偉大的作品使人頭腦敏銳
Great Books Sharpen Our Minds
Great books are those that contain the best materials on which the human mind can work in order to gain insight,understanding, and wisdom.Each of them, in its own way,raises the recurrent basic
questions which men must face. Because these questions are never completely solved,these books are the sources and monuments of a continuing intellectual tradition.
Garl Van Doren once referred to great books as"the books that never have to be written again. "They are the rare,perfect achievements of sustained excellence. Their beauty and clarity show that they are masterpieces of the fine as well as of the liberal arts. Such books are justifiably called great
whether they are books of science, poetry, theology, mathematics, or politics.
The richness of great books shows itself in the many levels of meaning they contain. They lend themselves to a variety of interpretations. This does not mean they are ambiguous or that their integrity is compromised. The different interpretations complement one another and allow the reader to discover the unity of the work from a variety of perspectives. We need not read other books more than once to get all that they have to say. But we can always go deeper into great books. As sources of enlightenment they are inexhaustible.
The interest in many good books that are written is limited to a definite period of history. They do not exhibit the universal appeal that results from dealing with the fundamental questions which confront men in all times and places and in a way that men in all times and places can understand. Great books, on the contrary, transcend the provincial limits of their origin. They remain as world literature. The ones we are sure are great are the ones men everywhere turn to again and again through the centuries.
偉大的作品使人頭腦敏銳
偉大的作品是那些包含有最佳素材的書籍，人類的頭腦可以學(xué)習(xí)這些素材以期獲得洞察力、理解力和智慧。其中每部作品都以自己的方式提出一些不斷出現(xiàn)的而人們又必須面對的基本問題。因為這些問題從來沒有被徹底解決，所以這些書成了一種從未間斷過的知識傳統(tǒng)的源泉和豐碑。
卡爾· 多倫曾把偉大的作品稱為“永遠(yuǎn)不需要再寫的書”。它們都是保持著卓越水平的罕見的完美之作。它們的美妙與清晰表明它們不僅是文藝杰作，也是藝術(shù)杰作。這樣的書，不論它是科學(xué)、詩詞、神學(xué)、數(shù)學(xué)，還是政治方面的書，都可以無可非議地被稱作是偉大的。
偉大作品的豐富內(nèi)涵可以從多種不同意義層次顯示出來。它們可以有多種不同的解釋。這并不意味著它們表意曖昧或文本的完整性上有所折衷。不同的解釋彼此互補，而且讓讀者從不同的觀點角度發(fā)現(xiàn)作品的統(tǒng)一性。其他的
書我們只要讀一遍就能了解它們要說的全部。但讀偉大的作品時，我們總是可以深入探究。作為啟迪的源泉，它們永不會枯竭。
許多的好書其重要性只限于某一特定的歷史時期。它們沒有展示出那種經(jīng)久不衰的吸引力，而這種吸引力來源于用各個時代，各個地區(qū)的所有人都能理解的方式來討論各時代各地區(qū)的人都要面對的根本問題。相反，偉大的作品超越了它們出身的狹隘局限。它們作為世界性的文學(xué)保存下來。那些我們確信是偉大的作品正是那些世界各地的人們幾百年來一遍又一遍地讀著的書。