In Defence of “Skipping”为略读一辩

A few days ago Mr. Chesterton2 expressed a doubt whether he had ever read Boswell3 “through.” Knowing Mr. Chesterton， and having a lifelong acquaintance with Boswell， I share his doubt. G. K. C. has an amazing gift for seizing the spirit and purport of a book by turning over the pages in handfuls and sampling a sentence here and there. He treats books as the expert wine-taster treats wines， not drinking them in great coarse gulps， but moistening his lips and catching the bouquet on his palate. The parallel is no doubt as misleading as most parallels are apt to be. Good wines have to be “tasted” in this way， but the better the book the deeper should be the draught or the more deliberate and patient the mastication. “Chewed and digested”4 is Bacon’s phrase.

几天前，切斯特顿先生表示怀疑自己是否“通读”了鲍斯威尔。（剩余8812字）