今天欣赏林语堂先生《生活的艺术》一书中有关“阅读的艺术”的第十四段，也是这篇文章的最后一段。十四个段落用了十四个星期，是不是效率低的夸张呢？我个人觉得在碎片化阅读时代，一字一句啃经典，反倒是效率更高的阅读方式，原因是这可以让人不至于迷失在鱼龙混杂的信息海洋，不至于“在非战略机会点上消耗战略资源”。这里“”战略机会点“”是那些经过无数强悍大脑筛选，不被时间磨灭的经典，“战略资源”指的是个人的时间、精力和注意力。
今天阅读的顺序与以前不同，原因是……，读完揭晓。先看英文原著：
The best description of the pleasure of reading I found in the autobiography of China's greatest poetess, Li Ch'inghao (Yi-an, 1084-1141). She and her husband would go to the temple, where second-hand books and rubbings from stone inscriptions were sold, on the day he got his monthly stipend as a student at the Imperial Academy. Then they would buy some fruit on the way back, and coming home, they began to pare the fruit and examine the newly bought rubbings together, or drink tea and compare the variants in different editions. As described in her autobiographical sketch known as Postscript to Chinsbiblu (a book on bronze and stone inscriptions):
I have a power for memory, and sitting quietly after supper in the Homecoming Hall, we would boil a pot of tea and, pointing to the piles of books on the shelves, make a guess as to on what line of what page in what volume of a certain book a passage occurred and see who was right, the one making the correct guess having the privilege of drinking his cup of tea first. When a guess was correct, we would lift the cup high and break out into a loud laughter, so much so that sometimes the tea was spilled on our dress and we were not able to drink. We were then content to live and grow old in such a world! Therefore we held our heads high, althought we were living in poverty and sorrow...In time our collection grew bigger and bigger and the books and art objects were piled up on tables and desks and beds, and we enjoyed them with our eyes and our minds and planned and discussed over them, tasting a happiness above those enjoying dogs and horses and music and dance...
This sketch was written in her old age after her husband had died, when she was a lonely old woman fleeing from place to place during the invasion of North China by the Chin tribes.
再看译文：
中国最伟大的女诗人李清照的自传中，有一段极尽描写读书之乐之能事。她和她的丈夫在领到国子监的膏火银时，常跑到庙集去，在旧书和古玩摊上翻阅残书简篇和金石铭文。遇到爱好的，即买下来。归途之中，必再买些水果，回到家后一面切果，一面赏玩新买来的碑拓。或一面品茶，一面校对各版的异同。她在所著《金石录》后跋中，有一段自述说：余性偶强记，每饭罢，坐归来堂，烹一茶指堆积书史言：某事在某书某卷，第几页，第几行，以中否角胜负，为饮茶先后。中即举杯大笑，至茶倾覆怀中，反不得饮而起，甘心老是乡矣。故虽处忧患困穷，而志不屈——收书既成，于是几案罗列，枕籍会意，心谋目往神授，其乐在声色犬马之上。这一段自述文，是她老年时丈夫已经故世后所写的。这时正当金人进扰中原，华北遍地烽烟，她也无日不在流离逃难之中。
原因揭晓：中文可以帮助我们理解英文，反过来也是一样。林先生用自然平实、深入浅出的英文帮助西方人理解李清照的自述，理解“赌书泼茶”的典故。我觉得这已经接近“月光直入，无心可猜”的境界。
