精美英文欣赏:大学的意义

Universities and Their Function

By Alfred North Whitehead

The justification¹ for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest² of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning. The university imparts information, but it imparts it imaginatively. At least, this is the function which it should perform for society. A university which fails in this respect has no reason for existence. This atmosphere of excitement, arising from imaginative consideration, transforms knowledge. A fact is no longer a bare fact: it is invested with all its possibilities. It is no longer a burden on the memory: it is energising as the poet of our dreams, and as the architect of our purposes.

Imagination is not to be divorced from the facts: it is a way of illuminating³ the facts. It works by drawing the general principles which apply to the facts, as they exist, and then by an intellectual survey of alternative possibilities which are consistent with those principles. It enables men to construct an intellectual vision of a new world, and it preserves the zest of life by the suggestion of satisfying purposes.

Youth is imaginative, and if the imagination be strengthened by discipline this energy of imagination can in great measure be preserved through life. The tragedy of the world is that those who are imaginative have but slight experience, and those who are experienced have feeble imaginations. Fools act on imagination without knowledge; pedants⁴ act on knowledge without imagination. The task of a university is to weld together imagination and experience.

大学之所以有理由存在，就在于它使新老两代在富于想象中学习，从而使知识与生活热情之间得以彼此相连。大学是传授知识的，但它以富有想象力的方式进行传授。至少，这是它应该为社会发挥的作用。一所大学若不能如此就毫无存在的理由。人富于想象后便会感到兴奋激动，使知识得以彻底转化——事实已不再仅仅为事实，它具有了所有替在的可能。它不再是记忆的累赘，而是充满了活力，犹如能描绘我们美梦的诗人和实现我们心愿的设计师。

想象与事实不可分离：通过它事实变得鲜明生动。想象使人获得与存在的事实相适合的一般原则，并让人对与那些原则相一致的各种可能进行理性的审视。想象让人构建起某种关于一个新世界的富有理性的视觉，通过暗示出一些令人喜悦的意图而使生活热情得以维持。

青年是富有想象力的，如果想象通过训练得以加强，那么这种想象力就能在生活中获得极大的维护。这个世界的悲剧在于那些富有想象力的人经验不多，而那些富有经验的人却想象不足。没有知识的傻瓜全凭想象办事，没有想象的学究全凭知识办事。大学的任务就是把想象和经验彼此结合起来。

1 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

2 zest   

n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣

参考例句：

• He dived into his new job with great zest.他充满热情地投入了新的工作。
• He wrote his novel about his trip to Asia with zest.他兴趣浓厚的写了一本关于他亚洲之行的小说。

3 illuminating   

a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的

参考例句：

• We didn't find the examples he used particularly illuminating. 我们觉得他采用的那些例证启发性不是特别大。
• I found his talk most illuminating. 我觉得他的话很有启发性。

4 pedants   

n.卖弄学问的人，学究，书呆子( pedant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Only pedants believe in the advantage of obfuscation. 只有书呆子才相信使人困惑会有好处。 来自辞典例句
• Those cold-blooded pedants are not insensible. 那些冷血腐儒，都不是没有知觉。 来自辞典例句