In your reading you must have in view some definite aim ---- some aim other that the wish to derive pleasure. I conceive that to give pleasure is the highest end of any work of art, because the pleasure procured from any art is tonic, and transform the life into which it enters. But the maximum of pleasure can only be obtained by regular effort, and regular effort implies the organization of that effort. Open-air walking is a glorious exercise; it is the walking itself which is glorious. Nevertheless, when setting out for walking exercise, the sane man generally has a subsidiary aim in view. He says to himself either that he will reach a given point, or that he will progress at a given speed for a given distance, or that he will remain on his feet for a given time. He organizes his effort, partly in order that he may combine some other advantage with the advantage of walking, but principally in order to be sure that the effort shall be an adequate effort. The same with reading. Your paramount aim in poring over literature is to enjoy, but you will not fully achieve that aim unless you have also a subsidiary aim which necessitates the measurement of your energy. Your subsidiary aim may be aesthetic, moral, political, religious, scientific, erudite; you may devote yourself to a man, a topic, an epoch, a nation, a branch of literature, an idea ---- you have the widest latitude in the choice of an objective; but a definite objective you must have.



Arnold Bennett: Literary Taste and How to Form It



你们读书的时侯，必须牢记某个确定目的----除了希望得到乐趣之外，要有一个目的。我以为给人带来乐趣乃是任何艺术作品的最高境界，因为从任何艺术中取得的乐趣是令人振奋的，而且使得进入艺术天地的人面貌为之一变。不过乐趣的极致只能通过持之以恒的努力而获得，持之以恒的努力意味着那种努力要有条有理。户外散步是一项令人心醉的锻炼；而令人心醉的正是散步本身。然而，准备出去散步然锻炼的时侯，头脑清醒的人一般总抱有一个附带目的。他告诉自己，或者我要抵达一个规定的地点，或者我要以规定的速度向规定的远处行进，或者我要在规定的时间内站着不动。他有条有理安排自己的努力，多少是为了把一些其他的益处和散步的益处结合起来，不过主要还是为了确信这番努力是一项令人满意的努力。读书也是这个道理。你们全神贯注于文学作品的时侯，首要的目的是玩赏，不过若要完全达到目的，你们非得抱有一个附带目的，它使得你们必须测定自己的精力。你们的附带目的可以放在审美、道德、政治、宗教、

科学、博学方面；你们可以专门研读一人，一个题目，一个时代，一个国家，一个文学分支，一个思想----在选择一个对象时你们有着最广泛的回旋余地；不过一个确定对象是必须要有的。



阿诺德 本涅特：《文学趣味和怎样形成文学趣味》
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