培根散文隨筆集中英對照，通過閱讀文學名著學語言，是掌握英語的絕佳方法。既可接觸原汁原味的英語，又能享受文學之美，一舉兩得，何樂不為?

2 of death 論死亡

men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark: and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. certainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. yet in religious meditations, there is sometimes mixture of vanity, and of superstition.

成人之怕死猶如兒童之怕入暗處;兒童底天然的恐懼因故事而增加，成人對于死的恐懼亦復如此。當然，靜觀死亡，以之為罪孽底工資，通往另一世界的去路者，是虔誠而且合乎宗教的;但是恐懼死亡，以之為我們對自然應納的貢獻，則是愚弱的。然而在宗教的沉思中有時亦雜有虛妄和迷信