為學之道（下）How to Study
【作者:Dr. J. A. Oschwald 歐使華教授 顧美芬譯】剪下一方暖和--喻道小故事 2011.10.23
3. Learn
Confucius said, ”Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always fearing lest you should lose it.” Luther said that it is not possible to read something too well; and, when we have read something well, it is impossible to understand it too well; and, when we have understood something well, it is impossible to teach it too well; and, when we teach something well, it is impossible to live it too well.” George MacDonald said, ”By obeying one learns how to obey.”
Learning means much more than reading and studying. Learning involves life. If you neither ”read” nor “mark” while you study, we, as teacher have failed in our task to prepare you for the future. At the same time, if the only thing you have done while you study is to “read’ and “mark”, we have also failed. If you have not learned in such a way that your life will never be the same beginning with this moment, then you have only received the kind of knowledge that puffs up and will be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
4. Inwardly Digest
Perhaps we can compare reading with placing food in our mouths and marking it with chewing food carefully to enjoy its flavor and break down for digestion. If we can compare learning with swallowing, then we can begin to see that there is still one final phase to the process. The food must be made a part of our body, incorporated, synthesized, so that it flows through our veins and nourishes every cell. And so must it be with what we have learned. So completely is this learning made our own that it becomes inseparable from us, it flows through our every vein and nourishes both body and soul.
Some food we may sniff once and decide that we will never even put them in our mouths. Others we may chew for a while and then spit out. But when we bite into the truth, chewing it carefully whether bitter or sweet, swallowing and digesting; this truth will certainly strengthen us for study and for service, nourishing both faith and life.
字彙
1. gong 鑼
2. cymbal 鈸
3. synthesize 合成
4. nourish 滋養
三、學習
孔子說，「學如不及，猶恐失之。」馬丁路德說，讀得太好是不可能的；如果讀得好了，明白得太透徹是不可能的；如果明白透徹了，言教得太好是不可能的；如果言教得好了，身教得太好是不可能的。喬治麥當努說，「學習順服之途就是去順服。」
學習的意義不只在閱讀研究而已。學習要付上生命。如果為學時，你們也不「讀書」也不「注意」，身為老師的我們，就沒有盡到為你們預備面對將來的責任。但同時，如果你們為學只是「讀書」和「注意」，我們也沒有盡到責任。如果從現在開始，你們的生命毫無因學習而改變，那麼你只得到叫人自高自大的知識，你也只不過是鳴的鑼或響的鈸。
四、消化
也許我們可以把「讀書」比喻成放食物在嘴裡，「注意」就如細細咀嚼，享受其味，預備消化，而「學習」如同吞嚥，那麼還有最後一個步驟。食物必須加入、合成、變為身體的一部份，經由血管滋養全身細胞。我們的學習也必須如此，完全成為我們的一部分，無可分割，以致經由每根血管滋養身心。
有些食物我們聞一聞就決定絕不放進嘴裡，有些會咀嚼一下然後吐掉。但當我們找到真理，細細咀嚼，不論甘苦，吞下去，消化之後，真理會強化我們的為學與處事，滋養信心與生命。
思考與應用
1. 回想影響我們生命改變的學習，可能是一本書，或一個人。
2. 我們常把垃圾食物還是滋養生命的東西放進嘴裡？
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