为学之道（下）How to Study
【作者:Dr. J. A. Oschwald 欧使华教授 顾美芬译】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.
字汇
1. gong 锣
2. cymbal 钹
3. synthesize 合成
4. nourish 滋养
三、学习
孔子说，「学如不及，犹恐失之。」马丁路德说，读得太好是不可能的；如果读得好了，明白得太透彻是不可能的；如果明白透彻了，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。乔治麦当努说，「学习顺服之途就是去顺服。」
学习的意义不只在阅读研究而已。学习要付上生命。如果为学时，你们也不「读书」也不「注意」，身为老师的我们，就没有尽到为你们预备面对将来的责任。但同时，如果你们为学只是「读书」和「注意」，我们也没有尽到责任。如果从现在开始，你们的生命毫无因学习而改变，那么你只得到叫人自高自大的知识，你也只不过是鸣的锣或响的钹。
四、消化
也许我们可以把「读书」比喻成放食物在嘴里，「注意」就如细细咀嚼，享受其味，预备消化，而「学习」如同吞咽，那么还有最后一个步骤。食物必须加入、合成、变为身体的一部份，经由血管滋养全身细胞。我们的学习也必须如此，完全成为我们的一部分，无可分割，以致经由每根血管滋养身心。
有些食物我们闻一闻就决定绝不放进嘴里，有些会咀嚼一下然后吐掉。但当我们找到真理，细细咀嚼，不论甘苦，吞下去，消化之后，真理会强化我们的为学与处事，滋养信心与生命。
思考与应用
1. 回想影响我们生命改变的学习，可能是一本书，或一个人。
2. 我们常把垃圾食物还是滋养生命的东西放进嘴里？
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