In the aesthetic criticism and debate in the 1950s and 1960s, Zhu Guangqian had the courage to dissect himself, and severely criticized the idealistic aesthetic thought, especially the idealism he advocated. As a famous professor with outstanding achievements, his behavior is really commendable. After that, he constantly criticized himself and put forward new ideas and questions, which is a model for scholars.

2. Be pragmatic and correct the style of study.

By criticizing idealism, Zhu Guangqian realized that he used to "beat around the bush" and later began to learn the original works of Marxism-Leninism. Nearly sixty years old, he began to teach himself Russian, and made a comparative study of various texts (Chinese, German, Russian, French and English), and achieved a series of new achievements. He advocates independent thinking and never listens to other people's advice. In his later years, "On Beautiful Writing" and "Aesthetic Collection" are the concrete manifestations of his academic spirit.

3. The spirit of "Three Ones"

Zhu Guangqian believes in "three ones", that is, this body. At this time, here: "What this body should do and can do, you have to take it from this body, and don't push the responsibility to others." "What should be done and can be done at this time must be done at this time and cannot be put off until the future." "What should be done and can be done here (my position, my environment) must be done here, not shirked to another imaginary position." This is the embodiment of Zhu Guangqian's academic spirit, not empty talk, but contemporary and down-to-earth.

4. Excerpts from Talking about Reading

Books can't be finished, and it's useless to read them. Many books are not worth reading. Reading more than one worthless book will lose the time and energy to read a valuable book; Therefore, we must choose carefully. I'm afraid it's still difficult to get ten volumes and hundreds of volumes that can really be called "books". You should only read these ten-and-hundred-volume books. In these books, you can not only get more accurate knowledge, but also absorb the spirit and methods of scholars. These books can shake your mind and stimulate your thinking. It is better to read a national style or 19 ancient poems than to read thousands of poems. It is better to read Plato's Republic than to read thousands of books on Greek philosophy.

Most students in China are relatively young and mature, so they are willing to talk about some theories from middle school. They-including you and me-are not only happy to talk about literature, but also happy to study social problems and even philosophical problems. This is a natural tendency, so we can't ignore it. My personal opinion might as well be discussed with you. Education after the age of fifteen or sixteen focuses on developing comprehension, while education before the age of fifteen or sixteen focuses on developing imagination. Therefore, junior high school students should read more fictional words, and senior high school students should read words containing theories.

I haven't read a few "young people must read" books myself, and some of them have been read for a long time. For example, China's books, I am most satisfied with Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Shi Shuo Xin Yu, Tao Yuanming's Collection, Li Taibai's Collection, Huajian Collection, Selected Poems of Zhang Huiyan and Historical Records. Among foreign books, I like the poems of Hitchcock (Keats), Shelley, Coleridge and Bai Langning best, the seven tragedies of Sophie Crixus (Sophocles), Shakespeare's Hamlet, King Lear and otero, Goethe's Faust and Ibsen's plays best.

I can't say much about reading methods. I just need to mention two points briefly here: First, all books worth reading must be read at least twice. The first quick reading focuses on awakening the theme and characteristics of the whole article. Read slowly for the second time and critically measure the content of the book. Second, after reading a book, you must write down a wonderful outline and your own opinions. Taking notes can not only help you remember, but also force you to be careful.

Learning is not just reading, reading is an important way of learning. Because learning is not only a personal matter, but also a matter for all mankind. Every question of science at this stage is the accumulated achievement of all human efforts, and this achievement has not been submerged, but has been handed down through books. Reading is to settle the general ledger of human achievements in the past, relive thousands of years of human thoughts and experiences in just a few decades, and concentrate the hard-won knowledge and lessons of millions of people in the past on the readers. With this preparation, one can always travel long distances in learning and see a new world.

The more history advances, the richer the spiritual heritage of mankind, and the more books there are, the more difficult it is to read. Books are valuable, but they are also a burden and will become an obstacle to learning. It has at least two disadvantages. First, how easy it is for books to make readers not specialize. Because of the scarcity of books, the ancient scholars in China could only be cured after years of poverty. Although they don't read much, reading one book and chewing thoroughly become a spiritual motivation that will last for life. Secondly, how easily books make readers lose their way. Many beginners are insatiable and idle, wasting their time and energy on unimportant books, which will inevitably delay the basic books; For example, although philosophers have read countless kinds of philosophical history and introduction, they have not read Plato's dialogues, and economists have read countless kinds of textbooks, but they have not read Adam Smith's The Original Rich.

There is not much reading, and the most important thing is to choose carefully and read thoroughly. Instead of reading ten unimportant books, it is better to read a book that is really worth reading with the time and energy of reading ten books; It is better to read all ten books than to read one book intensively for ten times. A good book is never tired of reading, and it is worth every reader to take these two poems as their motto. Many people in the world read books just for window dressing. For example, upstarts show off their furniture, and the more they have, the more expensive they are. This is academic self-deception and low taste in life.

The books you read should be divided into two categories, one is to acquire the necessary common sense of citizens in today's world, and the other is to do specialized knowledge. In order to gain common sense, it is enough for middle school and junior college students to study hard. The so-called serious study and familiar reading of handouts are useless. You should choose three or five important books for each subject and play them carefully. There are only a dozen general courses, and there are three or five books for each elective reading, and the total reading volume is only about 50. This is not an excessive request. The average reader has read more than this number of books, and they can't benefit from it, because they have no choice but to skim it when reading.

Common sense is not only necessary for citizens in today's world, but also for specialized scholars. Modern science has a close division of labor, and many people who ask scientific questions stand still, using specialization as an excuse and not asking other related knowledge. This may be necessary for the study of division of labor, but it is a sacrifice for further research. The universe is an organism, in which events are closely related to each other, and one leads to the other, so all kinds of knowledge about events can be separated on the surface, but they can't be cut off in practice. There is absolutely no isolated learning in the world. Political science, for example, inevitably involves history, economy, law, philosophy, psychology and even diplomacy and military affairs. If a person is not interested in these related knowledge, he must specialize in political science from the beginning, and the further he goes, the more difficult it becomes. For example, if a mouse gets into a corner, the narrower he gets, the less he can find a way out. The same is true of other studies. If you can't pass, you can't specialize. If you can't learn, you can't make an appointment. Learn first and then keep your promise, which is the only procedure to cure any learning. We only look at the academic history. Anyone who has made great achievements in a certain scientific issue must have a deep and extensive foundation in many other scientific issues.

Some people study because of their own interests. When I came across an interesting book today, I put aside what I had planned to do and went all out to read it. I will do the same when I meet another interesting book tomorrow, although the two books are completely unrelated in nature. This kind of reading is like guerrilla warfare, and it is like bees gathering honey. Its advantage is to make reading a pleasure, deepen the works on a whim, and cultivate an extraordinary idea and mind over time. Its disadvantages are that readers are flooded, homeless, lacking the necessary academic system training for special research, leading to abnormal development, paying too much attention to one aspect of knowledge and knowing nothing about the other. If a person has the time and energy to allow him to live a hedonistic life, and does not regard reading as a job but just a pastime, this kind of honey reading method can be adopted. But if a person has the desire to realize a kind of learning, he can't help but have a predetermined plan and system.

Reading must have a center to maintain interest, or themes, or questions. When taking the subject as the center, it is necessary to select the key books of the subject and read them from beginning to end, so as to have a general understanding of the subject and prepare for further in-depth research. Reading literary works with the author as the center and reading historical works with the times as the center also belong to this category. When we pay attention to the problem, we should first have a problem to study in our mind, and then read books on this problem, with the intention of collecting materials and opinions of various scholars on this issue in order to weigh and draw conclusions. You still have to read all the important books, and you can read a chapter here and a section there for the rest. If you get the materials you want to collect, you can miss. This method is commonly used by researchers and is not suitable for beginners. But beginners can still take a slightly problem-centered approach when focusing on subjects. Read a book several times and pay attention to only one aspect at a time. Su Dongpo replied that Wang had talked about this law:

Teenagers are scholars and have to read every book several times. When there are all kinds of department stores in the crowd, people can't take all their energy at the same time, but they can get what they want. Therefore, I hope that scholars will make a request every time, such as seeking the role of sages in the ups and downs of ancient and modern times, only making this request, not giving birth to Yu Nian; Don't do a deed, cultural relics or anything like that, that's all. He imitated this. If you succeed, you will be attacked from all sides, which is different from those who admire dabbling.

Zhu Xi tried to persuade his master to adopt this method. It is a key to intensive reading and can form the habit of careful analysis. Take reading novels as an example. The first time, only the story structure is sought, the second time, the description of characters is paid attention to, and the third time, only the interpenetration of characters and stories is sought, so that dialogue, rhetoric, social background, attitude towards life and so on can be studied one after another.

Reading should have a center, with which it is easy to be organized. For example, if you look at the history books, suppose that the focus is on the relationship between education and politics. All the historical facts about this issue in the whole book are linked by this center and form a system of their own. After reading other books, such as classics, I often encounter facts and theories about the relationship between politics and religion, and they naturally return to the system formed when I read history books. Multiple system centers can exist in a person's mind at the same time. For example, dictionaries have many radicals. Every time a new knowledge is acquired, it will be integrated into a system with similar properties according to the principle of birds of a feather flock together, just like pasting new words into a dictionary. The words next to people are all human parts, and the words next to water are all water parts. A little knowledge is not only easy to forget, but also useless. The new knowledge acquired each time must be related to the old knowledge, that is, it must be gathered around a center to form a system, in order to take root and blossom.

Memory is limited. In fact, it is often impossible to store all the branches and leaves of the knowledge system formed by the books you have read in your brain. If you can't save it, you will forget it once, so reading is not reading. We must open a storage room outside the brain and move all the inexhaustible things stored in the brain there. This kind of storage room used to be notes, but now it is cards. Taking notes and making cards, just like botanists collecting specimens, must be classified and catalogued. Once one is collected, it will be classified into a certain category. After a long time, although there are many things collected, each has its own class and order. This is a very scientific method, which can not only save brain power and store useful materials for future needs, but also enhance the systematization and systematization of thinking.