Eating and Reading

Eating and Reading

As a creature, I eat; as a man, I read. Although one action is to meet the primary need of my body and the other is to satisfy the intellectual need of my mind, they are in a way quite similar.

To keep ourselves alive, we need all kinds of nutrition. Eating is the most important way by which we can get starch(淀粉), protein（蛋白质）, vitamin, sugar, fat（脂肪） and some trace elements（微量元素）. On the other hand, we eat not only because we have to do so but also because we enjoy doing so. Having satisfied our hunger, eating can then be a kind of enjoyment. The color, the smell, and the taste of the food are considered as important as its nutritive value. Very often we eat some food not because it is nourishing but simply because we like it. This partiality（偏爱） for certain food will not affect our health, so long as we do not indulge heavily in it. There are many people, however, who do not eat the food they dislike and consequently suffer from malnutrition. So for the sake of health, we have to eat some food even though we may not like it.

Similarly, to enrich our mind, we need information and knowledge, which can be obtained through reading. Reading is one of the most important ways of learning. Without reading our minds will become empty like that of an animal. Sometimes, we take reading as a pastime, and we relax and learn at the same time. Since recreation is involved, we will naturally have a partiality for some particular kind of books, just as we do for certain kind of food. It is all right if we read more books on history than books on literature. But suppose we focus on subject only

and pay no attention to anything else, we will face the problem of imbalance. Nutrition for our minds should be as comprehensive as the nutrition for our bodies. An educated person is a person who knows a lot of things about something and something about a lot of things. One’s mind needs all kinds of nourishment, whether they are to one’s liking or not.

Besides, there are other similarities between eating and reading. We should not eat too much without digesting and assimilating, nor should we read too much without understanding and remembering. While we are eating, we should leave out the rotten part o the food which will do harm to our health; and while we are reading, we should be able to reject the poisonous content in a book, if any, for it will poison our mind.

So, eat sensibly and read sensibly to give yourself a strong body and a healthy mind.