为什么捷克遍地都是图书馆

 PRAGUE — In the age of Amazon and the internet, the idea of going to a public library to borrow a book may seem ever more quaint¹ and old-fashioned in many parts of the world, but one country, at least, is clinging to it tenaciously²: the Czech Republic. 布拉格——在这个亚马逊(Amazon)与网络当道的年代，在世界上许多地方的人看来，上公共图书馆借书一举似乎更显得古怪过时。然而至少还有一个国家仍顽强地保持这项习惯，那就是捷克共和国。

There are libraries everywhere you look in the country — it has the densest³ library network in the world, according to a survey conducted for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There are more libraries than grammar schools. In fact, there is one library for every 1,971 Czech citizens, the survey found — four times as many, relative to population, as the average European country, and 10 times as many as the United States, which has one for every 19,583 people.

放眼望去，捷克到处是图书馆：根据比尔及梅琳达盖茨基金会(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)进行的一项调查，该国有全世界密度最高的图书馆网络，数量比文法学校还要多。事实上，这项调查发现，每1971位捷克人就有一间图书馆，依人口比例算来是平均欧洲国家的4倍、美国的10倍（美国每19583人才有一间图书馆）。

为什么捷克遍地都是图书馆

Why so many Czech libraries? Well, for decades they were mandatory⁴ — every community, from a big city down to a tiny village, was required by law to have one.

为什么捷克有这么多图书馆？其实在数十年的时间里，图书馆的建造曾是强制规定——以前捷克从大城到小镇的每个社区，依法都必须要有一间图书馆。

The law was enacted⁵ in 1919, soon after Czechoslovakia emerged as an independent country. The idea was to promote universal literacy and education after the country was free of the German-speaking Austro-Hungarian Empire. And it worked. 该项法案是1919年颁布的，当时捷克斯洛伐克独立不久，用意是为了在脱离说德语的奥匈帝国统治后，提高全民的识字率、普及教育。而这种做法的确有效。

“Czechs developed a strong reading habit, and even today, those who visit libraries buy more books — 11 a year, on average — than others,” said Vit Richter, director of the Librarianship Institute of the Czech National Library. “捷克人养成了很强的阅读习惯，即便在今天，会上图书馆的人买书也更多，一年下来平均会买11本书。”捷克国家图书馆附设图书馆学中心的主任维特?李希特(Vit Richter)表示。

The library law survived the German occupation, the communist era and even the breakup with Slovakia in the early 1990s. What it couldn’t survive, in the end, was budgetary pressure. To save money, the requirement was dropped in 2001, when there were about 6,019 libraries in the country; since then, about 11 percent have merged⁶ or closed.

这项图书馆法案挺过了“二战”德国占领期、共产主义时期，甚至当捷克在上世纪90年代初期与斯洛伐克分家时仍照行不误。它最终挺不住的是预算压力。这项法案在2001年为减省开支而废除了，而当时捷克全国上下有将近6019座图书馆。自此以后，有大约11%的图书馆遭合并或关闭。

Rather than just linger on as an eccentricity⁷ from a bygone age, though, the surviving Czech libraries are doing what they can to stay vibrant⁸ and relevant. They serve as polling places for elections and as local meeting venues⁹. They organize reading clubs and art exhibits and offer computer literacy courses, and they welcome droves of schoolchildren and retirees during the day.

然而，现存的捷克图书馆并不甘于作为历史遗留的怪癖传世，它们尽可能地保持活跃及与民众生活的联系。图书馆是选举时的投票所、是当地居民的集会场地，馆方也会组织阅读俱乐部与艺术展览、提供计算机教学课程，并且在日间接待成群来访的学童与退休人士。

But mostly, they do what 92 percent of Czechs still want them to go on doing, according to the Gates Foundation survey: They lend books.

不过，根据盖兹基金会的调查，这些图书馆的主要工作还是提供92%的捷克人仍希望他们继续下去的服务：借书给大家看。

 

1 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

2 tenaciously   

坚持地

参考例句：

• Though seriously ill, he still clings tenaciously to life. 他虽病得很重，但仍顽强地活下去。 来自辞典例句
• It was apparently more tenaciously held to surface than fraction three. 它比级分三更顽强地保持在表面上。 来自辞典例句

3 densest   

密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的

参考例句：

• Past Botoi some of the densest jungle forests on Anopopei grew virtually into the water. 过了坊远湾，岛上的莽莽丛林便几乎直长到水中。
• Earth is the densest of all of these remaining planets. 地球是所剩下行星中最致密的星球。

4 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

5 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 merged   

（使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中

参考例句：

• Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
• The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。

7 eccentricity   

n.古怪，反常，怪癖

参考例句：

• I can't understand the eccentricity of Henry's behavior.我不理解亨利的古怪举止。
• His eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.在他去世之前他的古怪脾气就早已闻名遐尔了。

8 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

9 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网