must study to be frank with the world: frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do, on every occasion. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you
14、 cannot. You would wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one. The man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly but firmly with all your classmates. You will find it the policy which wears best. Above
15、 all, do not appear to others what you are not. If you have any fault to find with any one, tell him, not others, of what you complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to do one thing before a mans face and another behind his back. We should say and do nothing to the i
16、njury of any one. It is not only a matter of principle, but also the path of peace and honor. 参考译文 在世间必须学会以真诚示人：率真乃是诚实与勇敢之子。无论在何种场合，都应该道出自己的真实想法。如果朋友对你有所求，对于合情合理之请，应该欣然同意；不然，应该明明白白地告诉朋友拒绝的理由。任何模棱两可的话语将会让别人误解，也会使自己蒙受冤屈。 千万不要为了结交朋友或者挽留友情而做错一事。对你有这种要求的人也会付出沉重的代价。与同学真心相对，绝不背叛。你将发现这是最有效用的准则。总之，要以真实面目示人。
17、如果发现某人身有瑕疵，直接告诉他你的意 见，而不是诉之他人。人前一套，背后又是一套，没有什么比这更加危机四伏。任何有损他人的言语或者事情我们都应该避免。这不仅是一种做人的原则，而且也是通向平和的人际关系、获得他人尊敬之道。 第三篇： Letter to a Young Friend-Benjamin Franklin My dear friend： I know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural inclination you mention; and if I did, I think I should not commun
18、icate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of man, and therefore the state in which you will find solid Happiness. Your Reason against entering into it at present appears to be not well founded. The Circumstantial Advantages you have in view by postponing it are not
19、 only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that makes the complete human Being, Separate she wants his force of Body and Strength of Reason; he her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they a
20、re most likely to succeed in the World. A single man has not nearly the value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors. If you get a prudent, health wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortu
21、ne sufficient. Your Affectionate Friend 参考译文 给年轻朋友的一封信 本杰明富兰克林 我知道没有药物能够消除你们所提到的那种疯狂的自然倾向 ;即使我知道 ,我想我也不该告诉你 .婚姻是适当的药物。它是人类最本能的状态 , 因此是一种最幸福的生活状态。你拒绝现在进入婚姻殿堂的理由显的不够充分 .你认为推迟婚姻可能存在好处 ,不仅不一定实现，而且 ,那些利益跟婚姻本身以及婚后的安定相比起来就微不足道了。男人和女人只有联合起来才能组成完整的人 .女人缺乏男人的力量和周密的推理 ,而男人缺乏女人的温柔、感性和敏锐的洞察力。因此当男人和女人联合起来。就能够无往不胜
22、。单身和离婚生活的男男女女不可能具有婚姻生活中的价值，是一种不完善的动物。他简直好比半把剪刀 -孤掌难鸣。 如果你拥有一位健康而谨慎的妻子，你的辛勤工作，加上她的勤俭节约，必定会创造充足的财富。 您真挚的朋友 第四篇： Love your life-Henry David Thoreau/享利 .大卫 .梭罗 However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you ar
23、e richest. The fault-finder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich mans abode; the snow melts before
24、 its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The towns poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that t
25、hey are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means. Which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, Turn the o
26、ld, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. 不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒 骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我
27、看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他 们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。 第五篇： I have a dream 节选 I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will
28、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, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition“ and “nullification“ - one day right there in Alab
29、ama 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 a 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 th
30、e 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, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this fait
31、h, 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. （至少
32、背诵到此！余下为全文给大家参考） And this will be the day - this will be the day when all of Gods children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring! And if A
33、merica is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Co
34、lorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And whe
35、n this happens, when we allow 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 Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and
36、sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! 第六篇： The joys of writing-Winston Churchill 丘吉尔 The fortunate people in the world the only really fortunate people in the world, in my mind, are those whose work is also their pleasure.
37、The class is not a large one, not nearly so large as it is often represented to be; and authors are perhaps one of the most important elements in its composition. They enjoy in this respect at least a real harmony of life. To my mind, to be able to make your work your pleasure is the one class disti
38、nction in the world worth striving for; and I do not wonder that others are inclined to envy those happy human beings who find their livelihood in the gay effusions of their fancy, to whom every hour of labor is an hour of enjoyment, to whom repose however necessary is a tiresome interlude. And even a holiday is almost deprivation. Whether a man writes well or ill, has much to say or little, if he cares about writing at all, he will appreciate the pleasures of
