3.Thinking as a Hobby(1717)

Ninth grade rewrite

Thinking as a Hobby

【1】As a young boy, I began to reflect on the nature of thinking. I believed there were three levels of thinking, and I felt that I was not capable of thinking at all. It was my school's headmaster who first made me consider the concept of thinking. He had three small figures in his office.

【2】One was a lady with just a towel, looking as if she was in a constant state of panic that the towel might slip. She had no arms to adjust it, which made her situation even more unfortunate. Next to her was a leopard, ready to leap onto the top drawer of a filing cabinet. And beyond the leopard was a muscular man sitting, looking down with his chin on his fist and his elbow on his knee, appearing deeply unhappy.

【3】Later, I learned the meaning behind these figures. The headmaster placed them to face children who were in trouble, as they symbolized to him the entirety of life. The lady represented Love, the leopard symbolized Nature, and the muscular man was Rodin's Thinker, representing pure thought.

【4】I often visited the headmaster's office because of my actions or inactions. I was not well-integrated; I was disintegrated. Whenever I was in trouble, I would lower my head and fidget with my shoes. The headmaster would look at me and ask, "What are we going to do with you?" I had no answer for him. His glasses reflected the light, hiding his eyes, making communication impossible.

【5】He once asked me, "Do you ever think?" I couldn't say I did. I was just waiting for the meeting to end. He then told me I should learn to think. He even placed Rodin's Thinker statue on his desk in front of me, saying, "This is what a man looks like when he's really thinking."

【6】I realized something was missing in me. Nature had given everyone else a sixth sense, but I seemed to be left out. Like someone born deaf but determined to understand sound, I started to observe my teachers to learn about thought.

【7】Mr.Houghton was always telling me to think. He would proudly say he had thought a bit himself. But why did he spend so much time drinking? If drinking was good, why did it seem to ruin his health? He was always talking about the clean life and the virtues of fresh air, but his actions didn't match his words.

【8】Sometimes, he would get excited by his own speeches and take us outside into terrible weather. "Now, boys! Deep breaths! Feel it right down inside you—huge draughts of God's good air!" He would stand before us, hands on his waist, taking a deep breath.

【9】You could hear the wind struggling in his chest. His body would reel with shock, and his face would go white from the cold. He would stagger back to his desk and be useless for the rest of the morning.

【10】Mr.Houghton was fond of talking about the good life, full of 'duty.' But in the middle of these speeches, if a girl passed by the window, his neck would turn by itself and he would watch her until she was out of sight. It seemed to me that he was not thinking but being controlled by an invisible force in his neck. His neck was a subject of great interest to me.

【11】Mr.Houghton had fought in the First World War with Americans and French and had developed a strong dislike for both countries. If either was in the news, no argument could make him think well of them. He would bang the desk, his neck would bulge, and he would turn red. "You can say what you like," he would cry, "but I've thought about this—and I know what I think!"

【12】Through Mr. Houghton, I discovered that what is commonly called thought is often filled with unconscious prejudice, ignorance, and hypocrisy. It can talk about purity while being drawn irresistibly towards something else. Technically, it is about as proficient as most businessmen's golf, as honest as most politicians' intentions, or as coherent as most books that get written. I came to call this grade-three thinking, though it is more feeling than thought.

【13】In those days, I looked down on grade-three thinking with contempt and mockery. I enjoyed challenging a pious lady who hated the Germans with the idea that we should love our enemies. She taught me a great truth about dealing with grade-three thinkers; because of her, I no longer dismissed lightly a mental process which for nine tenths of the population is the nearest they will ever get to thought. They have immense solidarity.

【14】We had better respect them, for we are outnumbered and surrounded. A crowd of grade-three thinkers, all shouting the same thing, all warming their hands at the fire of their own prejudices, will not thank you for pointing out the contradictions in their beliefs. Man enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way on the side of a hill.

【15】Grade-two thinking is about detecting contradictions. Grade-two thinkers do not easily follow the crowd, though they often fall into the trap of lagging behind. Grade-two thinking is a careful observation, with eyes and ears open. It destroys without the power to create. It made me watch the crowds cheering the King and ask myself what all the fuss was about, without giving me anything positive to replace that patriotic fervor.

【16】But there were moments of delight. To hear people justify hunting foxes by saying the foxes enjoyed it. To hear our Prime Minister talk about the great benefit we conferred on India by jailing people like Nehru and Gandhi. To hear American politicians talk about peace and refuse to join the League of Nations. Yes, there were moments of delight.

【17】As I grew towards adolescence, I had to admit that Mr. Houghton was not the only one with an irresistible spring in his neck. I, too, felt the compulsive hand of nature and began to find that pointing out contradictions could be costly as well as fun. There was Ruth, for example, a serious and attractive girl. I was an atheist at the time.

【18】And she was a Methodist. But, alas, instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to convert me, Ruth was foolish enough to open her pretty mouth in argument. She claimed that the Bible was literally inspired. I countered by saying that the Catholics believed in the literal inspiration of Saint Jerome's Vulgate, and the two books were different.

【19】At last, she remarked that there were an awful lot of Methodists, and they couldn't be wrong, could they—not all those millions? That was too easy, said I restively (for the nearer you were to Ruth, the nicer she was to be near to) since there were more Roman Catholics than Methodists anyway, and they couldn't be wrong, could they—not all those hundreds of millions?

【20】An awful flicker of doubt appeared in her eyes. I slid my arm around her waist and murmured that if we were counting heads, the Buddhists were the boys for my money. She fled. The combination of my arm and those countless Buddhists was too much for her.

【21】That night, her father visited my father and left, red-cheeked and indignant. I was given the third degree to find out what had happened. I lost Ruth and gained an undeserved reputation as a potential libertine.

【22】Grade-two thinking, though it filled life with fun and excitement, did not make for content. To find out the deficiencies of our elders satisfies the young ego but does not make for personal security. It took the swimmer some distance from the shore and left him there, out of his depth. A typical grade-two thinker will say, "What is truth?" There is still a higher grade of thought which says, "What is truth?" and sets out to find it.

【23】But these grade-one thinkers were few and far between. They did not visit my grammar school in the flesh, though they were there in books. I aspired to them, because I now saw my hobby as an unsatisfactory thing if it went no further. If you set out to climb a mountain, however high you climb, you have failed if you cannot reach the top.

【24】I therefore decided that I would be a grade-one thinker. I was irreverent at the best of times. Political and religious systems, social customs, loyalties, and traditions—they all came tumbling down like so many rotten apples off a tree. I came up in the end with what must always remain the justification for grade-one thinking.

【25】I devised a coherent system for living. It was a moral system, which was wholly logical. Of course, as I readily admitted, conversion of the world to my way of thinking might be difficult, since my system did away with a number of trifles, such as big business, centralized government, armies, marriage...

【26】It was Ruth all over again. I had some very good friends who stood by me, and still do. But my acquaintances vanished, taking the girls with them. Young people seemed oddly contented with the world as it was. A young navy officer got as red-necked as Mr.Houghton when I proposed a world without any battleships in it.Had the game gone too far? In those prewar days, I stood to lose a great deal for the sake of a hobby.

【27】Now you might expect me to say that I saw the folly of my ways and came back to the warm nest, where prejudices are called loyalties, pointless actions are turned into customs by repetition, and we are content to say we think when all we do is feel. But you would be wrong. I dropped my hobby and turned professional.

九年级改写

把思考当成一种爱好

【1】作为一个小男孩，我开始思考思考的本质。我认为有三个层次的思考，我觉得我根本没有能力思考。是我们学校的校长第一次让我想到思考的概念。他的办公室里有三个小人物。

【2】其中一位女士只拿着一条毛巾，看起来好像她一直处于一种担心毛巾会滑落的恐慌状态。她没有胳膊来调节它，这使她的处境更加不幸。她旁边是一只豹子，正准备跳到文件柜最上面的抽屉上。在那只豹子的后面，坐着一个肌肉发达的男人，用拳头托着下巴，胳膊肘支在膝盖上，俯视着地面，一副非常不高兴的样子。

【3】后来，我明白了这些人物背后的含义。校长让他们面对陷入困境的孩子，因为他们对他来说象征着生命的全部。女人代表爱，豹子象征自然，肌肉发达的男人是罗丹的《思想者》，代表纯粹的思想。

【4】由于我的作为或不作为，我经常去校长办公室。我没有很好地融入社会;我崩溃了。每当我遇到麻烦的时候，我就会低着头，摆弄我的鞋子。校长会看着我问:“我们该拿你怎么办?”我无法回答他。他的眼镜反射光线，遮住了他的眼睛，使他无法交流。

【5】他曾经问我:“你思考过吗?”我不能说我知道。我只是在等会议结束。然后他告诉我，我应该学会思考。他甚至把罗丹的《思想者》雕像放在我面前的桌子上，说:“这是一个人真正思考时的样子。”

【6】我意识到自己缺少了什么。大自然赋予了每个人第六感，但我似乎被遗忘了。就像一个天生失聪但决心要理解声音的人一样，我开始观察我的老师来学习思考。

【7】霍顿先生总是让我好好想想。他会自豪地说，他自己也想过一点。但他为什么要花那么多时间喝酒呢?如果喝酒是好的，为什么它似乎会损害他的健康?他总是大谈洁净的生活和新鲜空气的好处，但他言行不一。

【8】有时，他会因为自己的演讲而兴奋，带我们到外面去冒恶劣的天气。“现在,孩子们!深呼吸!感受它就在你内心深处，那是上帝的好空气的巨大气流!”他会站在我们面前，双手叉腰，深吸一口气。

【9】你能听到风在他胸膛里挣扎的声音。他的身体会因震惊而颤抖，他的脸会因寒冷而变白。他会摇摇晃晃地回到办公桌前，整个上午都毫无用处。

【10】霍顿先生喜欢谈论充满“责任”的美好生活。但在这些演讲中，如果有女孩从窗口经过，他的脖子就会自动转动，一直看着她，直到看不见为止。在我看来，他不是在思考，而是被脖子上一股看不见的力量所控制。我对他的脖子很感兴趣。

【11】霍顿先生曾在第一次世界大战中与美国人和法国人作战，并对这两个国家都产生了强烈的厌恶。如果他们中的任何一个上了新闻，任何争论都不能使他对他们产生好感。他会撞桌子，脖子鼓起来，脸涨得通红。“你爱怎么说就怎么说，”他哭着说，“但我已经想过了，我知道我在想什么!”

【12】通过霍顿先生，我发现我们通常所说的思想往往充满了无意识的偏见、无知和虚伪。它可以一边谈论纯洁，一边不可抗拒地被其他事物吸引。从技术上讲，它就像大多数商人的高尔夫球一样熟练，像大多数政治家的意图一样诚实，或者像大多数写出来的书一样连贯。我把这称为三级思考，尽管它更多的是感觉而不是思考。

【13】在那些日子里，我鄙视和嘲笑三级思维。我喜欢挑战一位虔诚的女士，她憎恨德国人，认为我们应该爱我们的敌人。她教会了我一个与第三级思考者打交道的伟大真理;因为有了她，我再也不会轻易地忽视对十分之九的人来说最接近思考的心理过程了。他们非常团结。

【14】我们最好尊重他们，因为我们寡不敌众，又被包围了。一群第三等级的思想家，他们都在喊着同样的东西，都在自己的偏见之火上取暖，他们不会感谢你指出他们信仰中的矛盾。人喜欢一致，就像牛总是在山的一边吃草一样。

【15】第二级思维是发现矛盾。第二级思考者不容易随大流，尽管他们经常陷入落后的陷阱。第二级思考是睁大眼睛和耳朵仔细观察。它毁灭，却没有创造的力量。它让我看着为国王欢呼的人群，问自己这一切都是为了什么，却没有给我任何积极的东西来取代爱国热情。

【16】但也有快乐的时刻。听到人们为捕猎狐狸辩护，说狐狸很享受捕猎。听我们的总理谈论我们通过监禁尼赫鲁和甘地等人给印度带来的巨大利益。听美国政客大谈和平，拒绝加入国际联盟。是的，也有快乐的时刻。

【17】随着我逐渐接近青春期，我不得不承认霍顿先生并不是唯一一个脖子上有不可抗拒的弹簧的人。我也感受到了大自然的强迫之手，并开始发现指出矛盾可能代价高昂，但也很有趣。比如露丝，一个严肃而迷人的女孩。我当时是个无神论者。

【18】她是卫理公会教徒。但是，可惜的是，露丝没有依靠圣灵来改变我的信仰，而是愚蠢地张开她美丽的嘴来争辩。她声称《圣经》是字面上的默示。我反驳说，天主教徒相信圣杰罗姆的《圣经》的字面灵感，这两本书是不同的。

【19】最后，她说有很多卫理公会教徒，他们不可能是错的，不是吗?“那太容易了，”我不安地说(因为你离露丝越近，她就越好)，因为反正罗马天主教徒比卫理公会教徒多，他们不可能是错的，不是吗，那几亿人不是吗?

【20】她眼中闪过一丝可怕的怀疑。我用胳膊搂住她的腰，低声说，如果我们要数人头的话，我认为佛教徒才是最合适的。她逃跑了。我的手臂和无数佛教徒的结合让她难以承受。

【21】那天晚上，她父亲来看我父亲，离开时满脸通红，愤愤不平。我被严刑逼供，要弄清楚发生了什么事。我失去了露丝，得到了一个不应得的名声:一个潜在的浪荡子。

【22】第二级思考虽然使生活充满了乐趣和刺激，但并不能使人满足。找出长辈的缺点满足了年轻的自我，但并不能给个人带来安全感。它带着游泳者离开了海岸一段距离，把他留在了那里，超出了他的深度。典型的第二级思考者会说:“什么是真理?”还有一种更高层次的思想会问:“什么是真理?”并着手去寻找真理。

【23】但这些一流的思想家寥寥无几。他们没有亲自到我的文法学校来参观，虽然他们在书中出现过。我渴望得到这些东西，因为我现在认为，如果我的爱好得不到进一步发展，那就不能令人满意了。如果你出发去爬一座山，不管你爬得多高，如果你不能到达山顶，你就失败了。

【24】因此，我决定做一个一级思考者。我在最得意的时候也不尊敬别人。政治和宗教制度、社会习俗、忠诚和传统，它们都像树上的烂苹果一样倒下了。最后，我得出了一个必须永远保留为一级思维的理由。

【25】我设计了一个连贯的生活体系。这是一种道德体系，完全合乎逻辑。当然，正如我欣然承认的那样，让世界接受我的思维方式可能是困难的，因为我的体系废除了许多琐事，比如大企业、中央集权政府、军队、婚姻……

【26】露丝的事又重演了一遍。我有一些非常要好的朋友，他们一直支持我，现在仍然支持我。但我的熟人消失了，带走了那些女孩。奇怪的是，年轻人似乎满足于这个世界的现状。当我提出一个没有战舰的世界时，一个年轻的海军军官和霍顿先生一样红了脖子。战争是否走得太远了?在战前的那些日子里，为了一种爱好，我失去了很多东西。

【27】现在你可能会期望我说，我认识到了自己的愚蠢，回到了温暖的窝里，在这里，偏见被称为忠诚，毫无意义的行为因重复而变成习惯，我们满足于说我们思考，而我们所做的只是感觉。但你错了。我放弃了我的爱好，变成了专业人士。