书的抒情
柯灵 作
说到书，我很动感情。因为它给我带来温暖，我对它满怀感激。
书是我的恩师。贫穷剥夺了我童年的幸福，把我关在学校大门的外面，是书本敞开它宽厚的胸脯，接纳了我。给我以慷慨的哺育。没有书，就没有我的今天。——也许我早就委弃于沟壑。
书是我的良友。它给我一把金钥匙，诱导我打开浅短的视界，愚昧的头脑，鄙塞的心灵。从不吝惜对我的帮助。书是我青春期的恋人，中年的知己，暮年的伴侣。有了它，我就不再忧愁寂寞，不再怕热情冷暖，世态炎凉。它使我成为精神视界的富翁。我真的是“不可一日无此君”。当我忙完了，累极了；当我愤怒时，苦恼时；我就想亲近它，因为这是一种绝妙的安抚。
我真愿意成为十足的“书迷”和“书痴”，可惜自己还有点不够条件。
不知道谁是监狱的始作俑者。剥夺自由，诚然是人世间的刑法，但如果允许囚人有读书的权利，那还不算是自由的彻底丧失。我对此有惨痛的经验。
对书的焚毁和禁锢，是最大的愚蠢十足的野蛮，可怕的历史倒退。
当然书本里也有败类，那是瘟疫之神，死亡天使，当与世人共弃之。
作家把自己写的书，送给亲友，献与读者，是最大的愉快。如果他的书引起共鸣、得到赞美，那就是对他最好的酬谢。
在宁静的环境、悠闲的心情中静静地读书，是人生中最有味的享受。在“四人帮”覆亡的前夜，我曾经避开海洋般的冷漠与白眼，每天到龙华公园读书，拥有自己独立苍茫的世界。这是我一个终生难忘的经历。
书本是太阳、空气、雨露。我不能设想，没有书的世界是什么样的世界。
译文一：
Ode to Books
By Ke Ling
Tr. Peter Jingcheng Xu （许景城）
（广东外语外贸大学英文学院、英国威尔士班戈大学英语文学院）
Teemed with sentiments, to books, I always feel deeply grateful, for they have warmed my heart and soul.
Books are my teacher, respected. In my childhood, poverty deprived me of happiness and shut me out of school, while books, to embrace me, extended their generous arms, nurturing me with abundance. Without books, today I would not come a long way, and probably for long I would have been deserted in a gully.
Books are my friends, beneficial. On me, they’ve bestowed a golden key, with ungrudging helps, to open my shallow sight, my fatuous mind, and my closed heart. Books are my lover in my adolescence, my bosom friends in my middle age and my companion in my declining years. With them, never would I feel sad and lonely; nor would I fear warmness and coldness, and even the fickleness of the world. A rich man of spirit, they have made me! “How could I for a single second part with thee?” When I’m fatigued from work, or when I feel angry and upset, to seek perfect comfort, I would get myself close to them.
I really want to be a “bookworm” and “bookaholic”, but I regret I am not qualified for it.
I have no idea of who was the deplorable creator of a prison. The deprivation of freedom for sure is a criminal punishment in society, but, if criminals are allowed to read books, it doesn’t mean the total loss of their freedom, which can be concluded from my painful personal experience.
Burning and forbidding books, the most foolish and absolutely barbarous behaviours, would lead to a terrible retrogression in history.
Undoubtedly, there are scums and dregs of books regarded as the Plague and the Death, which should be discarded by all.
It is the greatest pleasure for writers to give their kith and kin, and readers the books written by them. If their books strike a chord and get praise, that will be the best reward for them.
It is the greatest enjoyment to read silently and leisurely in a tranquil environment. Before the fall of “the Gang of Four”, I used to read in Long Hua Park every day to escape from the ocean-like coldness and contempt, in pursuit of an independent and vast world. This is an unforgettable experience in my life.
Books are sunshine, air, rain and dew. I can’t image a world without books.
初译于北林 2011-2-28
改译于英伦 2018-7-5
终译于广外 2019-8-16
译本二：
Eulogizing Books
By Ke Ling
Tr. Peiji Zhang (张培基)
（选自张培基，《英译中国现代散文选（二）》，上海外语教育出版社，2007：251-252）
I always think of books with profound feeling, being deeply indebted to them, as I am, for the warmth they have brought me.
Books are my beloved teachers. In my childhood, when I was deprived of happiness and schooling by poverty, books took me to their large bosoms and nurtured me generously. It is to them that I owe what I am today. Without them, I would probably have ended up in abject misery long ago.
Books are my good friends. They have offered me a golden key to broadening my horizons and ridding myself of stupidity and ignorance. They spare no efforts to help me.
Books are my sweethearts in my youth, my bosom friends in my middle age, and my companions in my declining years. Accompanied by books, I never feel lonely, nor fear social snobbery or fickleness of the world. They have made a rich man of me in the inner world. I cannot do without them even for a single day. When I feel tired out after finishing my work, or when I am in a bad mood, I’ll try to get close to books for comfort — the best way for me to find spiritual consolation.
Oh, if only I were a confirmed bibliomaniac or bookworm! But unfortunately, I’m still not fully qualified for one yet!
I don’t know who was the despicable originator of the prison. Deprivation of freedom is the most savage punishment on earth for sure, but, as I’ve learned from my own personal bitter experience, if prisoners are permitted the right to read they should not be regarded as totally devoid of freedom.
Burning or banning books is the height of folly and barbarity, signifying a most horrible retrogression in history.
Of course there is also some rubbish among books to be avoided like the plague or Death by all.
It is the greatest pleasure for a writer to present to his friends gift copies of a book authored by himself or to have it offered to the reading public. And he will feel richly rewarded if his book arouses public interest and earns wide acclaim.
It is the greatest joy of life for one to spend his leisure time reading in quiet surrounding. On the eve of the fall of the “Gang of Four”, I used to go to Longhua Park every day for a reading session, seeking shelter from a sea of frosty looks and hostile stares in a world of my own. That will forever remain unforgettable experience of my life.
Books are sunlight and air, rain and dew. I can’t imagine what would become of the world without books.
