以书为伴《Companionship Of Book》是一篇语言极其优美的英文哲理性散文，本人十分喜爱，常于晨间读之，然，纵观网上良莠不齐的译文，实难与原文相媲美。左思右想，唯有中国诗歌可与原文比肩，隧译为七言。（后附英文原文）
译|世间唯有好书不可辜负
以书为伴
译|静听若言
观其友方知其人，察其书亦悉其品。
言及交友择书者，皆从佳良而依之。
好书跃居挚友间，始终如一无变迁。
耐心娱乐欣欣然，千载谁堪伯仲间。
笑面相迎亘不变， 患难之中尤可见。
少时送娱拂疑惑，老来为伴暖心怀。
同慕一人成挚友，共好一书结知己。
古有云爱屋及乌，岂及爱吾及吾书。
执书为桥织纽带，沉游一世心相惜。
古满哲言溢妙语，哈兹利特浮其间。
书香幽幽心间绕，诗情满满血里淌。
少小成诵老犹记，故事栩栩如亲行。
物美价廉得来易，芬芳袅袅忘乎归。
良书如瓮汇哲光，熠熠生辉照万丈。
纵观人世悟一生，思想为舵毋庸言。
金玉良言藏书页，弥思奇想赛挚友。
曾有先贤如是言，为有佳思不知孤。
哲思汨汨净吾魂，良言款款促善行。
珍思妙语经流年，百世荣光点人间。
庙塌像倒会有时，书籍匿哲传万年。
时光荏苒思不变，清新如初香依旧。
往昔之言荡耳畔，栩栩如生浮心间。
典作箴品经于世，劣品拙作不见传。
乘书诚可入明世，畅游瑰丽拜英才。
言犹在耳亲临面，情如绿波随风起。
同喜共悲意绵绵，同台共舞心相连。
英才盖世未走远，奇思妙语传四海。
侧耳俯听声声慢，字字珠玑哺万代。
经年伟人恩泽重，教化无边代代传。
附原文
Companionship Of Book
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the love they have each for a book—just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both have for a third. There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this: “Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them
“Books,” said Hazlitt, “wind into the heart; the poet’s verse slides in the current of our blood. We read them when young, we remember them when old. We feel that it has happened to ourselves. They are to be had very cheap and good. We breathe but the air of books.”
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters. “They are never alone,” said Sir Philip Sidney, “that are accompanied by noble thoughts.”
The good and true thoughts may in times of temptation be as an angel of mercy purifying and guarding the soul. It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words almost always inspire to good works.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page.The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old. The imperial intellects of the world are as much alive now as they were ages ago.
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