Learning: a Lifelong Career 學習：一生的事業
As food is to the body, so is learning to the mind.①Our 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.② 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 sub-conscious 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.③ Therefore, to stay mentally young, we have to take learning as a lifelong career.
行文點評
本文首先從正面論證主題，首句點題，並通過對首句的解釋進一步說明終生學習的意義。之後作者結合時代變化的特徵，用the surest way以及reliable warrant說明了持續學習的現實意義。第二段作者從反面來論證自己的觀點，說明停止學習會導致的嚴重後果。最後用therefore引出全文的結束語，再次重申觀點，並與文章題目相呼應。
本文開篇引用 to..., so is... to... 的經典句型開門見山，將學習對心智的重要性比作食物對身體的重要性，生動形象。行文流暢，並能結合時代特徵;首尾呼應，畫龍點睛。
好文妙譯
學習之於心智，就像食物之於身體一樣。攝取了適量的營養食物，我們的身體得以生長而肌肉得以發達。同樣地，我們應該日復一日不斷地學習以保持我們心智的敏銳，並增長我們的智力。不斷的學習像是爲我們的前進提供了用之不盡的能量，驅使我們磨礪自身推理、分析和判斷的能力。持續的學習是在信息時代中與時俱進的最穩妥的方法，也是在無常變化的時代中求得成功的可靠保證。
一旦學習停止，單調貧乏的生活就開始了。視學校爲汲取知識的惟一場所是種常見的謬誤。相反，從生到死，學習應該是一種無終止的歷程。由於世界變化日新月異，學習過程停頓幾天，就會使人落後。而更爲糟糕的是，蟄伏在我們潛意識深處的動物本能就會復活，削弱我們追求高尚理想的'意志，弱化我們掃除成功障礙的決心，並且扼殺我們淨化自身人格的追求。缺少學習將不可避免地導致心智的停滯，甚至更糟，使其僵化。因此，爲了保持青春永駐，我們必須將學習當作一生的事業。
詞彙斟酌
inexhaustible a. 無窮無盡的
incessantly ad. 不斷地，不停地
warrant n. 授權令，(正當)理由，根據;vt. 證明…是正當的
fallacy n.謬誤，謬論
cradle n. 搖籃，發源地
dormant a. 蟄伏的，休止的，匿名的
undermine vt. 暗中破壞，逐漸削弱;侵蝕…的基礎
strangle v. 扼殺，抑制，壓制
stagnation n. 停滯
fossilize vt. 使成化石，使陳腐
佳句臨摹
①【註釋】As A is to B, so is C to D . A之於B就如同C之於D一樣
【臨摹】As water is to the fish, so is book to the human being.書之於人類就如同水之於魚。
②【註釋】本句用了比喻的手法將fuel“燃料”比做能量，使行文更加生動，比喻法是寫作中的常用手法，爲文章增色添加亮點。
【臨摹】He doesn’t have an idea of his own. He just parrots what other people say.他沒有自己的觀點，只會鸚鵡學舌。
③【註釋】or even worse 或甚至更糟糕，這是一種遞進的表達方法。
【臨摹】Some people lived in a completely wrong way： they waste money and time, and even worse, they don’t realize their mistakes yet. 有些人以一種極爲錯誤的方式活着，他們浪費着金錢和時間。更爲糟糕的是，他們還沒有認識到他們做錯了。
思如泉涌
We believe that out of the schools grows a nation’s greatness.我們認爲，一個民族的偉大出自於她的學校教育。
There is no royal road to learning. 書山有路勤爲徑，學海無涯苦作舟。
