“Reading is always beneficial”is an old idiom first used by our ancients to urge people to do more reading.I used to blame the ancients for misleading me whenever I finished reading a bad book.Now I know better than to do that.Of course we profit from a good book because,by reading it,we know why it is good.But,on the other hand,after reading a bad book,we know all the whys and wherefores of its being bad.Isn't that something of benefit to us too?Confucius says,“When three walk together,there must be one who can be my teacher.”However,it does not necessarily follow that one of the three is always a teacher by positive example; on the contrary,he could be a teacher by negative example for us to take warning from.Therefore,that people nowadays have taken to reading whatever books they like,trashy or not,including those already generally judged to be good or bad,is probably an indication of social progress.
開卷有益,是古人獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)讀書的一句成語。從前讀到一冊(cè)壞書,讀后每覺得為古人所欺;現(xiàn)在多了一點(diǎn)智識(shí),反過來又覺得古人的不欺我了??傊?,好書讀了,原有所得,就是可以知道它的好處在哪里,可是壞書讀了,而知道它的壞的原因與地方,豈不也是一得?從前孔子說的“三人行,必有我?guī)?rdquo;之意,也不一定是從正的一方面著想,反過來在負(fù)的一方面,也何嘗不可以為鑒戒。因此,從前是非有定評(píng)之書不讀的,現(xiàn)在卻馬勃牛溲,一例的都想看看了,這大約總也是一種進(jìn)步的現(xiàn)象。郁達(dá)夫,浙江富陽人,小說家、散文家,中國(guó)新文化運(yùn)動(dòng)代表人物之一。1913年留學(xué)日本,入東京帝國(guó)大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)部學(xué)習(xí),但卻把主要精力投入文學(xué)方面。1922年夏畢業(yè)后回國(guó),與郭沫若、成仿吾等組織了“創(chuàng)造社”,編輯《創(chuàng)造月刊》等多種文藝雜志,其間曾在北京大學(xué)、武昌大學(xué)、中山大學(xué)任教。1937年參加抗日救亡運(yùn)動(dòng),同年到南洋參加抗日活動(dòng),1945年被日本憲兵秘密殺害,年僅50歲。在《說開卷有益》一文中,他大膽主張人們不應(yīng)排斥看壞書,其用意是把壞書當(dāng)作反面教材,從而提高人們的鑒別分析能力和免疫力。