无根之根

苏格拉底的申辩（希腊语发音，西班牙语字幕）

这是我看过的最有意思的视频 remix :-)

Samuel Johnson, The Idler 32 (Saturday, November 25, 1758):

Many have no happier moments than those that they pass in solitude, abandoned to their own imagination, which sometimes puts sceptres in their hands or mitres on their heads, shifts the scene of pleasure with endless variety, bids all the forms of beauty sparkle before them, and gluts them with every change of visionary luxury.

It is easy in these semi-slumbers to collect all the possibilities of happiness, to alter the course of the Sun, to bring back the past, and anticipate the future, to unite all the beauties of all seasons, and all the blessings of all climates, to receive and bestow felicity, and forget that misery is the lot of man. All this is a voluntary dream, a temporary recession from the realities of life to airy fictions; and habitual subjection of reason to fancy.

Others are afraid to be alone, and amuse themselves by a perpetual succession of companions: but the difference is not great; in solitude we have our dreams to ourselves, and in company we agree to dream in concert. The end sought in both is forgetfulness of ourselves.

许多英语界的老前辈告诫我们，要学好英语要多读文学作品。我们很多人也都承认这个事实。可是，目前在国内图书市场上很难买得到的用外文写的文学作品（尽管 外国文学史的书还是年年都出新版，此不可不谓讽刺）。据本人的调查，现在在大陆的书店能买得到的外语类文史作品多为选本，难以展现某一作家的全貌。在卓越 网可以买到Norton系列的英美名著评论版（原文加批评），可惜价格较贵，非我们这些穷书生可以支付得起。当然，在大学的图书馆里可以找到不错的外语图 书，但是很多时候自己手上能拥有一本会更方便学习和研究。

我们每年都花很大的气力出版一些时髦的东西，以及一些实用的东西（比如XX外语考试指南之类的东西），越来越少的人在关注那些摆在“藏珍馆”里的老古董。 刘小枫先生主编的《经典与解释》丛书尝试弥补这样的缺陷，这是在理念上的一大进步。可是，我们不但需要中文的译本，还需要直接从原著吸收营养，因而也需要 较为廉价（但需要确保质量）的原著。


为什么要出经典的作品？

读经典的意义不用我多说，卡尔维诺 、布鲁姆 等人对此皆有论述。莎士比亚、弥尔顿、蒲伯、塞缪尔·约翰逊、培根、拜伦……这样的名字的清单可以写得很长很长，我们能看得到好的中译本当然高兴，假如也能看得到原文，那就更值得欣慰了。

我们看经典，可以从中学到许多文本以外的东西，对于个人品格的陶冶亦有很大的帮助。

许多英美经典作品写作年代距离今日已有数百年历史，在版权上不会存在太大的争议。网络上也有像Project Gutenberg 这样的致力于经典文本数字化的网站，是有益的借鉴。

出版这一类的书，可以采用print on demand 的模式，亚马逊英文网上面卖的书很多都是以这样的方式印制，可以大大节省成本。

简而言之，刊印英文经典作品有如下的好处：

一、填补国内在这一领域的空缺；
二、重燃年轻人读经典作品的热情；
三、可以给真正有意愿学好英语的人提供了极大的方便；
四、对于出版社而言，也可以借此机会推广自己的品牌；
more to come...


假如您认同以上的观点，请关注这个祈愿：联署倡议重印外文经典作品

Study them for word-power.
The study of the classical languages, even for a short while in your academic career, will improve your understanding of English and the Romance languages, and hence your language- and communication-skills. By learning to "read slowly" in the tradition of classical philology, you can get excellent insights into language's beauty, its dynamics, its limitations, its strengths. Thus you can become a better writer and a more effective speaker even while you improve your verbal scores on standardized entrance exams and prepare for yourself an easy way into the study of other languages, particularly French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

Study them for a good education.
Classical studies can provide a unique coherence, depth, and breadth in your undergraduate program, offering variety, flexibility, and scope. They allow you access to the best possible foundations for a liberal arts education (a concept that itself derives from the classical tradition).

Study them for an even better education.
You can use classical studies to strengthen your knowledge and credentials, even if your main focus lies in a related field, e.g., theology, philosophy, law, political science, medicine, Biblical studies, history of science, spirituality, religious studies, patristics, archaeology, anthropology, literary studies, history, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, Byzantine Studies, history of art, aesthetics, linguistics, philology, paleography, creative writing, rhetoric, communications, cultural criticism, mythology, theory and history of education, et cetera.

Study them for self-knowledge.
No one can understand our world today without a knowledge of Western civilization, and no one can understand Western civilization without a knowledge of the major cultures that gave rise to it. Classical studies provide an easy way into much of that essential cultural-historical background. They are the "royal road" (the via regia) to important moments, ideas, personalities, and movements in Western-World cultural history.

Study them for wisdom.
Classical studies allow for exposure to a vast range of significant personalities, influential writings, and wisdom literature that is relevant to all times.

Study them for joy.
For all their practical value (intellectual, cultural, and personal), classical studies can also be one of the most challenging, exciting, inspiring undertakings of your life. Study them for the enjoyment they offer. Carpe diem.

 

see the link to the Greek and Latin Studies center in Saint Louis University for more:http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/classical/

Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book does not shake us awake like a blow to the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? So that it can make us happy, as you put it? Good God, we'd be just as happy if we had no books at all; books that make us happy we could, in a pinch, also write ourselves. What we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, that make us feel as though we had been banished to the woods, far from any human presence, like a suicide. A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us. That is what I believe.”
   -  Franz Kafka, Letter to Oskar Pollak, January 27, 1904