第二冊(cè)第10篇：談讀書
Virginia Woolf 維吉尼亞.吳爾夫
It is simple enough to say that since books have class- es -- fiction, biography, poetry -- we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall(1) be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author; try to become him(2). Be his fellow-worker and accomplice. If you hang back, and reserve and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness, from the twist and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this, acquaint yourself with this(3), and soon you will find' that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite. The thirty-two chapters of a novel- if we consider how to read a novel first -- are an attempt to make something as formed and controlled as a building: but words are more impalpable than bricks; reading is a longer and more complicated process than seeing. Perhaps the quickest way to understand the elements of what a novelist is doing is not to read, but to write; to make your own experiment with the dangers and difficulties of words. Re- call, then, some event that has left a distinct impression on you- how at the corner of the street, perhaps, you passed two people talking. A tree shook; an electric light danced; the tone of the talk was comic, but also tragic; a whole vision, an entire conception, seemed contained in that moment.
中文譯文：
既然書籍有不同的門類，如小說、傳記、詩(shī)歌等，我們就應(yīng)該把它們區(qū)分開來，并從每種書中汲取它應(yīng)當(dāng)給我們提供的正確的東西，這話說起來固然容易，然而，很少有人要求從書籍中得到它們所能提供的東西。通常我們總是三心二意帶著模糊的觀念去看書：要求小說情節(jié)真實(shí)，要求詩(shī)歌內(nèi)容虛構(gòu)，要求傳記阿諛奉承，要求歷史能加深我們自己的偏見。如果我們讀書時(shí)能拋棄所有這些成見，那將是一個(gè)極可貴的開端。我們對(duì)作者不要指手劃腳，而應(yīng)努力站在作者的立場(chǎng)上，設(shè)想自己在與作者共同創(chuàng)作。假如你退縮不前，有所保留并且一開始就批評(píng)指責(zé)，你就在妨礙自己從你所讀的書中得到最大的益處。然而，如果你能盡量敞開思想，那么，書中開頭幾句迂回曲折的話里所包含的幾乎難以覺察的細(xì)微的跡象和暗示，就會(huì)把你引到一個(gè)與眾不同的人物的面前去。如果你深入下去，如果你去認(rèn)識(shí)這個(gè)人物，你很快就會(huì)領(lǐng)悟作者正在給你或試圖給你某些明確得多的東西。倘若我們首先考慮怎樣讀小說，那么，一部小說中的三十二章就是企圖創(chuàng)造出象一座建筑物那樣既有一定的形式而各部分又受到控制的東西：不過詞匯要比磚塊難以捉摸，閱讀的過程要比看一看更費(fèi)時(shí)、更復(fù)雜。理解小說家創(chuàng)作工作的各項(xiàng)要素的捷徑也許并不是閱讀，而是寫作，而是親自試一試遣詞造句中的艱難險(xiǎn)阻。那么，回想一下給你留下鮮明印象的某些事---比如，你怎樣在大街的拐角處從兩個(gè)正在交談著的人身邊走過。樹在搖曳，燈光在晃動(dòng)，談話的語氣既喜又悲，這一瞬間似乎包含了一個(gè)完整的想象，一個(gè)整體的構(gòu)思。
英文注釋：
(1)shall：應(yīng)該，必須。用于陳述句的第三人稱中，表示說話人的意愿。
(2)try to become him：應(yīng)努力站在作者的立場(chǎng)上。become在這里用作及物動(dòng)詞，解作(“配合”、“適應(yīng)”)。
(3)acquaint yourself with…; 使(你)自己認(rèn)識(shí)(了解)……。
