胡适留学日记卷三二九、友人劝戒吸纸烟

卷三二九、友人劝戒吸纸烟

　　（一月廿四日）

　　I am very much worried about you, for the boys told me at Iowa city that your health was in bad shape. I wonder, old man, whether you have still kept up your furious smoking? I was dead in earnest when I told you last summer that I thought it was a mistake for you to smoke as incessantly as you did. In fact, as a non-smoker myself, I am of the opinion that you would be better off without the use of tobacco. Please don't think that I want to preach to you or try to boss you. The fact is that I have seldom taken as intimately to a foreign friend as I have to you, and I honestly and without flattery believe you are a rare genius. I think it is your duty to society to preserve your intellectual powers to their fullest extent, and for that reason I think you ought to take every precaution to keep in good health. If the cause was something else than smoking, then remove that cause.

　　〔中译〕

　　曾在衣阿华听说你的身体状况很糟，所以为你感到非常担忧。老朋友，不知你是否仍然吸烟很凶？去年夏天我向你说过，像你这样吸烟，实在是一个大错误。我这话是发自内心的。我是一个不吸烟的人，因此我的看法是，如果你不吸烟，你的身体状况一定会好得多的。请不要以为我是在向你说教，或是想对你指手画脚。说实在的，我对外国朋友很少有对你这么亲近。我认为你是一个难得的少有的人材，这并非阿谀你，而是诚恳的。我以为把你的智慧才能完全服务于社会，是你应尽的职责，因此，我想你应该特别注意保持身体健康。如果不是吸烟的缘故，则当另除病因。

　　此友人Louis P. Lochner所寄书。记此以自警焉。

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