读书的三种状态

读书的状态大致分为三种：一是为别人而读，二是为有用而读，三是为兴趣而读。 处在第一种状态是最痛苦的，自己本不想读，但迫于外界压力却不得不读。好多中小学生就属于这种情形。在这样的状态下，读书真是苦不堪言。有不少学生曾咬牙切齿地发誓：毕业考试一结束，一定把××书杀掉。

一些为了拿文凭、评职称而读书的亦在此列，对于他们而言，读书实在是件苦差事。

第二种是为有用而读书。处在此列的人已知书中自有黄金屋和颜如玉，已经能从烟波浩渺的书海中有所取舍，读书很有目的性。或为提高专业技术水平，或为丰富知识，学电脑的看电脑书籍，学文学的看小说，当老师的读教育心理，做生意的看经济，搞行政的读政治、管理······为获得某方面的知识而读书，以具备养家糊口的基本技能，凭真才实学立足于社会。

第三种是为兴趣而读书。这是读书的自觉状态，而是一种境界。不为有用，只因喜欢。这些读者把读书当作生存的基本需要，读书已和吃饭睡觉一样必不可少。三日不读书，则自觉面目可憎，心里就空虚、失落、不踏实。 （李娇，《读书的三种状态》，原载《河南商报》2001年4月第10版）

译文一：

Readers fall roughly into three groups. One group reads for others,

another for use, and still another for interest.

The first group of readers feels sad, because they are forced to read while they don’t like to. Many of the primary and secondary school students belong to this group. Their reading is really a suffering. A great number of students swear bitterly the burning of some kind of books after they pass the graduation examination. It is also true of those who read for diploma or titles. They are indeed doing a hard job.

The second group reads for use. These people know that they can benefit a lot from books and that they can benefit a lot from books and that they are well aware what they should read. They have clear purpose of improving their professional ability or widening their knowledge. For instance, computer people read computer books, literary people read novels, teachers read educational psychology, businessmen read

economics and administrators read politics and management. They read for obtaining some knowledge so that they can make a living and do something constructive.

The third group reads for interest. They are on their own initiative and in a realm of doing something not for use but for pleasure. These readers take reading as their basic requirements for living, which is as necessary as eating and sleeping. They cannot do without reading and if they do not read for some time they will feel shame, meaningless and uneasy.

(Three Groups of Readers, 马秉义译，载《上海科技翻译》2003（1），pp.63-64) 译文二：

Reading can be done for roughly three purposes: for others, for use and for pleasure.

Reading for others is the most painful. Readers with this purpose are compelled to read because they just hate reading. Many of the primary and secondary school students are in such a state of mind. To them, reading is utterly suffering. That is why quite a large number of students often swear bitterly that they will burn the damned books the moment they have had the graduation examinations. Those who read for diplomas or for titles of technical posts also feel the same. To them, reading means drudgery.

Reading for use is the most practical. Readers with this purpose know very well that reading enables them to gain success and fortunes, and that they are able to make their own choices according to their needs. To acquire more expertise or to enrich their knowledge, computer people read computer books, literary people read novels, teachers read educational psychology, businessmen read economics, and administrators read politics and management… Thus they read in order to acquire knowledge of a certain field so that they can obtain the basic skills to earn the family’s living and to survive in the society with their own their own genuine ability and learning.

Reading for pleasure is consciousness-driven. Or rather, it is the acme of the same of mind. Reading in this way is not for practical use but merely for enjoyment. Readers of this sort simply take reading as their basic needs for a living, and it is considered as indispensable as eating and sleeping in daily life. If they do not read for a single day, they would have a sense of shame, of loss, of emptiness and uneasiness.

( Three Purposes for Reading, 李明 译 )

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