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.

通常看一个人读什么书就可知道他的为人，就像看他同什么人交往就可知道他的为人一样，因为书和朋友一样可以为伴。无论读书还是交友，我们都应该选最好的。

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 consoling us in age.

好书就像是最好的朋友。它在过去和现在始终如一，将来也不会改变。它是最耐心、开怀的伙伴。在我们身处逆境，面对困难时，它不会背弃我们，对我们一如既往地亲切。在我们年轻时，好书令我们愉悦，给我们知识；到我们年老时，它又给我们以慰藉。

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, "Love me, love my dog." But there is more wisdom in this: "Love me, love my book." The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.

人们常常因为喜欢同一本书而结为知己，就像有时两个人因为敬慕同一个人而成为朋友一样。老话说得好：“爱屋及乌。”其实“爱我及书”更有道理。书是更为真诚而高尚的情谊纽带。人们可以通过共同喜爱的作家思考、感受，产生共鸣。众多读者在作家笔下找到共同的精神家园，作家也因读者的喜爱而得到永生。

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 cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.

好书常常如最精美的宝器，珍藏着人生思想的精华，因为人生的境界主要就在于其思想的境界。因此，好书是金玉良言和崇高思想的宝库，记住并珍视它们，它们就会成为我们永久的伙伴和慰藉。

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.

书籍具有不朽的本质，是人类创造的最持久的成果。寺庙和雕像会破败，而书却经久长存。对于伟大的思想来说，时间并不重要，从多年前初次闪现于作者脑海，到今日依然清新如故。当时所言所思印在书页上，现在依然生动。时间唯一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因为只有真正的佳作才能经世长存。

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.

书籍把最优秀的人介绍给我们，把我们带到历代伟人巨匠中间，如闻其声、如观其行、如见其人，同他们情感交融、悲喜与共、感同身受。我们觉得自己仿佛在作者所描绘的舞台上和他们一起粉墨登场。

The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens.

即使在凡间，伟大杰出的人物也永生不灭。他们的精神被载入书册，传于四海。书是活的声音，是人们至今仍在聆听的智者。

（图片源于：TOPIT.ME）

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