Francis Bacon 弗朗西斯培根

1、Francis Bacon- an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist, and authorFAMILYLIFE22 January 1561: Born5 April 15731576: Trinity College, Cambridge1579: His father died1617: Became the Keeper of Privy Seal1618: Became the Lord Chancellor1621: Deprived of his office, fined an

2、d banished from London9 April 1626:DiedSCIENCE & LITERATUREINFLUENCEESSAYSEssayes: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed (1597) was the first published book by the philosopher, statesman and jurist Francis Bacon. The Essays are written in a wide range of style

3、s, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic. They cover topics drawn from both public and private life, and in each case the essays cover their topics systematically from a number of different angles, weighing one argument against another. A much-enlarged second edition appeared in 1612 with

4、 38 essays. Another, under the title Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, was published in 1625 with 58 essays. Translations into French and Italian appeared during Bacons lifetime.ESSAYSOf StudiesStudies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privaten

5、ess and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshaling of affairs, come best from those that are learned.To spend

6、 too much time in studies is sloth; touse them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar.They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience:for natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study; and studies themselves

7、do give forth directions too much at large, except they bebounded in by experience.Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them, for they teach not their own use, but that is awisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.Read not to contradict and confute, nor

8、 to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed,and some few to be chewed and digested;that is, some books are to be read onlyin parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly

9、,and with diligence and attention.Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others, but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of book;else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.Reading maketh a full man, conference

10、 a ready man, and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit;and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathema

11、tics,subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able tocontend.Abeunt studia in mores.Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fitstudies, like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins,

12、shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head, and the like.So if a mans wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little,he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differ

13、ences,let him study the schoolmen, for they are cumini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters and tocall up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyerscases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.王佐良 譯FAMOUS SENTENCESMen fear death as children fear

14、to go in the dark.Studies serve for delight.Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.When I was young my father said to me:Knowledge is Power.Francis BaconI understood it as Knowledge is power, France is Bacon.For more than a decade I wondered over the meaning of th

15、e second part and what was the surreal linkage between the two? If I said the quote to someone, Knowledge is power, France is Bacon they nodded knowingly. Or someone might say, Knowledge is power and Id finish the quote France is Bacon and they wouldnt look at me like Id said something very odd but thoughtfully agree. I did ask a teacher what did Knowledge is power, France is bacon meant and got a full 10 minute explanation of the Knowledge is power bit but nothing on France is bacon. When I prompted further explanation by sayi