昨天地球日，今天读书日。也许，上帝头一天造了地球，第二天就开始读书了。地球人读书似乎是天生的本能。

前些天有几个同学说，自大学毕业后，就没读过纸质书。我吓了一跳，才感觉自己落伍那么多——人家不看的东西，我还当宝贝呢。而且，所谓“本能”，大概已经在进化中消退了。看来，还要给读书找一个借口。

我说过，我读没用的书，这是读书的前提，也是读书的目标。事实证明，一切为了“用”的目标，不需要读书就能达成。所以，不能以“用”作为读书的借口。当然，“无用”也不能是借口。

“读书日”全称“世界读书与版权日”（Wo rld Book and Copyright Day）——读书讲版权，也许正如穿衣服讲品牌，这儿好像能找出一个借口：读书像穿衣服一样，能打扮自己，让自己看起来很有品味——这个借口还有一个旁证：我买书就像女孩子买衣服，永远不会嫌多，而且品牌越亮越好。

穿了好衣服要出门，读了几行书就想行万里路，这是另一层借口。可书是一个闭合的世界，走出家门与钻进书堆，效果有时候是一样的，因为每本书创造的世界都不一样——刚才从Nabokov的一篇文章里看到一句话：We should always remember that the qork of art is invariably the creation of a new world, so that the first thing we should do is to study that new world as closely as possible, approaching it as as something brand new, having no obvious connection with the world we already know.

Mobi Dick开头有一段“想出海”的文字，可以拿来作为“想出门”或者“”想读书的借口：

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship.

【每当我心烦气躁、肝火直升脑门时；每当我心忧绪乱、眼前一片11月的愁云惨雾时；每当我身不由己，跟着不相干的送葬队伍走向墓地时；每当我忍无可忍，马上就要在街上像脱缰的野马一样横冲直撞时，我都得赶紧去出海！
　　只有出海可以阻止我对自己举起枪。

伽图一边诵读哲学一边拔剑自刎，而我只能悄悄上船。】

我不能偷偷上船去，只好偷偷读书了。

作者问：does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither? 书里也有磁铁，这是更简单的借口。