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Chapter 15: interests ↵ In this

chapter I wish to consider not those major

interests about which a man' s life is built, but

those minor interests which fill his leisure and

afford relaxation from the of his more

serious preoccupations. In the life of the

average man his wife and children, his work and

his financial position occupy the main part of

his anxious and serious thought. Even if he has

extra-matrimonial love affairs, they probably do

not concern him as profoundly in themselves as in

their possible effects upon his home life. The

interests which are bound up with his work I am

not for the present regarding as

interests. A man of science, , must

research in his own line. Towards

such research his feelings have the warmth and

belonging to something

concerned with his career, but if he reads about

research in some quite other science with which

he is not professionally concerned he reads in

quite a different spirit, not professionally,

less critically, more . Even if he

has to use his mind in order to follow what is

said, his reading is nevertheless a relaxation,

because it is not connected with his

responsibilities: If the book interests him, his

interest is in a sense which cannot be

applied to the books upon his own subject. It is

such interests lying outside the main activities

of a man's life that I wish to speak about in the

present chapter. ↵ One of the sources of

, fatigue, and is

be interested in anything that is

not of practical importance in one's own life.

The result of this is that the conscious mind

gets no rest from a certain small number of

matters, each of which probably involves some

anxiety and some element of worry. Except in

sleep the conscious mind is never allowed to lie

while thought matures its

gradual wisdom. The result is , lack

of , , and a loss of sense of

proportion. All these are both causes and effects

of fatigue. As a man gets more tired, his

external interests fade, and as they fade he

loses the relief which they afford him and

becomes still more tired. This is

only too end in a breakdown. What is

about external interests is the fact that

they do not call for any action. Making decisions

and exercising are very fatiguing,

especially if they have to be done and

without the help of . Men who

feel that they must'sleep on it' before coming

to an important decision are profoundly right.

But it is not only in sleep that

mental processes can work. They can work also

while a man's conscious mind is occupied

elsewhere. The man who can forget his work when

it is over and not remember it until it begins

again next day is likely to do his work far

better than the man who worries about it

throughout the intervening hours. And it is very

much easier to forget work at the times when it

ought to be forgotten if a man has many interests

other than his work than it is if he has not. It

is, however, essential that these interests

should not exercise those very faculties which

have been exhausted by his day's work. They

should not involve will and quick decision, they

should not, like gambling, involve any financial

element, and they should as a rule not be so

exciting as to produce emotional fatigue and

as well as the

conscious mind / ↵ A great many amusements

fulfill all these conditions. Watching games,

going to the theatre, playing golf, are all

from this point of view. For a man

of a turn of mind, reading

with his professional activities is very

satisfactory. However important a worry may be,

it should not be thought about throughout the

whole of the waking hours. ↵ In this respect

there is a great difference between men and

women. Men on the whole find it very much easier

to forget their work than women do. In the case

of women whose work is in the home this is

natural, since they do not have the change of

place that a man has when he leaves the office to

help them to acquire a new mood. But if I am not

mistaken, women whose work is outside the home

differ from men in this respect almost as much as

those who work at home. They find it, that is to

say, very difficult to be interested in anything

that has for them no practical importance. Their

purposes govern their thoughts and their

activities, and they seldom become

some wholly irresponsible interest. I do not of

course deny that exceptions exist, but I am

speaking of what seems to me to be the usual

rule. In a women's college, , the

women teachers, if no man is present, talk shop

in the evening, while in a men' s college the men

do not. This characteristic appears to women as a

higher degree of than that of

men, but I do not think that in the long run it

improves the quality of their work. And it tends

to produce a certain of outlook

leading to a kind of .

↵ All interests, apart from their

importance as relaxation, have various other

uses. To begin with, they help a man to retain

his sense of proportion. It is very easy to

become so our own pursuits, our own

circle, our own type of work, that we forget how

small a part this is of the total of human

activity and how many things in the world are

entirely what we do. Why should one

remember this? you may ask. There are several

answers. In the first place, it is good to have

as true a picture of the world as is compatible

with necessary activities. Each of us is in the

world for no very long time, and within the few

years of his life has to acquire whatever he is

to know of this strange planet and its place in

the universe. To ignore our opportunities for

knowledge, as they are, is like going

to the theatre and not listening to the play. The

world is full of things that are tragic or comic,

heroic or bizarre or surprising, and those who

fail to be interested in the spectacle that it

offers are one of that

life has to offer. ↵ Then again a sense of

proportion is very valuable and at times very

. We are all get

excited, strained,

the importance of the little corner of the world

in which we live, and of the little moment of

time comprised between our birth and death. In

this excitement and over-estimation of our own

importance there is nothing desirable. True, it

may make us work harder, but it will not make us

work better. A little work directed to a good end

is better than a great deal of work directed to a

bad end, though the of the

life seem to think otherwise. Those who care much

for their work are always in danger of falling

into , which consists essentially in

remembering one or two desirable things while

forgetting all the rest, and in supposing that in

the pursuit of these one or two any

harm of other sorts is of little account. Against

this temper there is no better

than a large conception of the life

of man and his place in the universe. This may

seem a very big thing to invoke in such a

connection; but apart from this particular use it

is in itself a thing of great value. ↵ It is one

of of modern higher education that it

has become too much a training in the acquisition

of certain kinds of skill, and too little an

of the mind and heart by any

survey of the world. You become

absorbed, let us say, in a political contest, and

work hard for the victory of your own party. So

far, so good. But it may happen in the course of

the contest that some opportunity of victory

presents itself which involves the use of methods

calculated to increase hatred, violence and

suspicion in the world. , you may find

that the best road to victory is to insult some

foreign nation. If your mental is limited

to the present, or if you have the

doctrine that what is called efficiency is the

only thing that matters, you will adopt such

dubious means. Through them you will be

in your immediate purpose, while the

more distant consequences may be disastrous. If,

on the other hand, you have as part of the

furniture of your mind the past ages of

man, his slow and partial emergence out of

, and the of his total existence

in comparison with astronomical - if, I

say, such thoughts have molded your

feelings, you will realise that the

battle upon which you are engaged cannot be of

such importance as to risk

towards the darkness out of which we have been

slowly emerging. , more, if you suffer defeat

in your immediate objective, you will be

the same sense of its

that made you adopt

weapons. You will have, beyond your immediate

activities, purposes that are distant and slowly

unfolding, in which you are not an isolated

individual but one of the great army of those who

have led mankind towards a existence.

If you have this outlook, a certain

deep happiness will never leave you, whatever

your personal fate may be. Life will become a

communion with the great of all ages, and

personal death no more than a

incident. ↵ If I had the power to organise

higher education as I should wish it to be, I

should seek to the old orthodox

religions - which appeal to few among the young,

and those as a rule the least intelligent and the

most - something which is perhaps

hardly to be called religion, since it is merely

a focusing of attention upon well-ascertained

facts. I should seek to make young people

aware of the past, realising that the

future of man will be

longer than his past, profoundly

conscious of the of the planet upon

which we live and of the fact that life on this

planet is only a temporary incident; and at the

same time with these facts which tend to

emphasise the of the individual I

should present quite another set of facts

designed to the mind of the young

the of which the individual is capable,

and the knowledge that throughout all the depths

of nothing of equal value is known

to us. long ago wrote

and human freedom; his form and his language make

his thought difficult of access to all but

students of philosophy, but what I

wish differs little from what he has

said. ↵ A man who has once perceived, however

temporarily and however briefly, what makes

of soul, can no longer be happy if he

allows himself to be petty, self-seeking,

troubled by trivial , what

fate may have in store for him. The man capable

of of soul will open wide the windows

of his mind, letting the winds blow freely upon

it from every portion of the universe. He will

see himself and life and the world as truly as

our human limitations will permit; realising the

and of human life, he will

realise also that in individual minds is

concentrated whatever of value the known universe

contains. And he will see that the man whose mind

mirrors the world becomes in a sense as great as

the world. In from the fears that

the slave of circumstance he will

experience a profound joy, and through all the

of his life he will remain

in the depths of his being a happy man. ↵

Leaving these large speculations and returning to

our more immediate subject, namely the value of

interests, there is another

consideration which makes them a great help

towards happiness. Even in the most fortunate

lives there are times when things go wrong. Few

men except bachelors have never

their wives; few parents have not endured grave

anxiety owing to the illnesses of their children;

few businessmen have avoided times of financial

stress; few professional men have not known

periods when failure stared them in the face. At

such times a capacity to become interested in

something outside the cause of anxiety is an

immense . At such times, when

anxiety there is nothing to be done at the

moment, one man will , another will

read , a third will become

, a fourth will

himself by reading about the excavations

at of the . Any one of these four is

acting , whereas the man who does nothing

to distract his mind and allows his trouble to

acquire a complete empire over him is acting

and making himself less fit to cope with

his troubles when the moment for action arrives.

Very similar considerations apply to

sorrows such as the death of some person deeply

loved. No good is done to anyone by allowing

oneself to become sunk in grief on such an

occasion. Grief is and must be

expected, but everything that can be done should

be done to minimise it. It is mere

to aim, as some do, at extracting the very

drop of misery from . I do

not of course deny that a man may be broken by

sorrow, but I do say that should do his

to escape this fate, and should seek any

distraction, however trivial, provided it is not

in itself harmful or . Among those that

I regard as harmful and I include such

things as and drugs, of which the

purpose is to destroy thought, at least for the

time being. The proper course is not to destroy

thought but to turn it into new channels, or at

any rate into channels remote from the present

. It is difficult to do this if life

has hitherto been concentrated upon a very few

interests and those few have now become

with sorrow. To bear well when it

comes, it is have cultivated in happier

times a certain width of interests, so that the

mind may find prepared for it some

place suggesting other associations and other

emotions than those which are making the present

difficult to bear. ↵ A man of adequate

and will all by the

emergence after each blow of an interest in life

and the world which cannot be narrowed down so

much as to make one loss fatal. To be defeated by

one loss or even by several is not something to

be admired as a proof of sensibility, but

something to be as a failure in

. All our affections are

death, which may strike down those whom we love

at any moment. It is therefore necessary that our

lives should not have that narrow intensity which

puts the whole meaning and purpose of our life at

the mercy of accident. For all these reasons the

man who pursues happiness will aim at the

possession of a number of subsidiary interests in

addition to those central ones upon which his

life is built. ↵

知识点

重点词汇
unduly [ˌʌnˈdju:li] adv. 过度地；不适当地；不正当地 { :8416}

degrading [dɪˈgreɪdɪŋ] adj. 可耻的；丧失体面的；不名誉的 v. 退化（degrade的ing形式）；减少；降低…的身份 { :8440}

vitality [vaɪˈtæləti] n. 活力，生气；生命力，生动性 {toefl :8443}

misfortunes [misˈfɔ:tʃənz] n. 不幸( misfortune的名词复数 ); 厄运; 不幸的事; 灾难 { :8481}

misfortune [ˌmɪsˈfɔ:tʃu:n] n. 不幸；灾祸，灾难 {cet6 ky toefl ielts :8481}

vividly ['vɪvɪdlɪ] adv. 生动地；强烈地 {cet6 :8508}

unaffected [ˌʌnəˈfektɪd] adj. 不受影响的；自然的；真挚的；不矫揉造作的 {gre :8595}

outward [ˈaʊtwəd] adj. 向外的；外面的；公开的；外服的；肉体的 adv. 向外（等于outwards）；在外；显而易见地 n. 外表；外面；物质世界 {gk cet4 cet6 ky toefl :8599}

negligible [ˈneglɪdʒəbl] adj. 微不足道的，可以忽略的 {cet6 ky toefl ielts :8612}

dreading [dredɪŋ] n. 装载杂货选择权 v. 害怕；恐惧；担忧（dread的ing形式） { :8728}

impersonal [ɪmˈpɜ:sənl] n. 非人称动词；不具人格的事物 adj. 客观的；非个人的；没有人情味的；非人称的 {toefl :8797}

greatness [ɡreɪtnəs] n. 伟大；巨大 { :8879}

civilised ['sɪvəlaɪzd] adj. 文明的 { :8881}

hurriedly ['hʌrɪdlɪ] adv. 匆忙地；仓促地 { :8948}

apostles [əˈpɔsəlz] n. 使徒（apostle的复数）；传道者；倡导者 { :9040}

wisely [waɪzlɪ] adv. 明智地；聪明地；精明地 n. (Wisely)人名；(英)怀斯利 { :9108}

console [kən'səʊl] n. [计] 控制台；[电] 操纵台 vt. 安慰；慰藉 n. (Console)人名；(意、罗)孔索莱 {cet6 ky toefl ielts gre :9160}

consoling [kən'səʊlɪŋ] adj. 可安慰的 { :9160}

emancipation [ɪˌmænsɪ'peɪʃn] n. 解放；释放 {toefl :9317}

utmost [ˈʌtməʊst] n. 极限；最大可能 adj. 极度的；最远的 {cet4 cet6 ky ielts :9464}

intimately ['ɪntɪmɪtlɪ] adv. 熟悉地；亲切地；私下地 { :9539}

unavoidable [ˌʌnəˈvɔɪdəbl] adj. 不可避免的；不能废除的 {cet6 :9575}

deplored [diˈplɔ:d] v. 悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) { :9723}

incidental [ˌɪnsɪˈdentl] n. 附带事件；偶然事件；杂项 adj. 附带的；偶然的；容易发生的 { :9982}

imperfect [ɪmˈpɜ:fɪkt] n. 未完成体 adj. 有缺点的；未完成的；半过去的；未完成时的 adv. 有瑕疵地；有缺点地 { :10063}

zest [zest] n. 风味；热心；强烈的兴趣 vt. 给…调味 {toefl ielts gre :10079}

beset [bɪˈset] vt. 困扰；镶嵌；围绕 {toefl ielts gre :11120}

strenuous [ˈstrenjuəs] adj. 紧张的；费力的；奋发的；艰苦的；热烈的 {ky toefl ielts :11142}

impartial [ɪmˈpɑ:ʃl] adj. 公平的，公正的；不偏不倚的 {cet6 ky toefl gre :11147}

habitual [həˈbɪtʃuəl] adj. 习惯的；惯常的；习以为常的 {cet4 cet6 :11263}

undisturbed [ˌʌndɪˈstɜ:bd] adj. 安静的；镇定的；未被扰乱的；泰然自若的 {toefl :11295}

victorious [vɪkˈtɔ:riəs] adj. 胜利的；凯旋的 {cet4 cet6 toefl :11407}

boon [bu:n] n. 恩惠；福利；利益 adj. 愉快的；慷慨的 n. (Boon)人名；(英)布恩；(东南亚国家华语)文；(瑞典、德)博恩；(泰)汶 {toefl gre :11451}

unhappiness [ʌn'hæpɪnəs] n. 苦恼；忧愁 { :11535}

momentary [ˈməʊməntri] adj. 瞬间的；短暂的；随时会发生的 {cet6 ky :11937}

surmount [səˈmaʊnt] vt. 克服，越过；战胜 {toefl ielts gre :11982}

enlargement [ɪnˈlɑ:dʒmənt] n. 放大；放大的照片；增补物 { :12305}

forgoing [fɔ:'gəʊɪŋ] vt. 放弃；停止；对…断念 n. (Forgo)人名；(罗)福尔戈 { :12568}

epochs [ ] 时代（epoch的复数形式） 时期（epoch的复数形式） { :12794}

unconnected [ˌʌnkəˈnektɪd] adj. 不连接的；无关联的 { :13761}

abreast [əˈbrest] adj. 并排的；肩并肩的 adv. 并肩地；并列 {gre :14056}

fanatical [fə'nætɪkl] adj. 狂热的 {toefl :14088}

infrequently [ɪn'fri:kwəntlɪ] adv. 很少发生地；稀少地 { :14159}

nay [neɪ] adv. 不；甚至；不仅如此 n. 拒绝；反对；投反对票的人 n. (Nay)人名；(德、法、柬、匈)奈；(缅)乃；(英)内伊 { :14625}

drunkenness [ˈdrʌŋkənnɪs] n. 醉态；酒醉 { :14846}

subconscious [ˌsʌbˈkɒnʃəs] n. 潜在意识；下意识心理活动 adj. 潜意识的；下意识的 { :15809}

bondage [ˈbɒndɪdʒ] n. 奴役，束缚；奴役身份 {toefl gre :16176}

suffused [səf'ju:zd] vt. 充满；弥漫 { :17080}


难点词汇
purview [ˈpɜ:vju:] n. 范围，权限；视界；条款 { :17507}

sentimentality [ˌsentɪmenˈtæləti] n. 多愁善感 { :17949}

fallow [ˈfæləʊ] n. 休耕地；休耕 adj. 休耕的；不活跃的 vt. 使（土地）休闲；潜伏 n. (Fallow)人名；(英)法洛 {toefl gre :18378}

insignificance [ˌɪnsɪɡ'nɪfɪkəns] n. 无意义；不重要；无价值 { :18436}

brevity [ˈbrevəti] n. 简洁，简短；短暂，短促 { :18458}

immeasurably [ɪ'meʒərəblɪ] adv. 无限地；广大无边地；不能测量地 { :18619}

fanaticism [fəˈnætɪsɪzəm] n. 狂热，著迷；盲信 {toefl :18972}

restful [ˈrestfl] adj. 宁静的；安静的；给人休息的 { :19015}

narrowness ['nærəʊnəs] n. 狭小，狭窄；小气 { :19021}

irritability [ˌɪrɪtə'bɪlətɪ] n. 过敏性；易怒；兴奋性 { :19072}

preoccupy [priˈɒkjupaɪ] vt. 迷住；使全神贯注 { :19335}

volition [vəˈlɪʃn] n. 意志，意志力；决断力 {gre :19937}

vicissitudes [vɪ'sɪsɪtju:dz] n. 变迁；兴衰；枯荣；（人生的）盛衰（vicissitude的复数） { :20122}

barbarism [ˈbɑ:bərɪzəm] n. 野蛮；原始；未开化；暴虐 { :20386}

irreparable [ɪˈrepərəbl] adj. 不能挽回的；不能修补的 {toefl :20436}

unwisely [ˌʌn'waɪzlɪ] adv. 不明智地；愚笨地 { :20462}

everyman ['evrimæn] n. 普通人；一般人 { :23299}

prophylactic [ˌprɒfɪˈlæktɪk] n. [药] 预防药；预防法；避孕用具 adj. 预防疾病的 { :23421}

bookish [ˈbʊkɪʃ] adj. 书本上的；好读书的；书呆子气的 { :23510}

imbibed [ɪmˈbaɪbd] v. 吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 ); 喝; 吸取; 吸气 { :23889}

vividness ['vɪvɪdnəs] n. 生动；活泼；明亮 { :26267}

UR [ʌ, ә(:)] n. 乌尔（古代美索不达亚南部苏美尔的重要城市） abbr. 铀（uranium） { :28950}

Spinoza [spi'nәuzә] 斯宾诺莎(Baruch 或 Benedict, 1632-1677, 荷兰唯物主义哲学家) { :28985}

conscientiousness [ˌkɒnʃɪ'enʃəsnɪs] n. 尽责；凭良心办事 { :31517}

sagacity [sə'ɡæsətɪ] n. 睿智；聪敏；有远见 { :34212}

tenseness [tensnəs] n. 紧张；绷紧 { :35845}

excitability [ɪkˌsaɪtə'bɪlətɪ] n. [生理] 兴奋性，应激性；可激发性 {gre :37398}

uttermost [ˈʌtəməʊst] n. 最大限度；极端 adj. 极度的；极端的；最远的；最高的 { :39323}

obscurantist [ˌɒbskjʊ'ræntɪst] adj. 反启蒙主义者的 n. 反启蒙主义者 { :39371}

disinterestedly [dis'intristidli] adv. 公正地；无私地；无偏见地 { :39685}

irreproachable [ˌɪrɪˈprəʊtʃəbl] adj. 无可指责的；无过失的 {toefl :39794}


生僻词
Chaldees [ ] (Chaldee 的复数) adj.占星术的

minuteness [maɪ'nju:tnɪs] n. 微小，微细，绵密; 极小; 极细

momentariness ['mәumәntәrinis] 倾刻, 瞬息

over-estimation [ ] [网络] 过高估计

self-seeking [ˈselfˈsi:kɪŋ] n. 追逐私利；只顾自己；利己主义 adj. 追逐私利的；（收音机等）自动调谐的


词组
a backward step [ ] [esp US] [fig] 倒退

abreast of [ ] (使)与…齐头并列,(使)与…并驾齐驱;(使)不落后于;跟上

absorb in [ ] un. 专心于 [网络] 全神贯注于；吸引

apt to [æpt tu:] adj. 易于；善于 [网络] 有……的倾向；常会；容易

at the mercy [ ] [网络] 无能为力

at the mercy of [æt ðə ˈmə:si ɔv] na. 完全受…支配 [网络] 在…支配下；完全受...支配；任由…摆布

attain to [əˈtein tu:] v. 达到；获得 [网络] 某人希望达到的成就；到达

backward step [ ] [网络] 后退步；倒放一格；步法内收的准备动作

detective stories [ ] [网络] 侦探小说；侦探故事；侦探小品

detective story [ ] n. 侦探小说 [网络] 侦探的故事；侦探故事；侦探物语

essence of [ ] [网络] 把历史观念看成与艺术本质

impress upon [ ] v. 给…深刻印象；盖印于 [网络] 打上记号；再三嘱托；加到

impress with [ ] v. 深深打动 [网络] 使铭记；因…获得好印象；对……印象深刻

in all likelihood [in ɔ:l ˈlaiklihud] na. 十之八九 [网络] 多半；可能性很大；极有可能

in spite [ ] na. 为泄愤 [网络] 工人们还是很早就出发了；恶意地；尽管

in spite of [in spait ɔv] na. spite of 不管；〔古语〕无视 [网络] 尽管；不顾；虽然 {toefl :0}

inability to [ ] [网络] 无能；没有…的能力；不能做

incline to [ ] 向…方向弯, 倾斜; (使)具有…倾向

keep abreast [ ] 并行 并排航行

keep abreast of [ ] na. 跟着(时代)跑 [网络] 了解……的最新情况；跟贴；跟上

nervous strain [ ] [网络] 神经紧张

not infrequently [ ] [网络] 经常；不止一次

of human bondage [ ] 人生的枷锁；人性枷锁; [电影]名士殉情记

play chess [ ] na. 下象棋 [网络] 下棋；下国际象棋；着棋

popular astronomy [ ] 大众天文学

quarrel with [ˈkwɔrəl wið] na. 和…争论 [网络] 吵架；与…吵架；埋怨

spite of [ ] conj.不管,无视

stellar space [ ] 恆星空间[天]

substitute for [ ] v. 取代；替代 [网络] 代替；替换；的替代物

sustain by [ ] vt.由于...蒙受损失,由...支撑着

the defect [ ] [网络] 缺陷

the essence [ ] [网络] 本质；精华；精髓

the essence of [ðə ˈesns ɔv] [网络] 精华；艺术本质

the privilege [ ] [网络] 特权

the subconscious [ ] [网络] 潜意识；潜意识现象；濳意识

to convey [ ] [网络] 运输业；转达；吊运

unaffected by [ ] adj.不受...影响

unwilling to [ ] [网络] 不愿意；不情愿的

Ur of the Chaldees [ ] [网络] 迦勒底的吾珥

vicious circle [ˈviʃəs ˈsə:kl] n. 恶性循环 [网络] 循环论法；怪圈；循环不已

wise to [ ] 明智的


惯用语
for example



单词释义末尾数字为词频顺序
zk/中考 gk/中考 ky/考研 cet4/四级 cet6/六级 ielts/雅思 toefl/托福 gre/GRE
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