There is no end to the making of books. Nor does there seem to be any end to the making of lists of "great books". There have always been more books than anyone could read. And as they have multiplied through the centuries, more and more * blueribbon lists have had to be made.
書籍源源不斷地問世，因此選定“名著”書目的工作似乎也無(wú)止境。書總是多得讀不勝讀。多少世紀(jì)以來(lái)，書籍的數(shù)量與日俱增，越來(lái)越多的名著佳作書目有待選定。
No matter how long your life, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. You can rejoice in the fact that the number of such is relatively small.
不管你在世上活多久，充其量也只能瀏覽浩瀚書海中的極小部分，而且在這些你讀過的少數(shù)書中應(yīng)包括經(jīng)典名著。事實(shí)上，經(jīng)典名著為數(shù)很少，你可為此而感到慶幸。
The listing of the best books is as old as reading and writing. The teachers and librarians of ancient Alexandria did it. Quintilian did it for Roman education, selecting, as he said, both ancient and modern classics. In the Renaissance, such leaders of the revival of learning as Montaigne and Erasmus made lists of the books they read.
人們開始了讀書和寫作的活動(dòng)，同時(shí)也就開始了編選最佳書目的工作。古代亞歷山大城的教師和圖書管理人員就曾做過這種工作。羅馬修辭學(xué)家昆提連為羅馬教育也做過這項(xiàng)工作，他說(shuō)過，他選定了古今經(jīng)典名著。文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)文藝復(fù)興運(yùn)動(dòng)的學(xué)者，如法國(guó)的蒙田和荷蘭的伊拉茲馬斯都曾把他們讀過的書籍編制目錄。
It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity11 in the lists which represent the best choices of any period. In every age, the list makers include both ancient and modern books in their selections, and they always wonder whether the moderns are up to the great books of the past.
人們預(yù)料，隨著時(shí)代的變遷，選擇書籍的方向會(huì)有所改變；然而，無(wú)論哪個(gè)時(shí)代，選定的名著佳作書目卻令人驚異地一致。每個(gè)時(shí)代，編目人都把古代和現(xiàn)代佳作選進(jìn)書目，但他們卻一直懷疑，現(xiàn)代著作是否能趕上古代名著。
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The six I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I've found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
評(píng)定名著的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是什么？下面提出的六點(diǎn)可能不夠全面，但它們都是我多年來(lái)選定標(biāo)準(zhǔn)最有用的依據(jù)。
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. Gone With The Wind has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or Don Quixote. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer's Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
名著或許閱讀者最多。它們不是一、二年的暢銷書籍，而是經(jīng)久不衰的暢銷書籍。《飄》的讀者與莎士比亞戲劇或《堂·吉訶德》相比，數(shù)目有限。在過去的3000年里，荷馬的《伊利亞特》史詩(shī)讀者至少有2500萬(wàn)，這樣的估計(jì)不會(huì)是無(wú)稽之談。
A great book need not even be a best seller in its own day. It may take time for it to accumulate its ultimate audience. The astronomer Kepler, whose work on the planetary motions is now a classic, is reported to have said of his book that "it may wait a century for a reader, as God has waited 6000 years for an observer."
一部名著無(wú)須在問世之際就成為暢銷書籍，讀者數(shù)量的積累需要時(shí)日。16世紀(jì)德國(guó)天文學(xué)家開普勒關(guān)于行星運(yùn)動(dòng)的著作現(xiàn)已成為經(jīng)典名著；但據(jù)說(shuō)，當(dāng)時(shí)他對(duì)該書曾講過這樣一句話，“這本書可能要等上一個(gè)世紀(jì)才有一個(gè)讀者，就像上帝等了6000年才有了一個(gè)天文觀察者一樣。”
Great books are popular, not-pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they be philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
名著絕不引經(jīng)據(jù)典，艱深難懂，而是通俗易讀。它們不是專家為專業(yè)人員撰寫的專業(yè)書籍。無(wú)論是哲學(xué)、科學(xué)、還是歷史、詩(shī)歌等方面的名著，所探討的都是人類的普遍性問題，而不是學(xué)術(shù)性問題。它們面向大眾，而不是專家教授。閱讀高級(jí)教科書，必須先讀初級(jí)課本。名著探討的是一切問題的基本道理；從這一意義上說(shuō)，它們可視為初級(jí)課本。它們各自之間沒有聯(lián)系，不像一套教科書那樣，按照書中問題的難易程度，或?qū)I(yè)的深淺分級(jí)別類。
There is one kind of prior reading, however, which does help you to read a great book, and that is the other great books the author himself read. Let me illustrate this point by taking Euclid's Elements of Geometry and Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Euclid requires no prior study of mathematics. His book is generally an introduction to geometry, and to basic arithmetic as well. The same cannot be said for Newton, because Newton uses mathematics in the solution of physical problems. His style shows how deeply he was influenced by Euclid's treatment of ration and proportions. His book is, therefore, not readily intelligible, even to scientists, unless Euclid has been read before.
這里有一個(gè)前人閱讀的書目，完全可以幫助你加深對(duì)一部名著的理解，這就是名著作者本人讀過的其他名著書目。讓我以歐幾里得的《幾何學(xué)大綱》和牛頓的《自然哲學(xué)的數(shù)學(xué)原理》二書為例，來(lái)證明這一點(diǎn)。閱讀歐幾里得幾何學(xué)無(wú)須先學(xué)習(xí)數(shù)學(xué)，他的書，概括地講，是幾何學(xué)入門，也是基礎(chǔ)數(shù)學(xué)入門。而牛頓的書則不同，因?yàn)樗褂脭?shù)學(xué)解釋物理問題。牛頓書中的寫法表明，他深受歐幾里得對(duì)量和比例分析的影響。因此，如果事先沒讀過歐幾里得幾何學(xué)，牛頓的書是不易理解的，即使科學(xué)家也是如此。
I am not saying that great scientific books can be read without effort. I am saying that if they are read in an historical order, the effort is rewarded. Just as Euclid illuminates Newton and Galileo, so they in turn help to make Einstein31 intelligible. The point applies to philosophical books as well.
我并不是說(shuō)，可以不費(fèi)氣力地讀懂科學(xué)名著。我是說(shuō)，如果按照歷史順序閱讀它們，則不會(huì)徒勞。正如歐幾里得的幾何學(xué)幫助人們理解牛頓和伽利略的著作一樣，它們又可幫助人們讀懂愛因斯坦的書。這一點(diǎn)也適用于哲學(xué)名著。
Great books are always contemporary. In contrast, the books we call "contemporary", because they are currently popular, last only for a year or two, or ten at the most. You probably cannot recall the names of many earlier best sellers, and you probably would not be interested in reading them. But the great books are never outmoded32 by the movement of thought or the shifting winds of doctrine33 and opinion.
名著永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)落后于時(shí)代。與此相反，有一些稱為“當(dāng)代作品”的書籍，風(fēng)靡一時(shí)，只暢銷一年或兩年，最多不過十年。你很可能記不起許多早年的暢銷書名，也可能無(wú)何興趣去讀它們；但名著絕不會(huì)因思潮的改變或?qū)W說(shuō)與見解的風(fēng)向而過時(shí)。
People regard the "classics" as the great has-beens, the great books of other times. "Our times are different," they say. On the contrary, the great books are not dusty remains for scholars to investigate, they are, rather, the most potent civilizing forces in the world today.
人們往往視“經(jīng)典著作”為過時(shí)的名著，其他時(shí)代的名著。他們說(shuō)，“我們這個(gè)時(shí)代不同了。”經(jīng)典名著絕不是供學(xué)者鉆研的故紙堆，恰恰相反，它們是今日世界上最強(qiáng)大的文明力量。
The fundamental human problems remain the same in all ages. Anyone who reads the speeches of Demosthenes and the letters of Cicero, or the essays of Bacon and Montaigne, will find how constant is the preoccupation of men with happiness and justice, with virtue and truth and even with stability and change itself. We may accelerate the motions of life, but we cannot seem to change the routes that are available to its goals.
在歷史的各個(gè)時(shí)代，人類的基本問題都是相同的。凡是讀過古希臘演說(shuō)家德摩斯梯尼演講集，古羅馬政治家西塞羅書簡(jiǎn)集，或培根和蒙田論文集的人，都不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們都在專心不懈地探索幸福和公正，美德和真理，甚至連其永恒性和變化性也在探索之中。我們也許可以加快生活的步伐，但似乎無(wú)法改變達(dá)到生活目的所必由之路。
Great books are the most readable. They will not let you down if you try to read them well. They have more ideas per page than most books have in their entirety. That is why you can read a great book over and over again and * never exhaust its contents41.
名著雋永耐讀。如果讀法得當(dāng)，你就會(huì)感到開卷有益。名著一頁(yè)上的思想內(nèi)容多于許多書籍的整本內(nèi)容，這就是一部名著可以反復(fù)閱讀，每讀必有所獲的道理。
They can be read at many different levels of understanding, as well as with a great diversity of interpretations. Obvious examples are Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe and the Odyssey. Children can read them with enjoyment, but fail to find therein all the beauty and significance which delight an adult mind.
名著可雅俗共賞，理解深淺程度不同，見仁見智，詮釋各異。明顯的例子有《格利佛游記》，《魯濱遜飄流記》和《奧德賽》。兒童雖不能領(lǐng)略書中深為大人喜愛的優(yōu)美文筆和深刻含義，但讀起來(lái)同樣津津有味。
Great books are the most instructive. This follows from the fact that46 they are original communications; they contain what cannot be found in other books. Whether you ultimately agree or disagree with what they say, these are the primary teachers of mankind; they have made the basic contributions to human thought.
名著最有啟發(fā)教益，因?yàn)樗鼈兌加歇?dú)創(chuàng)的見解，包含了其他書籍未見的內(nèi)容。不管人們最終是否贊同書中所述，它們?nèi)匀皇侨祟愔腔鄣膯⒚衫蠋?，?duì)人類思想史作出了根本性的貢獻(xiàn)。
It is almost unnecessary to add that the great books are the most influential books. In the tradition of learning, they have been most discussed by readers who have also been writers. These are the books about which there are many other books — countless and, for the most part, forgotten.
毋庸贅言，名著最有影響力。在學(xué)術(shù)研究的傳統(tǒng)中，許多本人也是作家的讀者，討論研究各種名著很多，并著書發(fā)表己見，這樣的書籍?dāng)?shù)不勝數(shù)，絕大部分已被世人遺忘。
Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Inquiry not only begins with wonder, but usually ends with it also. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.
名著探討的是人生長(zhǎng)期未解決的問題。世界上確實(shí)存在人類知識(shí)與思維尚不能解釋的奧秘。對(duì)問題的探討不僅始于驚奇，往往也終于驚奇。偉大的思想家會(huì)坦誠(chéng)地承認(rèn)奧秘的存在。這種對(duì)個(gè)人局限性的認(rèn)識(shí)和承認(rèn)，并無(wú)損于人類的智慧，反而會(huì)增長(zhǎng)智慧。
It is our privilege, as readers, to belong to the larger brotherhood of man which recognizes no national boundaries. I do not know how to escape from the strait-jacket of political nationalism. I do know how we become friends of the human spirit in all its manifestations, regardless of time and place. It is by reading the great books.
我們感到榮幸的是，做為廣大讀者，我們都從屬于一個(gè)沒有國(guó)家界線的、更為廣闊的人類團(tuán)體。雖然我不知道如何擺脫政治民族主義的束縛，但卻知道如何成為不受時(shí)間、地點(diǎn)限制的，通過各種形式表現(xiàn)出來(lái)的人類精神的朋友，這就是通過閱讀名著。
