"Reading makes a full man" is a saying of the famous English philo sopher Francis Bacon.It means that anyone who wants to be a full man must keep on reading.
A full man may be defined as one who has a mind filled with ideas,o r one who is stocked with knowledge.Certainly school education can fill the young minds with a certain amount of ideas and knowledge.But to thi nk that the ideas and knowledge thus taught make a full man is a mistake.Evidently,no one can say that he is a full man because he is a gradua te of a middle school or even a university.
Then can such ideas and knowledge be obtained through experience.In deed,from experience we get new ideas and knowledge.But to suppose tha t ideas and knowledge thus acquired make a full man is also a mistake.A carpenter's experience is different from a smith's and a smith's is d ifferent from a barber's.Obviously,the statement that experience can make a full man does not hold water,either.
Thus,we see that the real factor by which a full man is made includ es not only education and experience,but also reading.By reading scien tific books,we are informed of many facts;by reading geography,we kno w the earth's surface,forms,physical features,etc.;by reading histo ry,we are told of the growth of the nations.It is by reading that we c an learn many things without actually seeing or hearing them.
Therefore,no matter how high our education may be or how much exper ience we may have,we cannot become a full man unless we keep reading.
著名的英國哲學家弗蘭西斯·培根曾說過“讀書使人充實”。這就意味著任何人要想成就充實就要不斷地讀書。
充實之人或許可以這樣定義：一個頭腦充滿思想的人，或者是一個滿腹經綸的人。當然，學校的教育可以用一定數量的思想和知識充實年輕人的頭腦，但是如果認為，學校教授的那些思想和知識就能使一個人充實的話，那就大錯特錯了。顯然，沒有人能僅僅因為他中學或者大學畢業就說自己是個充實的人。