140.一眼看到事物好的一面
一眼看到事物好的一面。這是品味高雅之人的長(zhǎng)處。蜜蜂為蜂巢采集花蜜,毒蛇為造毒尋找苦味。品味也是這樣--有人追求好的,有人追求劣的。萬(wàn)物自有其用處,作為精神食糧的書(shū)籍更是如此。但是,許多人看不到事物的一千個(gè)優(yōu)點(diǎn),卻偏偏抓住一個(gè)缺點(diǎn)不放,且把它挑出來(lái)橫加指責(zé),就像專(zhuān)撿他人心靈垃圾的人。他們喜歡記錄別人的各種缺點(diǎn),這只會(huì)降低他們的品位,而不是給他們的智慧增光。他們生活痛苦,因?yàn)橐钥辔娥B(yǎng)生,靠垃圾增肥。那些快樂(lè)的人,有些就有很好的品味,在一千個(gè)缺憾中,他們也能發(fā)現(xiàn)偶遇的一絲美麗。
140.Find the good in a thing at once
Find the good in a thing at once. It is the advantage of good taste. The bee goes to the honey for her comb, the serpent to the gall for its venom. So with taste: some seek the good, others the ill. There is nothing that has no good in it, especially in books, as giving food for thought. But many have such a scent that amid a thousand excellences they fix upon a single defect, and single it out for blame as if they were scavengers of men's minds and hearts. So they draw up a balance sheet of defects which does more credit to their bad taste than to their intelligence. They lead a sad life, nourishing themselves on bitters and battening on garbage. They have the luckier taste who midst a thousand defects seize upon a single beauty they may have hit upon by chance.