Companionship of Books

British|Samuel Smiles

A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps, for there is a companionship of books as well as of men, and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling1us in age. Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual lovethey have for a book. The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize2with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together and he, in them. A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out, for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished3, become our constant companions and comforters. Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products, for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.

Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.

热词天地

1.console[kən'səʊl] vt．安慰，慰问，抚慰

2.sympathize['sɪmpəˌθaɪz] vi．同情；赞同；支持

3.cherish['tʃerɪʃ] vt．珍爱；钟爱；怀念

as well as 也，又

whether…or…是……还是……

in times of在……的时刻；在……的时期