晨讀英語美文 Companionship of Books

Companionship of Books

[00:06.55]A man may usually be known by the books he reads?

[00:15.96]as well as by the company he keeps;?

[00:18.25]for there is a companionship of books as well as of men;?

[00:22.30]and one should always live in the best company,?

[00:25.58]whether it be of books or of men.

[00:28.21]A good book may be among the best of friends.?

[00:32.80]It is the same today that it always was,?

[00:35.86]and it will never change.?

[00:37.61]It is the most patient and cheerful of companions.?

[00:41.22]It does not turn its back upon us

[00:45.54]in times of adversity or distress.?

[00:46.47]It always receives us with the same kindness,?

[00:49.86]amusing and instructing us in youth,?

[00:52.60]and comforting and consoling us in age.

[00:55.66]Books possess an essence of immortality.?

[01:00.04]They are by far the most lasting products of human effort.?

[01:04.52]Temples and statues decay, but books survive.?

[01:10.10]Time is of no account with great thoughts,?

[01:14.03]which are as fresh today?

[01:16.11]as when they first passed through?

[01:18.12]their authors' minds, ages ago.?

[01:19.83]What was then said and thought still speaks to us?

[01:23.77]as vividly as ever from the printed page.?

[01:26.50]The only effect of time?

[01:29.38]has been to sift out the bad products;?

[01:31.10]for nothing in literature can long survive

[01:35.19] but what is really good.

[01:36.34]Books introduce us into the best society;?

[01:40.72]they bring us into the presence?

[01:43.66]of the greatest minds that have ever lived.?

[01:45.75]We hear what they said and did;?

[01:48.48]we see them as if they were really alive;?

[01:51.22]we sympathize with them,?

[01:54.24]enjoy with them, grieve with them;?

[01:56.03]their experience becomes ours,?

[01:58.76]and we feel as if we were in measure actors with them?

[02:02.38]in the scenes which they describe.

[02:04.46]The book is a living voice.?

[02:07.63]It is an intellect to which one still listens.?

[02:11.23]Hence we ever remain under the influence?

[02:15.15]of the great men of old.?

[02:15.94]The greatest intellects of the world?

[02:18.89]are as much alive now as they were ages ago.