不要拋棄學問 
        ——胡適 
   諸位畢業同學，你們現在要離開母校了，我沒有什么禮物送給你們，只好送你們一句話罷。 
   這一句話是：“不要拋棄學問。”以前的功課也許有一大部分是為這張文憑，不得已而做的，從今而后， 你們可以依自己的心愿去自由研究了(2)。趁現在年富力強的時候，努力做一種學問。少年是一去不復返的， 等到精力衰時，努力做學問(3)也來不及了。即為吃飯計，學問決不會辜負人的(4)。吃飯而不求學問， 三年五年后，你們都江堰市要被后來少年淘汰掉的。到那時再想做點學問來補救，恐怕已太晚了。 
   有人說：“出去做事之后，生活問題急需解決，哪有工夫去讀書？即使要做學問，既沒有圖書館，又沒有實驗室，哪能做學問？” 
   我要對你們說：凡是要等到有了圖書館才讀書的，有了圖書館也不肯讀書。凡是要等到有了實驗室才做研究的，有了實驗室也不肯做研究。你有了決心要研究一個問題，自然會撙衣節食(5)去買書， 自然會想出來法子來設置儀器。 
   至于時間，更不成問題(6)。達爾文一生多病，不能多作工，每天只能做一點鐘的工作。你們看他的成績！每天花一點鐘看10頁有用的書，每年可看3600多頁書，30年可讀11萬頁書。 
   諸位，11萬頁書可以使你成一個學者了，可是，每天看三種小報也得費你一點鐘的工夫，四圈麻將也得費你一點半鐘的光陰。看小報呢，還打麻將呢？還是努力做一個學者呢？全靠你們自己的選擇(7)！ 
   易卜生說：“你的最大責任是把你這塊材料鑄造成器。” 學問便是鑄器的工具。拋棄了學問便是毀了你們自己。 
   再會了！你們的母校眼睜睜地要看(8)你們十年之后成什么器。

注釋： 
本文是胡適1928-1930年在上海任中國公學校長時為畢業生所作贈言，至今仍有參考價值。 
(1)“不要拋棄學問”在這里的意思是“不要放棄對學問的追求”，因此不能直譯為Never Give up Learning，必須加字：Never Give up the Pursuit of Learning。 
(2)“你們可以依自己的心愿去自由研究了”譯為you are free to follow your personal bent in the choice of studies，其中to follow one’s bent 是成語，和to follow one’s inclination同義，作“做自己感興趣或愛做的事”解。 
(3)“做學問”譯為to go into scholarship, 等于to engage in learning。 
(4)“學問決不會辜負人的”譯為Knowledge will do you a good turn，其中to do one a good turn 是成語，作“做對某人有益的事”解. 
(5) “撙衣節食”即“省吃省穿”，現譯為 cut down on food and clothing, 其中 to cut down on 是成語，與 to economize on 同義，作“節約”解。又，上語也可譯為 to live frugally。 
(6)“至于時間，更不成問題”譯為Time is no object,其中no object是成語，等于no problem，作“不成問題”或“不在話下”解。 
(7)“全靠你們自己的選擇”譯為the choice lies with you或it is up to you to make the choice。 
(8)“你們的母校眼睜睜地要看……”中的“眼睜睜地”通常的意思是“無可奈何地”，現在這里作“熱切地”解，故譯為eagerly。

Never Give Up the Pursuit of Learning 
                                      ——Hu Shih 
Dear students of the Graduating Class, 
     As you are leaving your alma mater, I have nothing to offer you as a gift except a word of advice. 
     My advice is, “Never give up the pursuit of learning.” You have perhaps finished your college courses mostly for obtaining the diploma, or, in other words, out of sheer necessity. However, from now you are free to follow your own bent in the choice of studies. While you are in the prime of life, why not devote yourselves to a special field of study? Youth will soon be gone never to return. And it will be too late for you to go into scholarship when in your declining years.   Knowledge will do you a good turn even as a means of subsistence. If you give up studies while holding a job, you will in a couple of years have had yourselves replaced by younger people. It will then be too late to remedy the situation by picking up studies again. 
     Some people say, “Once you have a job, you’ll come up against the urgent problem of making a living. How can you manage to find time to study? Even if you want to, will it be possible with no library or no laboratory available?” 
     Now let me tell you this. Those who refuse to study for lack of a library will most probably continue to do so even though there is a library. And those who refuse to do research for lack of a laboratory will most probably continue to do so even though a laboratory is available. As long as you set your mind on studies, you will naturally cut down on food and clothing to buy books or do everything possible to acquire necessary instruments. 
     Time is no object. Charles Darwin could only work one hour a day due to ill health. Yet what a remarkable man he was! If you spend one hour a day reading 10 pages of a book, you can finish more than 3600 pages a year and 110000 pages in 30 years. 
     Dear students, 110000 pages will be quite enough to make a learned man of man. It will take you one hour to read three tabloids a day, and one and half hours to finish four rounds of mah-jong a day. Reading tabloids, playing mah-jong or striving to be a learned man, the choice lies with you. 
     Henrik Ibsen says, “it is your supreme duty to cast yourself into a useful implement.” 
     Learning is the casting mould. Forsake learning, and you will ruin yourself. 
     Farewell! Your alma mater is watching eagerly to see what will become of you ten years from now.