如果每種只能讀一篇……

以一個偷懶的假設開始：如果各種體裁的英語讀物中每種只讓你讀一篇，那麼作為中國的英語學習者的你該讀什麼呢？

這本是一個不切實際的假設，讀書是不能這樣讀的。但這也等於從另一個角度提出了你對相關知識系統所知曉程度的問題，而這卻是有意義的。

這當然還有一個個人的興趣愛好的問題。但讀書卻是一個本質上理性十分強的行為，更多的情況下，我們個人的愛好還真需要讓位於基於理性的判斷。這就好像我們的飲食一樣：我們的口味千差萬別，但為了生存和健康，我們常常需要選擇一些可能我們最喜歡——當然絕不能是最討厭——的食物。

如果讓我選擇一篇英語詩歌，那我會選

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer』s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer』s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm"d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature』s changing course untrimm"d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow』st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander』st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow』st:

So long as men canbreathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this,and this gives life to thee.

我選擇的理由是：詩歌是「感情的自然流淌」（spontaneous overflow of feelings），而最熾烈的感情莫過於愛情，再由莎士比亞這樣一位英語國家最偉大的文壇巨匠表達出來，難道還不是排名第一的詩歌嗎？

如果讓我從《聖經》中選擇一篇，那我會選

David"s Psalm 23

The Lord is myshepherd,

I shall not want;

He maketh me lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside still waters;

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name』s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil;

For Thou art with me;

Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shalt follow me all the days of my life;

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

我選擇的理由是：宗教經典是與人的信仰有關的，而這篇是基督徒最常用的祈禱文。

如果讓我選擇一篇戲劇的台詞，那我會選

Soliloquy in Scene 1, Act III ofHamletby Shakespeare

To be, or not to be, thatis the question:

Whether 』tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to: 』tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep—

To sleep, perchance to dream, ay there』s the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil

Must give us pause. There』s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life:

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th』 oppressor"s wrong, the proud man"s contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law"s delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th』 unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o』er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

我選擇的理由是：戲劇是解讀人生的，而人生最重要的話題莫過於生命的意義和價值。

其餘的選擇：

選一部小說——Pride and Prejudice。理由：小說本質上就是以藝術的手法記錄人們的生活。這部小說以極其高超的手法講述的是愛情、家庭、友情這些生活中最常見而又最重要的主題。在所有寫給成年人的作品中，這部小說的語言絕對不算是難的。

選一部歷史——The Story of Mankind。理由：民國時期的大師們（如郁達夫）都說它好。這是寫給普通人看的歷史書。

選一部講寫作的書——Elements of Style。理由：不止一個外教說過（網上也有類似的話）它是「the Writers" Bible」。

選一部講修辭的書——Classical Rhetorics for Modern Students。理由：原理講得清晰，例子舉得明白。

選一部哲學史方面的書——The Story of Philosophy。理由：我們能搞到手的，就這本最好。

…… ……

喜歡這篇文章嗎？立刻分享出去讓更多人知道吧！