Book Knowledge vs. Experience

More often than not, book knowledge and experience are two main sources from which we gain knowledge and broaden our horizons. And each means has its own advantages and disadvantages. Should we attach more importance to experience? Or do books play a more crucial role throughout learning process? As far as I'm concerned, I prefer the former.

Admittedly, book knowledge consists of an important part of one's knowledge system. Although one's life is limited, his or her thoughts remain regardless of the passage of time. Therefore, book knowledge, which belongs to joint efforts of our ancestors, turns out to be more systematic and comprehensive. A good case in point would be that of Newton. He once said that if I've seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Without results gained from former researches, he must have made some detours, and might not have achieved so many breakthroughs in scientific theories. In addition, we are capable of gaining book knowledge whenever it is and wherever we are. All you need is to concentrate on your books. There is no teacher by your side, but either characters in books or yourself could be your own teacher.

Nevertheless, experience stands out for its incomparable features. First of all, thanks to its directness, we could learn by doing. Here comes an old saying—practice goes deeper than theoretic knowledge. And this explains the reason why we tend to have deeper impression about things we participate personally. And such kind of personal involvement is more likely to arouse our interests and therefore inspire our learning. More importantly, it could make up for the verification process absent in books. To know whether this theory is right or not, putting it into practice is the only way to examine its validity. Or it remains to be empty talks which are no good. For instance, one could never claims to be a good cook, if he only read cookbooks but never cook in real life. We cannot judge his proficiency without tasting his dishes.

To sum up, the relationship between book knowledge and experience is not mutually exclusive but complementary. In other words, these two sources have both merits and demerits. In my opinion, the initial stage of learning mainly consists of learning from books, whereas knowledge needs to be applied in practice to verify its effectiveness. Apparently, books are certainly not the only means by which we could gain knowledge, but experience proves to be the only means to testify it.

题目要求根据“不是所有的知识都可以从书上学到”这一习语，比较阅读书籍与实际经验这两种不同的获取知识的途径，撰写一篇400词左右的文章。范文开篇明义，连用两个问句，引出了自己个人的立场，即他认为实际经验更有必要性。文章第二段主要讲述了书本上的知识更系统也全面，并且引用物理学家牛顿的事例予以佐证。文章第三段突出了实际经验具有直接性，更能唤醒人们对学习的兴趣，从而起到激励作用，除此之外，实践还是检验认识真理性的唯一标准。文章最后一段，综述全文，重申观点。