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把学习当成一生的事业
Learning: a Lifelong Career

【心灵感悟】

屈原曾说：“路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索。”可见其对学习的热爱和持之以恒。

我们为何要学习？因为学习是增长智慧的源泉，是净化心灵的良药，是做事成功的必要条件……人不能离开学习，不学习，你的意志便会削弱，你的愿望便很难实现；不学习，你便要落后，“落后便要挨打”；不学习，你的人格便不能得以提升，便不能拥有真善美的心灵……我们当然要学习，而且要不间断地学习，要知道“失之毫厘，差之千里”的道理，所以我们要“活到老，学到老”。

【英语原文】

As food is to the body, so is learning to the mind. Our bodies grow and muscles develop with the intake of adequate nutritious food. Likewise, we should keep learning day by day to maintain our keen mental power and expand our intellectual capacity. Constant learning supplies us with inexhaustible fuel for driving us to sharpen our power of reasoning, analysis, and judgment. Learning incessantly is the surest way to keep pace with the times in the information age, and reliable warrant of success in times of uncertainty.

Once learning stops, vegetation sets in. It is a common fallacy to regard school as the only workshop for the acquisition of knowledge. On the contrary, learning should be a never-ending process, from the cradle to the grave. With the world changing so fast, to cease learning for just a few days will make a person lag behind. What's worse, the animal instinct dormant deep in our subconscious will come to life, weakening our will to pursue our noble ideas, undermining our determination to sweep away obstacles to our success and strangling our desire for the refinement of our character. Lack of learning will inevitably lead to the stagnation of the mind, or even worse, its fossilization. Therefore, to stay mentally young, we have to take learning as a lifelong career.

【参考翻译】

学习之于心灵，就像食物之于身体一样。摄取了适量的营养食物，我们的身体得以生长而肌肉得以发达。同样地，我们应该日复一日不断地学习以保持我们心智的敏锐，并扩充我们的智力容量。不断的学习为我们提供用之不尽的燃料，来驱使我们磨砺我们的推理、分析和判断的能力。持续的学习是在信息时代中与时代并驾齐驱的最稳妥的方法，也是在变动的时代中成功的可靠保证。

一旦学习停止，单调贫乏的生活就开始了。视学校为汲取知识的唯一场所是种常见的谬误。相反地，从生到死，学习应该是一种无终止的历程。由于世界变化得如此迅速，只要学习停顿数日就能使人落后。更糟的是，蛰伏在我们潜意识深处的兽性本能就会复活，削弱我们追求高尚理想的意志，弱化我们扫除成功障碍的决心，而且扼杀我们净化人格的欲望。缺少学习将不可避免地导致心灵的停滞，甚至更糟，使其僵化。因此，为了保持心态年轻，我们必须将学习当作一生的事业。