精美英文欣赏:阅读的衰退

Decline of Reading

阅读的衰退

We have a crisis on our hands.

我们正面临着危机。

You mean global warming?

你是指全球变暖问题？

The world economy?

世界经济问题？

No, the decline of reading.

不，是阅读衰退的问题。

People are just not doing it anymore, especially the young.

大家现在都不读书了，尤其是年轻人。

Who's responsible?

谁该负责？

Actually, it's more like, What is responsible?

其实，问题更应该问成:什么该负责？

The Internet, of course,and everything that comes with it—Facebook, Twitter.

当然是因特网，还有所有伴随它而生的产物，比如脸谱网站，推特微博。

You can write your own list.

你自己就可以列出个清单。

There's been a warning about the imminent¹ death of literate² civilization for a long time.

很长时间以来就有读写文明即将消亡的警戒。

In the 20th century, first it was the movies, then radio,then television that seemed to spell doom³ for the written world.

在20世纪，先是电影，然后是收音机，再然后是电视机，似乎都会给书写领域带来灭顶之灾。

None did.Reading survived;in fact it not only survived,it has flourished.

但没有一样办到了这点。阅读幸存了下来；事实是它不仅幸存下来，它还兴旺得很。

The world is more literate than ever before—there are more and more readers, and more and more books.

整个世界比以前任何时候都更有文化修养—世界拥有了越来越多的读者，越来越多的书籍。

The fact that we often get our reading material online today is not something we should worry over.

我们如今时常从网上获取阅读材料，对这一事实我们无需过虑。

The electronic and digital revolution of the last two decades has arguably shown the way forward for reading and for writing.

过去20年的电子，数字革命可以认为是为阅读和书写指明了前行的道路。

Take the arrival of e-book readers as an example.

以电子书籍阅读器的推行为例。

Devices like Kindle⁴ make reading more convenient and are a lot more environmentally friendly than the traditional paper book.

像Kindle这类设备是的阅读比起在传统纸张上进行的阅读更为方便，也环保得多。

As technology makes new ways of writing possible,new ways of reading are possible.

正如科技使得新的书写方式成为可能，它也给新的阅读方式提供可能性。

Interconnectivity allows for the possibility of a reading experience that was barely imaginable before.

互联性使我们有可能拥有在以前几乎是无法想象的阅读体验。

Where traditional books had to make do with photographs and illustrations,an e-book can provide readers with an unlimited⁵ number of links:to texts, pictures, and videos.

传统书籍只能使用照片和插图，而电子书籍可以为读者提供到文本，图片和视频的无数链接。

In the future, the way people write novels, history,and philosophy will resemble nothing seen in the past.

未来人们写作小说，历史和哲学的方式将和以往所见的方式完全不同。

On the other hand, there is the danger of trivialization.

但另一方面确实存在着琐碎化的危险。

One Twitter group is offering its followers⁶ single-sentence-long "digests" of the great novels.

在一个微博群它的粉丝提供优秀小说一句话长的摘要。

War and Peace in a sentence?

一句话的《战争与和平》？

You must be joking.

你在开玩笑吧。

We should fear the fragmentation of reading.

我们应该警惕阅读的碎片化。

There is the danger that the high-speed connectivity of the Internet will reduce our attention span—that we will be incapable⁷ of reading anything of length or which requires deep concentration.

存在着这样的危险:互联网的高速链接性会缩短我们的注意力，也就是说我们无法阅读任何一定长度或要求注意力高度集中的东西。

In such a fast-changing world,in which reality seems to be remade each day,we need the ability to focus and understand what is happening to us.

在如此快速变化的世界中，现实似乎每天都被重新缔造，我们需要有能力集中注意力并理解正在发生的事情。

This has always been the function of literature and we should be careful not to let it disappear.

这从来都是文学所具有的功能，我们应该小心，别让这个功能消失。

Our society needs to be able to imagine the possibility of someone utterly⁸ in tune⁹ with modern technology but able to make sense of a dynamic, confusing world.

我们的社会要能够设想出现这种人的可能性:他既完全和现代科技合拍，又能理解这个时刻变化，令人迷惑的世界。

1 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

2 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

3 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

4 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

5 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

6 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

7 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

8 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。