不同的人有不同的讀書目的。作者通過這篇文章給讀者傳遞了這樣一個信息：讀書不應該僅僅是為了通過考試、獲取信息，而是應該讓自己感到心情愉悅，活得更充實。
Reading for Pleasure
The first thing I want to insist on is that reading should be enjoyable. Of course, there are many books that we all have to read, either to pass examinations or to acquire information, from which it is impossible to extract enjoyment. We are reading them for instruction, and the best we can hope is that our need for it will enable us to get through them without tedium. Such books we read with resignation rather than with alacrity. But that is not the sort of reading I have in mind. The books I shall mention in due course will help you neither to get a degree nor to earn your living, they will not teach you to sail a boat or get a stalled motor to run, but they will help you to live more fully. That, however, they cannot do unless you enjoy reading them.
Every man is his own best critic. Whatever the learned say about a book, however unanimous they are in their praise of it, unless it interests you, it is no business of yours①. And you who read are the final judge of the value to you of the book you are reading. We are none of us exactly like everyone else, only rather like, and it would be unreasonable to suppose that the books that have meant a great deal to me should be precisely those that will mean a great deal to you. But there are books that I feel the richer for having read, and I think I should not be quite the man I am if I had not read them. No one is under an obligation to read poetry or fiction or the miscellaneous literature which is classed as belles-lettres②. He must read them for pleasure，and who can claim that what pleases one man must necessarily please another?
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行文點評
文章開篇點題，用The first thing 首先表明了reading should be enjoyable這一觀點。接下來作者從讀書的目的說明只有enjoy reading才能夠有助你live more fully。第一段最后一句That, however, they cannot do unless you enjoy reading them.對全段做出歸納總結，與段首主題句相互呼應，使本段結構嚴謹。
第二段首句Every man is his own best critic.就是本段的主題句，全段圍繞這個主題展開議論。結尾處使用了一個反問句，這樣不僅深化了主題，而且能引起讀者的共鳴。
好文妙譯
為快樂而讀書
我想強調的第一點是，閱讀應當是令人愉悅的。當然，我們每一個人都會為了通過考試，或是為了獲取信息而閱讀大量的書籍，這樣的閱讀是無法讓我們獲得快樂的。我們讀這些書是為了獲得指導，我們能期望的最多就是我們在讀完之后不至于感到單調乏味。這樣的書，我們讀得無可奈何而不是輕松愉快。不過，這類閱讀并不是我想要談的。我在下面將要提到的那一類書既不能幫助你獲取學位，也不能幫助你掙錢謀生，更不能教會你駕駛船只或修好出了故障的馬達，然而，它們能夠幫助你活得更加充實。而這一點，除非你喜歡讀它們，否則是無法做到的。
最好的評論家是每個人自己。無論某個學者對某一本書作了什么評價，無論他們如何眾口一詞地對它大加稱贊，倘若它激不起你的興趣，那么這本書就與你毫不相干。作為讀者，你是你所讀書籍價值的仲裁人。我們當中，沒有一個人跟另外一個人的評價完全相像，至多有點相像而已。想當然地認為對我來說很有價值的書恰恰對你也很有價值，這是不合情理的。但是也確實有這樣的書，在讀完之后，我感到更加充實了，我覺得要是沒有讀過它們，我就不會成為現在的我。沒有什么人非要去讀詩歌、小說以及其他歸為“純文學”的作品不可。讀者讀這些作品必然是為了獲取快樂；然而誰又能說，使一位讀者感到愉悅的書一定會讓另一位讀者喜歡呢?
詞匯斟酌
extract vt. 獲得，索取
tedium n. 厭煩, 沉悶
resignation n. 聽任, 順從
alacrity n. 爽快，樂意
in due course 及時地，在適當時
ear one’s living 賺錢謀生
stall v.(使)( 發動機)熄火
unanimous a. 全體一致的，一致同意的
miscellaneous a. 各色各樣混在一起, 混雜的
belles-lettres n. 純文學
佳句臨摹
①【注釋】no business of one’s與某人無關
【臨摹】My plan is no business of yours.我的計劃與你無關。
②【注釋】under an obligation 有義務，有道義負責
【臨摹】She’s under an obligation to him because he lent her money.因為他把錢借給她了，所以她有償還他的義務。
思如泉涌
Books are the ever-burning lamps of accumulated wisdom. 書籍是積聚智慧的長明燈。
By reading we enrich the mind, by conversation we polish it. 讀書使人充實，溝通使人精明。
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