As more schools are set up today, learning is compulsory. It is an Ought, even worse, a Must, enforced by regular hours and rigid discipline. And the young sneer at the Oughts and resist the Musts with all their energy. The feeling often lasts through a lifetime. For too many of us, learning appears to be a surrender of o
ur own will to external direction, a sort of enslavement.

This is a mistake. Learning is a natural pleasure, inborn and instinctive, one of the essential pleasures of the human race. Watch a small child, at an age too young to have had any mental habits implanted by training. Some delightful films made by the late Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University show little creatures who can barely talk investigating problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers, making discoveries with the passion and absorption of dedicated scientists. At the end of each successful investigation, there comes over each tiny face an expression of pure heartfelt pleasure. ...

But if the pleasure of learning is universal, why are there so many dull, incurious people in the world? It is because they were made dull, by bad teaching, by isolation, by surrender to routine, sometimes, too, by the pressure of hard work and poverty, or by the toxin of riches, with all their ephemeral and trivial delights. With luck, resolution and guidance, however, the human mind can survive not only poverty but even wealth.

This pleasure is not confined to learning from textbooks, which are too often tedious. But it does include learning from books. Sometimes when I stand in a big library like the library of Congress, or Butler Library at Columbia, and gaze around me at the millions of books, I feel a sober, earnest delight hard to convey except a metaphor. These are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice, as inaudible as the streams of sound conveyed by electric waves beyond the range of hearing, and just as the touch of a button on our stereo will fill the room with music, so by opening one of these volumes, one can call into range a voice far distant in time and space, and hear it speaking, mind to mind, heart to heart.

But, far beyond books, learning means keeping the mind open and active to receive all kinds of experience. One of the best-informed men I ever knew was a cowboy who rarely read a newspaper and never a book, but who had ridden many thousands of miles through one of the western states. He knew his state as thoroughly as a surgeon knows the human body. He loved it. Not a mountain, not a canyon which had not much to tell him, not a change in the weather that he could not interpret. And so, among the pleasures of learning, we should include travel, travel with an open mind, an alert eye and a visit to understand other peoples, other places, rather than looking in them for a mirror image of oneself. If I were a young man today, I should resolve to see ?nbsp;no, to learn ?nbsp; all the 50 states before I was 35.

Learning also means learning to practice, or at least to appreciate, an art. Every new art you learn appears like a new window on the universe; it is like acquiring a new sense. Because I was born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland, a hideous 19th-century industrial city, I did not understand the slightest thing about architecture until I was in my 20s. Since then, I have learned a little about the art, and it has been a constant delight. ... As for reading books, this contains two different delights. One is the pleasure of apprehending the unexpected, such as when one meets a new author who has a new vision of the world. The other pleasure is of deepening one's knowledge of a special field. ... Learning extends our lives (as Ptolemy said) into new dimensions. It is cumulative. Instead of diminishing in time, like health and strength, its returns go on increasing, provided ...

Provided that you aim, throughout your life, as you continue learning, to integrate your thought, to make it harmonious. If you happen to be an engineer and also enjoy singing in a glee club, connect these two activities. They unite in you; they are not in conflict. Both choral singing and engineering are examples of the
architectonic ability of man: of his power to make a large plan and to convey it clearly to others. Both are aesthetic and depend much on symmetry. Think about them not as though they were dissociated, but as though each were one aspect of a single unity. You will do them better, and be happier.

Much unhappiness has been suffered by those people who have never recognized that it is as necessary to make themselves into whole and harmonious personalities as to keep themselves clean, healthy and financially solvent. Wholeness of the mind and spirit is not a quality conferred by nature, or by God. It is like health, virtue and knowledge. Man has the capacity to attain it; but to achieve it depends on his own efforts. It needs a long, deliberate effort of the mind and the emotions, and even the body.

During our earthly life, the body gradually dies; even the emotions become duller. But the mind in most of us continues to live, and even grows more lively and active, enjoys itself more, works and plays with more expansion and delight. Many people have played themselves to death, even eaten and drunk themselves to death.Nobody has ever thought himself to death. The chief danger confronting us is not age. It is laziness, sloth, routine, stupidity ?nbsp; forcing their way in like wind through the shutters, seeping into the cellar like swamp water. Many who avoid learning, or abandon it, find that life is drained dry. They spend 30 years in ac
hair looking glumly out at the sand and the ocean; on a porch swing waiting for somebody to drive down the road. But that is not how to live.

No learner has ever run short of subjects to explore. The pleasures of learning are indeed pleasures. In fact, the word should be changed. The true name is happiness. You can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning.

《学习的乐趣》 这篇文章是美籍苏格兰作家吉尔伯特·哈厄特写。他出生在苏格兰，但一生中大多数时间都在美国度过的，曾在美国哥伦比亚大学任教几十载，是拉丁语和文学教授，更是一位古典学学者、批评家和作家。这篇文章发表于1976年，刊登在美国常青树杂志《读者文摘》上。文章距今虽然已经20 多年，但无论从思想内容还是从语言文字上来讲，都令人百读不厌，是一篇值得回味的好文章。（因篇幅所限，本文有删节）

首先我们讨论本篇文章的语言特色及其运用。第一段话中两个大写单词Ought 和Must值得我们注意，作者用此二字是有用意的。首先，Ought，Must 的使用是相对于本文的中心词Pleasure的，起衬托对比作用，所表达的意思是： 如果学习是Oughts 和 Musts, 那学习不会有多少乐趣。再者，让我们来查一下字典，看这三个词的解释都是什么。

1) Ought一般和to 连用，是情态动词（作者在此处把ought作为名词来使用），相当于should, 意为 “应该”。《柯林斯英语辞典》（Collins Cobuild English Dictionary 2000）第1170页对ought 一词的第一个解释是：“You use ought to say that it is morally right to do a particular thing or behave in a particular way or that it is morally right for a situation to exist, especially when giving or asking for advice or opinions.” 根据这个定义，ought 意为：“道义上对的事情、道义上可行的行为举止以及道义上允许的境况，常用于给与或寻求劝告和意见时。” 那么ought 在文中所表达的意思便是：年轻人把上学视为“道义上的事情”，不学习觉得对不起什么人，所以他们必须学习，他们的学习是为了别人，无快乐可言。

2）Must 也是一个情态动词，作者在此也把它作为名词使用。 《柯林斯英语辞典》在第1090页是这么解释的：“You use must to indicate that you think it is very important or necessary for something to happen.” 根据这个定义，must 意为：你认为某事发生很重要或很必要。” 那么，在文中作者所表达的是，学校和许多人认为，上学很重要很必要，但年轻人却不以为然，他们竭尽全力来抵抗这种所谓的重要性和必要性，因为他们在学校学习没有乐趣。

3）Pleasure是本文的主词, 是个名词。《柯林斯英语辞典》在第1261页解释pleasure 为：“... a feeling of happiness, satisfaction, or enjoyment from it (总概述). Pleasure is the activity of enjoying yourself, especially rather than working or doing what you have a duty to do（抽象名词用法）; a pleasure is an activity,experience or aspect of something that you find very enjoyable or satisfying (具体名词用法).” 根据定义,快乐是“一种幸福感、满足感以及从中得到的享乐感。 快乐是一种自享其乐的活动，尤其与工作或履行职责无关。快乐的具体内容是：使你获得快乐或满足的一种活动、经历或某事情的一个方面。”作者使用这三个常用词恰到好处，表达了深刻意义。Sneer at the Oughts和resist the Musts这两组动宾结构搭配用法值得大家记忆。 此外，第一句话的第一个as用得也很好，其意思相当于since 或者 because，是个连词，引导原因状语从句，但是as在此所表达的原因更为抽象，更具有共时性（simultaneousness）。

第二段中的短语 “... the essential pleasures of the human race”一般指的是人类的这几大快乐： 吃(eating)、喝(drinking)、玩(playing)、钱(money)、权力(power)以及学习(learning)。作者在此要强调的是：人的好学之心是本性所致，应该是快乐的。另一个值得注意的短语是mental habits，作者用此词组要表达的是：acquired/learned habits， 其实等于schooling 或者 school education 的意思。此外，该段中间有一个长句子需要我们分析一下其结构，这个句子是：Some delightful films made by the late Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University show little creatures who can barely talk investigating problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers, making discoveries with the passi on and absorption of dedicated scientists. 我们先看这句话的主谓宾主干结构：... films ... show ... creatures who ... investigating ... with ... ， making ... with... ， 其实这是一个 sth. shows sb. doing sth. 的结构，只不过是这主干结构之中加了不少修饰成分而已。主语films 之前有some delightful 修饰，后面有过去分词短语made by the late Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University 来修饰。谓语之后是creatures和两个现在分词investigating 和making 构成的复合宾语， 不过creatures 后面有一个很短的定语从句who can barely talk。该句的译文是：“由已故耶鲁大学阿诺德·盖赛尔博士拍摄的几部有趣的电影表明，还没学会说话的小家伙们竟以探险家般的热情和兴奋来探究问题，以热诚的科学家们那种激情和专注来进行研究发现。”

第三段中需要我们注意的是第二句话的结尾部分，即：... with all their（指前面的riches） ephemeral and trivial delights. 修饰delights 的两个形容词ephemeral and trivial 用得非常好，ephemeral 的同义词是temporary ，而trivial 的同义词是tiny, 如果用temporary and tiny 来修饰delights, 在文章中就显得不太恰当，有点破坏文风。作者用这两个形容词来告诉大家，金钱带来的快乐是短暂的和微不足道的。那么站在图书馆的阅览大厅中，面对书架上数不清的书，作者的快乐又是什么呢？请大家看第四段第二句话后半部分的句子：... I feel a sober, earnest delight hard to convey except by a metaphor. 此时作者感受到的是：庄重的、庄严的（sober =serious and thoughtful）和诚挚的、真诚的（earnest=serious and sincere）快乐。作者用了四个不同的形容词来修饰delight一词以表达出他所持的观点：学习是崇高的，金钱是微不足道的。此外，作者在第四段中还用了一个隐喻(metaphor) 来描写他对书的感情：这些书不是一叠叠没有生命的纸张，而是放在书架上的一颗颗心灵（These (books) are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.）。只要你一打开书，你就会听到书中有一个来自遥远时空的声音，对你说话，与你促膝谈心，进行心灵的交流（From each of them goes out its own voice ... so by opening one of these volumes, one can call into range a voice far distance in time and space, and hear it speaking, mind to mind, heart to heart.）。

第五段中值得我们注意的是：作者在第三句中用了两组双否的结构，“Not a mountain, not a canyon which had not much to ...; not a change in the weather that he could not interpret.”这种“否否得正”的结构等于 “Every mountain, every canyon which had much to ...; every change in the weather that he could interpret.” 作者在此用这种结构来强调：他的朋友通过“行千里路”来达到对家乡了如指掌的地步，这给我们留下了深刻的印象。有一个简单的英语句子能让我们记住这个结构：“Nobody (=Not a person) can be a good teacher who has no (=not a) loving heart!” 。

第七段中有这样一个短语：the architectonic ability of man，其中的形容词architectonic 比较难理解。《韦伯斯特大辞典》（Webster's New World Dictionary）第72页给出三个定义：

1）of or relating to architecture or architectural methods, principles, etc.

2）having structure or design of a kind thought of as architectural

3) (philos)having to do with the systemizing of knowledge， 根据上下文，第2个定义应该是作者所表达的意思，一个人拥有建筑构思、设计的能力，也就拥有能够进行大型策划的能力(of his power to make a large plan)，能把这种构思、策划的美感展现给观（听）众。人们设计工程和唱歌都需要有对称感（symmetry），这是美学，所以工程是一种美，唱歌也是一种美，从这个意义上说，两者是相通的，是一个整体的两个部分(each were one aspect of a single unity)。以上是本人对吉尔伯特· 哈厄特文章的一些粗浅理解，希望能够对读者的阅读理解有所帮助，也真心希望大家能够把学习当作一生的乐趣。