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Language exists to communicate whatever it can communicate. Some things it communicates so badly that we never attempt to communicate them by words if any other medium is available. Those who think they are testing a boy's "elementary" command of English by asking him to describe in words how one ties one's tie or what a pair of scissors is like, are far astray. For precisely what language can hardly do at all, and never does well, is to inform us about complex physical shapes and movements. Hence descriptions of such things in the ancient writers are nearly always unintelligible. Hence we never in real life voluntarily use language for this purpose; we draw a diagram or go through pantomimic gestures. The exercises which such examiners set are no more a test of "elementary" linguistic competence than the most difficult bit of trick-riding from the circus ring is a test of elementary horsemanship.
Another grave limitation of language is that it cannot, like music or gesture, do more than one thing at once. However the words in a great poet's phrase interanimate one other and strike the mind as quasi-instantaneous chord, yet, strictly speaking, each word must be read or heard before the next. That way, language is as unilinear as time. Hence, in narrative, the great difficulty of presenting a very complicated change which happens suddenly. If we do justice to the complexity, the time the reader must take over the passage will destroy the feeling of suddenness. If we get in the suddenness we shall not be able to get in the complexity.
One of the most important and effective uses of language is the emotional. It is also, of course, wholly legitimate. We do not talk only in order to reason or to inform. We have to make love and quarrel, to propitiate and pardon, to rebuke, to console, intercede, and a rouse. "He that complains," said Johnson, "acts like a man, like a social being." The real objection lies not against the language of emotion as such, but against language which, being in reality emotional, masquerades-whether by plain hypocrisy or subtle self-deceit-as being something else.
参考译文
语言的存在就是用来表达它所能表达的一切。有些事情用语言表达效果太糟，所以如果有其他的媒介，我们从不用语言去表达。有人认为，让小孩用语言描述怎样系领带，或者描述一把剪刀的样子，就能测出他语言的“基本”水平，这种看法是完全错误的。语言做不到，也从来做不好的事，恰恰就是描述复杂的物体形状和动作。因此，古代作家对这类事情的描述，几乎总是让人看不懂。因此，我们在现实生活中，从来不会主动用语言来做这些事；我们会画一个图，或者用手势表示。这种语言测试设计，考的不是语言的“基本”能力，这就像用马戏团花样骑马表演中最难的部分，去考一个人的基本骑术。
语言的另一大局限就是它无法像音乐或手势那样，一次能做不止一件事。一个伟大的诗人，即使他的词句那样相互辉映，一瞬间好像和弦一样打动了我们，但是，严格来说，每一个字都是一个接一个地读到或听到的。这么说，语言就和时间一样，是单线前进的。因此，在叙事时，要描述瞬间发生的复杂变化，就十分困难。如果我们要把复杂性适当描述出来，读者阅读这一段语言所花的时间就会破坏瞬间感。如果我们要体现这件事的瞬间感，我们就无法表现其复杂性。
语言最重要、最有效的一种用途就是表达感情。这当然也完全是合情合理的。我们说话不止是为了讲道理、说事情。我们还要表达爱情、与人争吵、劝解抚慰、宽恕原谅，还要指责、安慰、调解、激发他人。约翰逊说过：“会抱怨的人行动起来才像一个人，才像一个社会的人。”我们真正要反对的并不是这种表达感情的语言，而是那种实质是表达感情，但却通过十足的虚伪或者是巧妙的自欺，伪装成别的东西的语言。
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters. "They are never alone," said Sir Philip Sidney, "that are accompanied by noble thoughts."
The good and true thought may in times of temptation be as an angel of mercy purifying and guarding the soul. It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words almost always inspire to good works.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old.
参考译文
好书常如最精美的宝器，珍藏着人的一生思想的精华。人生的境界，主要就在于他思想的境界。所以，最好的书是金玉良言的宝库，若将其中的崇高思想铭记于心，就成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰籍。菲利普·悉尼爵士说得好：“有高尚思想与之做伴的人永不孤独。”
当我们面临诱惑的时候，优美纯真的思想会像仁慈的天使一样，纯洁并保卫我们的灵魂。优美纯真的思想也蕴育着行动的胚芽，因为金玉良言几乎总会启发善行。
书籍具有不朽的本质，是人类勤奋努力的最为持久的产物。寺庙会倒坍，神像会朽烂，而书却经久长存。对于伟大的思想来说，时间是无关重要的。多少年代前初次闪现在作者脑海里的伟大思想今天依然清新如故。他们当时的言论和思想刊于书页，如今依然那么生动感人。时间惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因为只有真正的佳作才能经世长存。
书籍引导我们与最优秀的人物为伍，使我们置身历代伟人巨匠之间，如闻其声，如观其行，如见其人。同他们情感交融，悲喜与共。他们的感受成为我们自己的感受，我们觉得有点像是在作者所描绘的人生舞台上跟他们一起演出了。
即使在人世间，伟大杰出的人物，也是永生不灭的，他们的精神载入书册，传之四海。书是人们至今仍在聆听的智慧之声，永远充满着活力。所以，我们永远都是在受着历代伟人的影响。
A newspaper is much more than a business; it is an institution. It reflects and influences the life of a community; it may affect even wider destinies.
It is, in its way, an instrument of government. It plays on the minds and consciences of man. It may educate, stimulate, assist, or it may do the opposite. It has, therefore, a moral as well as a material existence, and its character and influence are in the main determined by the balance of these two factors. It may make profit or power its first object, or it may conceive itself as fulfilling a higher and more exacting function.
Character is a subtle affaire, and has many shades and sides. It is not a thing to be much talked about, but rather to be felt. It is the slow deposit of past actions and ideas.
At the perils of its soul, a newspaper must see that the news it supplies is not tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation, must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred. "Propaganda," so called, by this means is hateful. The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard. Comment also is justly subject to a self-imposed restraint. It is well to be frank; it is even better to be fair. This is an ideal. Achievement in such matters is hardly given to man. Perhaps none of us can attain to it in the desirable measure. We can but try, ask pardon for shortcomings, and there leave the matter.
One of the virtues, perhaps the chief virtue, of a newspaper is its independence. Whatever its position or character, it should have a soul of its own.
That is the path of self-respect-it is also the path of success. And what a work it is! How multiform, how responsive to every need-and every incident of life! What illimitable possibilities of achievement and of excellence!
To the man, whatever his place on the paper, nothing should satisfy short of the best. It is here that ability counts and that character counts, and it is on these that a newspaper, if it is to be worthy of its power and duty, must rely.
参考译文
报纸不仅仅只具有商业性，还具有社会功能。对一个社会而言，它既反映又影响社会生活，甚至可以影响更大范围人们的命运。
从特定角度看报纸可以说是政府的工具。它把握人们的心理和道义感，使之为己所用。它可能起到教育、鼓励和帮助的作用，也可能起到恰好相反的作用。因此，它的存在不仅是物质的，也是精神的；它的性格与影响力主要取决于这两个力量的平衡。它可以以利润或力量作为它的第一目标，也可以认为自己在履行一项更高的、要求更严的职能。
报纸的特点颇为微妙、难以描述，存在许多不同的层面。它不可言传只能意会，是过去行为和理念渐渐沉淀积累而形成的。
报纸必须确保提供的消息是准确无误的，否则会自毁灵魂。无论报道什么，不报道什么，以什么方式报道，报纸均应使事实真相清楚明白，不得有任何歪曲。评论固然享有自由，但事实是神圣不可动摇的。通过“宣传”这种方式做所谓“宣传”是可憎的。反对派和支持派有同等权利发表意见。评论也理应自我约束。说的坦率固然好，说的公正则更佳，这是一个理想状态。在这些问题上做好很不容易，也许我们大家谁都无法通过满意的方法达到理想的标准。我们所能做的只是尽力而为，做得不好就请求原谅，把问题放下继续前进。
报纸的优点之一，也许是最主要的优点，就是它的独立性。不管它的立场和特性如何它都应有自己的灵魂。
这就是自尊之路，也是一条成功之路。此项工作谈何容易!各种生活需求、事件丰富多彩，层出不穷。对每一需求每一事件又该如何及时反应？要获得成功和卓越也是极其可能的！
至于报业工作人员，不管他在什么职位，都不能只满足于次佳。而追求完美，能力和性格就起到关键作用。而正是依赖于此，报纸才不会有辱其力量和使命。
The Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event subdivided into summer and winter games. They are each held every four years. Until 1992, they were both held in the same year. Since then, they have been separated two years apart.
There are more than 20 Summer Olympics sports, including swimming, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, boxing, weight-lifting, yachting, cycling and equestrian events. Skiing, ice-skating and ice hockey are among the 7 Winter Game sports. A competitor must be the citizen of the country he or she represents. No more than three entries from any country are permitted in each event (4 in the winter games). Only one team per country is allowed in a team sport.
There are many myths surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. The most popular legend describes that Heracles was the creator of the Olympic Games and built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an honor to his father, Zeus after completing his 12 labors. According to that legend, he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called this distance a "stadium" that later also became a distance calculation unit. This is also why a modem stadium is 400 meters in circumference length (1 stadium = 400 meters).
From then on, the Olympic Games were quickly becoming more and more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honoring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honor the games were held.
The number of events increased to 20, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an "Olympiad‘‘. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count years. The most famous Olympic athlete lived in these times: the 6th century BC wrestler, Milo Croton, is the only athlete in history to win a victory in six Olympics.
The Games gradually declined in importance after the Romans gained power in Greece. After Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the religion of the Empire and banned pagan rites, the Olympic Games were outlawed as a pagan festival in 393 AD.
In 1894, a French noble man, Pierrde, called a meeting in Paris that led to the first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896. Thirteen nations sent a total of 285 men, and the Games were revived. Since then the Olympics have been held in different cities of the world once every four years, with the exception of war years 1916, 1940 and 1944. Women first competed in 1912. In 1924 the Winter Olympics were instituted at Chamonix, France.
参考译文
奥运会是具有多竞技项目的国际性体育赛事，分为夏季奥运会和冬季奥运会，每隔四年举行一次。在1992年之前，夏季和冬季奥运会是同年召开的，自1992年以后，则改为相隔两年召开。
夏季奥运会有20多个体育比赛项目，包括游泳、篮球、足球、体操、拳击、举重、帆船、自行车、马术。滑雪、滑冰和冰球是冬季奥运会7个项目中的3项。比赛者必须是他或她所代表的国家的公民。一个国家参加任何一项比赛的选手不能超过3名(冬奥会不超过4名)，并且只能派一个代表队参加团体体育比赛项目。
围绕着古代奥运会的起源有着许多神话传说，在最流行的传说中，赫拉克勒斯是奥运会的缔造者，为了表示对希腊主神、他的父亲宙斯的崇敬，在完成12项英雄业绩后，他建了奥林匹克体育场及其周围的建筑。根据传说，赫拉克勒斯大步直行400步，然后把这一行走的距离称作"斯塔德"，后来它便成了距离的计算单位，这也是为什么现代体育场周长为400米(1斯塔德=400米)。
从那时起，在整个古希腊，奥运会很快变得越来越重要，在公元前五、六世纪达到了鼎盛时期。奥运会有着非常重要的宗教意义，竞赛前后都要敬献祭品，举办仪式，敬奉希腊主神宙斯(他的巨大的塑像矗立在奥林匹亚)和珀罗普斯这位神圣的英雄以及奥林匹亚神话般的国王，这位国王是以传奇般的双轮马车赛而闻名于世，奥林匹克运动会就是为纪念他而举办的。奥运会比赛项目增加到20项，庆贺仪式要延续数日。人们高度赞誉比赛获胜者，并为他们塑像吟诗，使之名垂千古。奥运会每四年举办一次，两次奥运会之间的时间被称作奥林匹尔德，这是希腊人以前用作计算年代的方法之一。那个时代最著名的奥林匹克运动员是公元前六世纪摔跤运动员米勒科偌顿，他是历史上唯一一位在6届奥运会上赢得比赛的选手。
罗马人在统治希腊以后，奥运会的重要性便逐渐下降，到皇帝狄奥多西一世立基督教为国教并取缔异教仪式后，奥运会便在公元393年被视为并教徒的节日而遭禁止。
1894年，一位名叫皮尔狄的法国贵族在巴黎召集了一次会议，这次会议使得第一届现代奥运会于1896年在雅典举行。13个国家派出285人参加了比赛，因此奥运会得以复苏。此后，除了1916年、1940年以及1944年等战争年代以外，奥运会在世界的不同城市每四年举行一次。妇女第一次参加比赛是在1912年。冬季奥运会1924年在法国的尚莫尼克斯举行。