Reflection on Francis Bacon's Of Studies

As we know, study can make a full man, can cultivate a man, and can make a man move forward. In my opinion, a full man should have a positive world view and adopt an active philosophy of life, which are usually based on a balanced knowledge structure. And how can we obtain those? Studies are the answer to that question. After I read Francis Bacon’s Of Studies, I know that the essay introduces some methods of reading books and discusses the purposes and functions of reading. This essay also analyzes the different attitudes of the people who are reading books.

Francis Bacon’s Of Studies says “Histories make men wise, poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.” That is to say, we read all kinds of books that contribute to perfect our knowledge structure and form critical thinking. So we should read books of various fields to make us be a full man. That also can learn more about our world in all aspects.

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COMMENTS ON “OF STUDIES”

What strikes me as the best in “Of Studies” is the sentence----- “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”. It opens my eyes to the method of selecting books and the means of reading.

Selecting right books to reading is what the antidote to the disease. If we want to improve our ability and broaden our horizon in some field, we should take the according books into account. Otherwise, reading blindly will get us nowhere. Thus when we choose a book from a great number of books, we should bear in mind which kind of books will meet our own meets and are suitable to us. The author delivers his viewpoint through the metaphor. He compares the reading to the process of eating. And he gives us a vivid picture of which kind of books is worth reading carefully and provokes us to considering the standard of selecting a book.

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Reflection of of Studies

Francis Bacon plays a significant role in literary history for his works written in the last phase of his life. Most of his literary works are famous for their fresh, powerful, and aphoristic styles. His chief contribution to literature, Essays, published at various times between 1597 and 1625, is the most cogent testimony to his wisdom and his unique style.

The Essays has a large number of subjects such as truth, love, envy, riches, ambition and beauty. It mainly reveals his intimate knowledge of human nature. Of Studies is his most famous essay, written in the 17th century. It discusses the purpose of studies and its use, analyzing different attitudes towards studies and demonstrates all kinds of ways of studying.

This essay is an succinct writing. The short and powerful sentences in the essay are flashing the author's wisdom between lines. Nowadays many sentences have become mottoes prevailing among people all over the world. For instance, “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability”, which describes the functions of study; "Read not to contradict and confuse; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider" which tells Bacon's attitude towards the purpose of study.

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Reflection on Francis Bacon's Of Studies

BE 09 3 连亭亭 Recently, I reread the classical essay Of Studies written by Francis Bacon who is the father of experimental philosophy and a statesman as well as a man of letters---a renaissance man of his time. Reading this essay benefits me a lot. Today I want to say something about “How should a college student read”.

To many of us, we think whether reading or not is a personal affair. What kind of books we like to read has nothing to do with others. But as college students, especially the normal students, it is obvious wrong. Once we choose a university to continue our study, then we should be clear that our main duty is to learn. It’s a necessary process and step for us to be a comprehensive developed man.

Reading is an endless job. But what read is for? In the essay, Bacon said, “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.” But with a pity, the reading ethos nowadays is very blundering. Many students read articles with a utilitarian attitude. They only select the books which are useful for their specific vocation or something else to read. They ignore the books which can really cultivate their morality and broaden their horizons and think they are irrelevant to them so as to be set aside just for ornament. In my opinion, we should read a book just for the book itself, without purpose, without utility. We shouldn’t judge whether a book is good or bad just by how much it can benefits us. The attitude a reader

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读书足以怡情，足以博彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其傅彩也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，然纵观统筹、全局策划，则舍好学深思者莫属。读书费时过多易惰，文采藻饰太盛则矫，全凭条文断事乃学究故态。读书补天然之不足，经验又补读书之不足，盖天生才干犹如自然花草，读书然后知如何修剪移接；而书中所示，如不以经验范之，则又大而无当。有一技之长者鄙读书，无知者羡读书，唯明智之士用读书，然书并不以用处告人，用书之智不在书中，而在书外，全凭观察得之。读书时不可存心诘难作者，不可尽信书上所言，亦不可只为寻章摘句，而应推敲细思。书有可浅尝者，有可吞食者，少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之，有只须读其部分者，有只须大体涉猎者，少数则须全读，读时须全神贯注，孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读，取其所作摘要，但只限题材较次或价值不高者，否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏、淡而无味矣。

读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。因此不常作笔记者须记忆特强，不常讨论者须天生聪颖，不常读书者须欺世有术，使能无知而显有知。读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，伦理学使人庄重，逻辑修辞之学使人善辩：凡有所学，皆成性格。人之才智但有滞碍，无不可读适当之书使之顺畅，一如身体百病，皆可借相宜之运动除之。滚球利睾肾，射箭利胸肺，慢步利肠胃，骑术利头脑，诸如此类。如智力不集中，可令读数学，盖演题须全神贯注，稍有分散即须重演；如不能辨异，可令读经院哲学，盖是辈皆吹毛求疵之人；如不善求同，不善以一物阐证另一物，可令读律师之案卷。如此头脑中凡有缺陷，皆有特药可医。

1、Introduction to Author

22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626

Trinity College, Cambridge

an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method

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【文趣欣赏】

Of Studies，是培根400年前撰写的一篇探讨读书问题的散文杂记，亦是英语文学中妇孺皆知的劝学名篇。该文笔力遒劲苍幽，思想精深悠远，行文简洁明快，论述深入浅出，分析桴鼓相应，读来时若春雨润物，时若激流漂石，时若清风拂面，时若万籁俱号，令人似置身庄子《齐物论》所谓之“野马也，尘埃也，生物之以息相吹也”之境界中。

Of Studies从读书之功用立论，分析了读书学习对人生不同凡响的意义。同时人们对读书学习态度之取向、方法之别异，也直接影响到了学习效果的泾渭两色。培根以为读书的功用有三，即Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability。其在人生中的具体体现亦有三，即 Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.

在作者看来，人们的经验与学识，亦直接影响其读书之取向与效用。具体说来，就是expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned. 由于方法之不同，学习之效果也将各异。所以培根说，To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affection; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. 这个说法颇似孟子“仅信书则不如无书”之教诲。

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Of Studies的文体赏析

[关键词]弗朗西斯培根；修辞手段；节奏；文体效杲 [摘要]本文从文体学角度对弗朗西斯培根的散文Of Studies((论读书》)中的修辞手段，如排比、省略和类 比以及语言节奏的文体效果进行

[关键词]弗朗西斯·培根；修辞手段；节奏；文体效杲

[摘要]本文从文体学角度对弗朗西斯·培根的散文Of Studies((论读书》)中的修辞手段，如排比、省略和类 比以及语言节奏的文体效果进行了分析，指出这些修辞手段的综合运用使语言简洁易懂，气势充沛，重点突出，

论述深刻。同时，我们发现有些修辞手段提供的节奏是作者表达思想不可多得的重要载体，因此，对作品进行

文体分析时不应忽视语言节奏产生的效果。

[中图分类号]H315 [文献标识码]A [文章编号]1OO8—2638(2005)05-0118一O3

Appreciating Of Studies from stylistic perspective

JIN Chun-wei

(Faculty of Foreign Studies， Falzhou University，Linhai 31700，China)

Key words：Francis Bacon；rhetorical devices；rhythm；stylistic effect

Abstract：This paper analyzes some important rhetorical devices in On Studies，such as parallelism ，el～

lipsis and analogy as well as their influence on the rhythm patterns from stylistic perspective，and points

out that both the linguistic forms and their rhythm contribute to the thought of the author，therefore，their

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