April 23 is another World Book Day. In modern society, books have become a necessity of life, and reading has become an indispensable part of everyone's daily life. However, why to read, how to read, and what books to read are always the problems that readers have to solve. The more social change is brewed, the more so.
The Chinese nation is the oldest civilization in the world, and it is also the first nation to produce language, writing and books. Although western historians have a school of view that one of the greatest cultural achievements of the Sumerians in the Two Rivers Field was the invention of cuneiform writing, which has also become a symbol of the history of the development of world civilization. However, Chinese oracle bones are actually about the same time as they appeared, and with new archaeological discoveries, it is difficult to distinguish the origin of civilization. The emergence of Chinese books, especially bamboo books, is definitely much more reliable than clay tablet books. Many historians are still questioning the authenticity of clay tablet books, after all, the reading, transmission and preservation of clay tablet books are very strange.
Books are the carriers of human intelligence. Without the invention of books, human wisdom could not be passed on. Chinese society has known this truth for a long time, and the Analects say, "Knowing the new from the past can be a teacher." "Chinese civilization is closely related to this perception. Compared with Westerners, the Chinese nation pays more attention to records, and as far as the literature known so far, the Chinese nation is far superior to the West in this regard. Even the so-called Western great wisdom such as Plato, Aristotle and others who are close to the time of Confucius and Mencius, their ideas are actually hundreds of years later, so there is a risk that it is difficult to distinguish between true and false. The brilliant ideas of the Chinese nation in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period have a large number of books that can be passed down.
Reading is both an interest in life and itself encompasses life. This may have a different meaning in different times. China has a culture that attaches great importance to reading, especially in China's centralized political system, the person who governs the country is the decisive factor, and how to judge whether it has such a talent is an important criterion for reading. Before the emergence of the examination system, the selection of talents mainly relied on recommendations, and the readers were the candidates with the most recommended qualifications.
Therefore, although the sages of Confucius and Mengmeng had almost no experience in governing the country, there were many of his disciples, and reading became the best background for these people. Therefore, Zhao Heng, the True Emperor of Song, once had a very famous "Persuasion Poem", which said it more bluntly: "Rich families do not need to buy good land, and there are thousands of bells in the book." There is no need to build a high hall in the settlement, and there is a golden house in the book. When you go out, you don't hate no one to follow, and there are many cars and horses in the book. Marrying a wife does not hate the unscrupulous media, and there is a yan ruyu in the book. If the boy has fulfilled his life aspirations, he will read to the window diligently. "For a man, as long as the book is well read, there will be everything. It is not easy for an emperor to bring out such a bowl of grounded chicken soup.
Although the imperial examination system has many flaws, it is of positive significance in encouraging scholars to study, so that it has formed a unique Chinese culture of scholars. Each dynasty has its own cultural characteristics, and masters in all aspects have emerged, which are the treasures of Chinese culture. Almost all of these masters have good reading habits from an early age, and those who value reading, even if they are poor, also try to make their children able to read. To this day, the college entrance examination system is still an important part of education, and it is still a great pity that readers cannot go through the baptism of the college entrance examination and realize the carp jumping the dragon gate.
In an era of books flourishing, the purpose of reading, in addition to utilitarianism, the biggest role is self-cultivation. Of course, self-cultivation can also be utilitarian, but the more advanced the society and the more selective people are, the less utilitarian it is to read. Su Dongpo said: "Rough and large cloth wrapped in career, belly has poetry and bookish atmosphere self-glory." Although it cannot be said that he does not consider the merit at all, he obviously appreciates "qi zihua" more. In fact, the temperament of this thing to seriously study, it is really not easy to say clearly, but the difference in how much reading, in people's interactions is very obvious, you do not pay attention to it. Many of today's books are directly about temperament, which is relatively superficial. The ancients did not all explain that it was called temperament, so Han Yu said very directly, "Man can be a man, and there are poetry books from the belly." In other words, one cannot be human without reading. It's hard to say, but it's actually like that.
The ancient intellectuals' desire and pursuit of books, today's people think that no matter what kind of books can be easily obtained, so they will not really understand the pain of not having books. Probably only my generation experienced it in that particular period. At that time, college libraries were closed, many books were listed as banned books, Xinhua Bookstore can buy only a few books, in addition to the same content as the newspaper books, there are very few other books, so it is too difficult to see more books. In the 1960s and 1970s, there were hand-copied books circulating, who could have imagined, but we were lucky enough to experience it. Today, people can "pile up ten thousand volumes of books, and scholars can know their truth" (Liu Yuxi), which is really very happy.
Chinese the method of reading books, when a few words of Mr. Zhu Xi are the most classic: "There are three ways to read, that is, to the heart, to the eyes, and to the mouth." "Don't underestimate these three, whether a person can become a talent or not should depend on these three arrivals." In fact, this is like our primary school students studying, using all our hearts and ears to remember and understand. Although some people have never forgotten, ten lines at a glance, but that is a genius, after all, genius is a minority, is a very rare, if the experience of genius is extended, it will be endlessly harmful. Reading is not lazy, and the Southern Song Dynasty literary scholar Liu Guo compared reading to farming: "Mechanics is like force farming, and diligence is self-knowledge." But there are many kinds of books, and there will be a time of old age. "This is still outdated for today's readers." Today, although we have a lot of reading aids, holding the paper book heart, eye, mouth, may be the most effective way for young students to read.
There are more books, and how to choose has become a very troublesome thing. There is now a theory, the "information cocoon" theory, which says that each of us may be as limited in our choice of knowledge and information as if we were in a room. Most people probably do. However, there is a way to break through this cocoon theory, that is, consciously read miscellaneously. Han Yu said: "There are not many people who suffer from reading, and I don't know what I think. "Reading a few books and thinking that you understand it is a terrible thing. Even if it is not to do learning, if there is time, it is not bad to read books from multiple angles, that is, it is beneficial to learn from more angles of common sense of life. Nowadays, people's understanding of many things is tit-for-tat, it seems that each side has its own opinions, all of which are reasonable, but in most cases, the knowledge is too narrow, originally everyone is taking a direction, and the knowledge side is too narrow, it will form a road in the same direction and it is like a strange road.
Life energy is limited, and the time to study may also be limited. Now that I think about it, people study for about the time before they graduated from school and entered society, and after they retired. When working, there is always a feeling of not reading enough, although this is some regrets, but "the black hair does not know how to study early, and the white head regrets reading late." "Now for us, reading can finally be a real part of life." It is indispensable to ascend to the heights and look far away, and it is not possible to go a day without reading. "Very pure reading, reading into life, I hope this can become my life."