Learning — A Lifelong Career

一生的收获

As food is to the body, so is learning to the mind. Our bodies grow and muscles develop with the intake¹ of adequate nutritious² 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 inex-haustible fuel for driving us to sharpen our power of reasoning, analysis, and judgment³. Learning incessantly⁴ is the surest way to keep pace with the times in the information age, and reliable warrant of success in times of uncertainty⁵.

学习之于心灵，就像食物之于身体一样。摄取了适量的营养食物，我们的身体得以生长而肌肉得以发达。 同样地，我们应该日复一日不断地学习以保持我们心智的敏锐，并扩充我们的智力容量。不断的学习提供我们用之不尽的燃料，来驱使我们磨砺我们的推理、分析和判断的能力。持续的学习是在信息时代中跟时代井驾齐驱的最稳当的方法，也是在变动的时代中成功的可靠保证。

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 neyer-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 dormant⁶ 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 refinement⁷ of our character. Lack of learning will inevitably⁸ lead to the stagnation⁹ of the mind, or even worse, its fossilization. Therefore, to stay mentally young, we have to take learning as a lifelong career.

一旦学习停止，单调贫乏的生活就开始了。视学校为汲取知识的惟一场所是种常见的谬误。相反地，从生到死，学习应该是一种无终止的历程。 由于世界变化得如此迅速，只要学习停顿数日就能使人落后。更糟的是，蛰伏在我们潜意识深处的兽性本能就会复活，削弱我们追求高尚理想的意志，弱化我们扫除成功障碍的决心，而且扼杀我们净化我们人格的欲望。缺少学习将不可避免地导致心灵的停滞，甚至更糟，使其僵化。因此，为了保持心态年轻，我们必须将学习当作一生的事业