爱好

Hobbies

爱好

Winston Churchill

温斯顿.丘吉尔

作者简介

温斯顿.丘吉尔（Winston Churchill，1874—1965），英国政治家、演说家、作家，曾两度任英国首相，被认为是20世纪最重要的政治领袖人物之一。

丘吉尔以“二战”中的传奇事迹最为人熟知。他的演讲极富魅力，在大战的艰难时期给无数人带来了希望。此外，他还是位成就卓著的作家，代表作有《河上的战争》（The River War）、《世界危机》（The World Crisis）等。1953年，瑞典文学院将诺贝尔文学奖颁予丘吉尔，并盛赞他为“具有西塞罗文才的凯撒大帝”。诺贝尔文学奖从不授予在政府任职的作家，故此次破例使丘吉尔成了唯一获得该奖的政治家。

本文原为演讲稿，选自丘吉尔1932年出版的散文集《思想与冒险》（Thoughts and Adventures）。作为英国首相，丘吉尔公务繁忙，肩头责任重大，却仍能著作等身。他缓解压力的秘密便是阅读。至于如何利用书籍放松紧绷的神经、保持头脑的活力，看完这篇短文，读者自能找到答案。

Many remedies are suggested for the avoidance of worry and mental overstrain by persons who, over prolonged periods, have to bear exceptional responsibilities and discharge duties upon a very large scale. Some advise exercise, and others, repose. Some counsel travel, and others, retreat. Some praise solitude, and others, gaiety. No doubt all these may play their part according to the individual temperament. But the element which is constant and common in all of them is Change.

Change is the master key. A man can wear out a particular part of his mind by continually using it and tiring it, just in the same way as he can wear out the elbows of his coat. There is, however, this difference between the living cells of the brain and inanimate articles: one cannot mend the frayed elbows of a coat by rubbing the sleeves or shoulders; but the tired parts of the mind can be rested and strengthened, not merely by rest, but by using other parts. It is not enough merely to switch off the lights which play upon the main and ordinary field of interest; a new field of interest must be illuminated. It is no use saying to the tired mental muscles—if one may coin such an expression—“I will give you a good rest,” “I will go for a long walk,” or “I will lie down and think of nothing.” The mind keeps busy just the same. If it has been weighing and measuring, it goes on weighing and measuring. If it has been worrying, it goes on worrying. It is only when new cells are called into activity, when new stars become the lords of the ascendant, that relief, repose, refreshment are afforded.

对长期背负特殊职责、操劳过度的人来说，避免焦虑和精神紧张的方法很多。有人建议锻炼，有人提议休息；有人建议旅行，有人提议疗养；有人说独处好，有人称狂欢妙。无疑，针对不同性格，每种方法各有作用。但它们有个共同点，即“变化”。

变化是关键。人若过度用脑，大脑某一区域便会疲惫不堪。这与外衣肘部最易磨损是同一个道理。然而，鲜活的脑细胞与无生命的物体毕竟不同：外衣肘部磨损，无法依靠摩擦衣袖和肩部加以修补；大脑某一区域疲劳，不仅能靠休息缓解，还可通过调动脑部其他区域加以调节。只关闭大脑主要的活跃区域还不够，还要激发新的活跃区域。如果对疲劳的大脑说“你好好休息一下”，“我出去散个步”或“我要睡一觉，什么都不想”根本没有用。大脑仍会忙个不停，该揣度还是揣度，该担忧还是担忧。只有激活新的脑细胞，让新的星体成为命宫的主宰，大脑才会得到休息，人才能恢复精力。

A gifted American psychologist has said, “Worry is a spasm of the emotion; the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go.” It is useless to argue with the mind in this condition. The stronger the will, the more futile the task. One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair begins.

The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of the first importance to a public man. But this is not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improvised by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed.

一位颇有天赋的美国心理学家说过：“焦虑是情绪的突然发作，源于头脑纠结某事，难以释怀。”在此情况下，与大脑争执只是徒劳——意志力越强，就越是白费力气。唯一的解决方法，是把其他东西悄悄塞进混乱的大脑。如果选择了正确的替代品，而且确实激发了新的活跃区域，那么大脑就会渐渐得到调节与放松。这一过程通常十分迅速。

因此，对公众人物而言，培养一种业余爱好和新的兴趣，可谓头等大事。然而，此事不能一蹴而就，也不以意志为转移。培养兴趣是个漫长的过程。只有仔细选种，培以沃地，精心照料，才能在所需时收获丰美的果实。

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.

As for the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, who can gratify every caprice and lay their hands on almost every object of desire—for them a new pleasure, a new excitement is only an additional satiation. In vain they rush frantically round from place to place, trying to escape from the avenging boredom by mere clatter and motion. For them discipline in one form or another is the most hopeful path.

要想获得真正的愉悦安然，至少得有两三种实实在在的爱好。人上年纪了才说“我要培养点兴趣”，这种尝试毫无用处，只会加剧精神紧张。一个人可能精通与日常工作无关的某些领域，却难以从中获得收益和慰藉。光做自己喜欢的事毫无用处，你得喜欢自己手头做的事。大致说来，人可分为三类：累死的、烦死的、无聊死的。体力劳动者连干了一周的苦活，让他们周六下午踢足球或打棒球，可谓徒劳无功。政客、专家、商人操心了六天公务，让他们周末还加班干活、为琐事烦恼，同样毫无用处。

还有一些不幸的人，他们可以随心所欲，每个奇想都能得到满足，几乎每个愿望都能实现。对这种人来说，新的愉悦和刺激只会增加厌腻。他们四处狂奔乱跑，想用谈笑和运动来解闷，却白费力气。对他们而言，条理、规矩才是摆脱烦恼的最佳途径。

It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their mind.

也可以说，理智且勤奋的有用之人可分为两类：一类人将工作和娱乐截然分开，另一类人则将二者融为一体。大多数人属于前者。他们会得到补偿——在办公室或工厂里长时间的劳作为他们带来了报酬。这不仅是他们维生的手段，还让他们热切渴望哪怕是最简单、最适度的娱乐。真正的幸运儿是第二类人。他们的生活自然和谐，总觉工作时间太短，每天都是假日。真正的假日来临，他们反而抱怨干扰了工作。然而，这两类人都要转换思维，改变气氛，转移注意力。说实话，以工作为乐的人，最需要时不时不想工作，换换脑子。

The most common form of diversion is reading. In that vast and varied field millions find their mental comfort. Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library. “A few books,” which was Lord Morley’s definition of anything under five thousand, may give a sense of comfort and even of complacency. But a day in a library, even of modest dimensions, quickly dispels these illusory sensations. As you browse about, taking down book after book from the shelves and contemplating the vast, infinitely-varied store of knowledge and wisdom which the human race has accumulated and preserved, pride, even in its most innocent forms, is chased from the heart by feelings of awe not untinged with sadness. As one surveys the mighty array of sages, saints, historians, scientists, poets and philosophers whose treasures one will never be able to admire—still less enjoy—the brief tenure of our existence here dominates mind and spirit.

Think of all the wonderful tales that have been told, and well told, which you will never know. Think of all the searching inquiries into matters of great consequence which you will never pursue. Think of all the delighting or disturbing ideas that you will never share. Think of the mighty labours which have been accomplished for your service, but of which you will never reap the harvest. But from this melancholy there also comes a calm. The bitter sweets of a pious despair melt into an agreeable sense of compulsory resignation from which we turn with renewed zest to the lighter vanities of life.

最常见的消遣方式是阅读。数百万人从书海中得到了精神慰藉。书房最能令人变得虔诚。莫利勋爵说，5000册以下的藏书只算“少许书”[1]。而这些书已能让人得到安慰和满足。不过，只要在书房待一天，即便是普通大小的书房，也会让这种虚幻的满足感迅速化为泡影。浏览架上群书，逐一取下翻阅，面对人类积累的无限知识与智慧，你的自豪，哪怕是最无邪的自豪，都会被略带感伤的敬畏取代。环视智者、圣人、史学家、科学家、诗人、哲人的一排排巨著，你难免感慨人生苦短。因为你永远无法遍览人类知识宝库，更谈不上充分享受了。

试想，多少美妙的故事你未及知晓，多少重大的问题你未及探索，多少令人欣喜、发人深省的思想你未及分享；多少人为你付出劳动，你却未能有所收获。不过，这种惆怅也会带来一丝平静。绝望中苦涩的甜蜜，化作坦然面对的心态——你会重拾阅读兴致，看轻世间繁华。

“What shall I do with all my books?” was the question; and the answer, “Read them,” sobered the questioner. But if you cannot read them, at any rate handle them and, as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. Set them back on their shelves with your own hands. Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.

It is a mistake to read too many books when quite young. A man once told me that he had read all the books that mattered. Cross-questioned, he appeared to have read a great many, but they seem to have made only a slight impression. How many had he understood? How many had entered into his mental composition? ... It is a great pity to read a book too soon in life. The first impression is the one that counts; and if it is a slight one, it may be all that can be hoped for. A later and second perusal may recoil from a surface already hardened by premature contact. Young people should be careful in their reading, as old people in eating their food. They should not eat too much. They should chew it all.

有人问：“我有这么多书，要怎么办？”这个答案会让他清醒：“读吧。”如若无暇细读，至少要捧书把玩，随意翻看，任其敞开。看到感兴趣的句子，径直读下去便是。然后再换另一句。在书海开启发现之旅，探索未知的海域。亲手把书摆回架上，按自己的想法排列。如此一来，即使你不了解书中内容，至少知道书在何处。书即使无法成为你的朋友，至少也该是个熟人；即使无法融入你的生活圈，至少值得你点头致意。

幼时读太多书是个错误。有人告诉我，他已读遍重要典籍。几经询问，我才发现，他确实读过不少书，但印象不深。他究竟理解了多少？又有多少成了他自己的思想？……读书太早是件憾事。读书时第一印象最关键——如果第一印象不深，以后大概也没指望了。哪怕重读，也难以改变原有印象。年轻人读书须谨慎。这正如老年人进食，不宜贪多，须细嚼慢咽。

书即使无法成为你的朋友，至少也该是个熟人；即使无法融入你的生活圈，至少值得你点头致意。

Winston Churchill 温斯顿•丘吉尔

[1] 董桥先生在《今朝风日好》中的《丘吉尔的背景》一文中提及，丘吉尔那一代人爱书、读书是习性，书房里藏书不足五千部算不得藏书，只算是“少许书”。