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The Pleasures of Learning
学习的乐趣
Gilbert Highet
吉尔伯特·海特
As most schools are set up today, learning is compulsory. It is an Ought, even worse, a Must, enforced by regular hours and rigid discipline.
如今，随着各级各类学校的不断建立，学习成了强制性的任务。学习受规定的作息时间和严格的纪律约束，是一件“应该做的事”，甚至更糟的是，它成了一种“必须做的事。”
And the young sneer at the Oughts and resist the Musts with all their energy.
年轻人不屑于这些“应该做的事”，并竭尽全力来抵制这些“必须做的事。”
The feeling often lasts through a lifetime.
这种感觉常常会陪伴人的一生。
For too many of us, learning appears to be a surrender of our own will to external direction, a sort of enslavement.
对我们当中的很多人来说，学习似乎是要让我们的自我意志屈服于外部的管理，这实际上是一种奴役。
This is a mistake. Learning is a natural pleasure, inborn and instinctive, one of the essential pleasures of the human race.
这是一种错误的想法。学习是一种自然的乐趣，它是与生俱来的本能行为，是人类的一种基本乐趣。
Watch a small child, at an age too young to have had any mental habits implanted by training.
让我们来观察一个小孩子吧：这是一个年龄太小，根本无法通过训练来灌输思考习惯的小孩子。
Some delightful films made by the late Dr Arnold Gesell of Yale University show little creatures who can barely talk investigating problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers,
已故的耶鲁大学博士阿诺德·格赛尔制作的一些有趣的影片表明，那些几乎不会讲话的小孩子们以探险家的渴望与兴致调查研究问题，
making discoveries with the passion and absorption of dedicated scientists.
像忠于职守的科学家一样热切地专注于新的发现。
At the end of each successful investigation, there comes over each tiny face an expression of pure heart-felt pleasure.
每项成功的调查研究工作结束的时候，每个孩子的脸上都露出了纯真、由衷的快乐的表情。
When Archimedes discovered the principle of specific gravity by observing his own displacement of water in a bathtub,
当阿基米德通过观察自己在浴盆里排水量而发现了比重原理时，
he leaped out with delight, shouting, "Eureka, Eureka!"("I have found it, I have found it!")
他高兴得跳了起来，喊道：“Eureka, Eureka!”（我找到它了，我找到它了！）
The instinct which prompted his outburst, and the joy of its gratification, are possessed by all children.
这种刺激他情感迸发的本能和满足感所带来的快乐是所有儿童都具备的。
