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The Future of Reading 你Vook了吗？

 

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Technology is changing the way we read. Can publishers keep up with the trend?  科技改变了人们阅读的方式，而出版商是否跟得上这股潮流？

 

More than 550 years after Johannes Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Bible on paper and vellum, new technologies as revolutionary as the printing press are changing the concept of a book and what it means to be literate.

在古腾堡利用纸与皮纸印出一百八十本圣经的五百五十多年后，如同印刷机一样深具革命性的新科技，改变了有关书本及识字能力的概念。

 

Sound, animation and the ability to connect to the Internet have created the notion of a living book that can establish an entirely new kind of relationship with readers.

音效、动画与连接上网的功能创造了「活生生的书本」的概念，能够与读者建立一种全新的关系。

 

As electronic reading devices evolve and proliferate, books are increasingly able to talk to readers, quiz them on their grasp of the material, play videos to illustrate a point or connect them with a community of fellow readers.

随着电子阅读器逐渐演变与激增，书籍也愈来愈能够对读者说话、测验他们对内容的理解、播放影片以说明论点，或是让他们和一群阅读同好相互联系。

 

The same technology enables readers to reach out to authors, provide instant reaction and even become creative collaborators, influencing plot developments and the writer’s use of dramatic devices.

同样的科技也可让读者接触作者，让读者与作者实时互动，甚至成为作者的创作伙伴，左右着故事情节的走向以及作者采用的戏剧性手法。

 

Digital tools are also making it possible for independent authors to publish and promote their books, causing an outpouring of written work on every topic imaginable.

数字工具也使得独立作者得以出版及营销自己的作品，于是想象得到的各种主题的书籍皆如雨后春笋般问世。

 

Advantages for visually impaired  视障者的福音

 

Vook (the name is a mash-up of “video” and “book”) has published more than two dozen titles. In addition to displaying pages from a book, digital e-readers can read them aloud, opening up a literary trove for the blind and the visually impaired who have long had only a thin selection of audio and Braille books to choose from. Devices made by Amazon.com Inc. and Intel Corp. are able to convert text into speech.

所谓的Vook（结合video和book等英文字所创的词语）（译注：Vook[影像电子书]是由Bradley Inman所成立的公司名，也是其产品名称，这是结合了影像和书籍内容的电子书，可供下载，并透过计算机、苹果公司的iPhone等行动装置或Kindle电子书阅读器来阅读。读者可以一边读书籍的文字内容，一边看配合文字内容的影片）至今已出版了二十几部以上的作品。除了显示书本的页面之外，数字电子阅读器还能够把书本内容大声念出来，为过去只有少数有声书及点字书可供选择的盲人与视力障碍者开启了文学宝库的大门。亚马逊公司与英特尔公司推出的器材都能够把文字转为语音。

 

“You now have the ability to make a book talk,” said George Kerscher, head of the Digital Accessible Information System Consortium in Zurich, Switzerland. Kerscher, who studied computer science at the University of Montana and is blind, has spent two decades lobbying publishers to make books more accessible to visually impaired readers.

「如今我们已经可以让书本说话，」瑞士苏黎世数字无障碍信息系统联盟秘书长乔治．科雪说。科雪本身是盲人，曾在蒙大拿大学修习计算机科学，至今已花费了二十年的时间游说出版商让书本更能够迎合视障读者的需求。

 

单词发音

 

More Information

vellum [ˋvɛləm] n. 羊皮纸手稿; 羊皮纸

literate [ˋlɪtərɪt] adj. 能读写的

animation [͵ænəˋmeʃən] n. 卡通片；卡通片绘制

evolve [ɪˋvɑlv] v. 使逐步形成；发展

quiz [kwɪz] v. 对……进行测验

grasp [græsp] n. 理解，领会

reach out to someone 接触，联系 to try to communicate with a person or a group of people, usually in order to help or involve them

outpouring [ˋaʊt͵porɪŋ] n. 倾泄，流出

mash-up 混搭 Slang. a creative combination or mixing of content from different sources

impaired [ɪmˋpɛrd] adj. 受损的

consortium [kənˋsɔrʃɪəm] n. 合伙；联合

 

 

 

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Making books social  把书本变成社交媒介

 

Digital technology is also transforming reading from a famously solitary experience into a social one.

原本以孤独着称的阅读体验，如今也因为数字科技而变成一种社群活动。

 

Now that anyone with an Internet connection – or even a cell phone – effectively owns a digital printing press, the distinction between professional and amateur writers is rapidly blurring. Digital publishing has uncapped a geyser of creative output from authors who may never have made it into print or wouldn’t have thought to try.

现在，任何人只要能够连上网络──甚至只要拥有手机──就等于拥有一部数字印刷机，因此迅速让专业与业余作家之间的分野变得模糊。数字出版开启了一股创作的泉源，许多过去可能永远得不到出版机会或根本没想到要尝试出版作品的作者，如今都开始出版著作。

 

On Textnovel.com, thousands of cell-phone-toting authors write novels via text message, one or two sentences at a time. Aspiring writers can sign up on the free site and begin writing, either from phones or computers. Readers can follow the stories online or receive a text every time their favorite author adds a plot twist.

在Textnovel.com上，数以千计的手机作家都透过简讯撰写小说，一次只写一、两句。有心写作的人士可以免费申请该网站的账号，而利用手机或计算机开始创作。读者可以在在线阅读这些作品，或是每当自己最喜爱的作者增添剧情转折时，即接获相关简讯。

 

On Scribd.com, writers and digital pack rats are building a huge swap meet for written works of every length, many of which once existed on paper. Visitors can browse digital versions of novels and nonfiction books – some by established authors, others by complete unknowns.

在Scribd.com上，作者与热中于收集数字信息的人士构成了一个庞大的交换集会，交换标的为各种长度的文字作品，其中许多都曾以纸本形式问世。网站访客可以浏览数字版本的小说与非小说类书籍──有些是著名作家的作品，有些则是没没无闻的作者所写。

 

As in many places online, free content is the rule. Writers who are intent on making money will have to find creative ways to attract readers and build an audience.

在线内容以免费为主，这个现象在网络上随处可见。有意靠写作赚钱的作者必须找出富有创意的方法才能吸引读者，建立自己的读者群。

 

How do you make people want it?  如何吸引读者的目光？

 

The proliferation of amateur content poses a conundrum for publishers, who must find a way to make a profit in a sprawling marketplace increasingly filled with free content.

业余作品激增为出版商带来了一大难题，因为他们必须在愈来愈充斥免费内容、复杂无序的市场中设法赚取利润。

 

Part of the answer may be found on Goodreads.com, a digital library and social networking site where millions of members can log in and chat about any book they want, including many that will never see print.

Goodreads.com为这个问题提出了部分解决之道，这个数字图书馆与社群交流网站，让数百万会员得以登入谈论自己感兴趣的任何书籍，包括了许多不可能有机会出版的书籍。

 

Lori Hettler runs one of the largest book clubs on Goodreads, with nearly 7,000 members chiming in from all over the globe. Discussions can go on for hundreds of messages, with readers passionately championing – or eviscerating – the club’s latest selection.

萝莉．赫特勒在Goodreads网站上拥有规模最大的图书俱乐部之一，有将近七千名遍布全球各地的会员发表意见（译注：chime in原指插话，指世界各地的会员都会在网站论坛里插话发表意见）。讨论主题可能引发多达数百则响应的讯息，只见读者热切拥护或唾弃俱乐部的最新选书。

 

单词发音

 

More Information

solitary [ˋsɑlə͵tɛrɪ] adj. 单独的，独自的

blur [blɝ] v. 变模糊

uncap [ʌnˋkæp] v. 打开(瓶盖) to remove the cap or covering of

tote [tot] v.【非正式﹐尤美】〔尤指经常性地〕随身携带

sign up 注册；报名登记 enlist

twist [twɪst] n. 意外转折

swap [swɑp] n. & v. 【口】交换，交易

rule [rul] n. 习惯，通例 a customary form or procedure; regular course of action

 

 

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Poor reading experience  不良的阅读经验

 

Hettler may be broadening reading horizons, but some people worry that new technologies will diminish the classic reading experience.

赫特勒虽然致力于扩大阅读的世界，有些人却担忧新科技会有损传统上阅读的经验。

 

Whereas printed texts are often linear paths paved by the author chapter by chapter, digital books encourage readers to click here or tap there, launching them on side journeys before they evenreach the bottom ofa page.

阅读纸本书籍通常必须随著作者一章章的铺陈而循序渐进，数位书籍却鼓励读者这边点点、那边选选，以致他们还没读完一页书就心「有」旁骛。

 

Some scholars fear that this is breeding a generation of reads who won’t have the attention span to get through The Catcher in the Rye, let alone Moby-Dick.

有些学者忧心这种现象所养成的下一代读者，专注力将不足以读完《麦田捕手》，更别提《白鲸记》（译注：小说家Herman Meville所写的大部头小说，充满了各种隐喻及典故，以晦涩难懂着称）了。

 

“Reading well is like playing the piano or the violin,” said the poet and critic Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “It is a high-level cognitive ability that requires long-term practice.”

「良好的阅读能力就如同弹钢琴或拉小提琴一样，」曾任国家艺术基金会主席的诗人暨评论家达纳．乔欧亚表示：「是一种高层次的认知能力，需要长期练习才能培养出来。」

 

“I worry that those mechanisms in our culture that used to take a child and have him or her learn more words and more complex syntax are breaking down,” Gioia said.

「我们的文化里原本有些机制能引领孩子多学一点字汇，以及比较复杂的语法，但我担心这些机制已经逐渐瓦解了，」乔欧亚说。

 

Short attention spans aren’t always a bad thing  注意力短促不一定有害

 

But Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at Cal State Dominguez Hills, said it was a mistake to conclude that young people learned less simply because “they are flitting around all over the place” as they read.

不过，加州州立大学多明格兹分校心理学教授拉利．罗森指出，如果只因为年轻人阅读时只蜻蜓点水般四处浏览，就认为他们学到的东西必然比较少，其实是一种错误的观念。

 

“Kids are reading and writing more than ever,” he said. “Their lives are all centered around words.”

「现在的孩子读写的机会比以前都还要多，」他说：「他们的生活完全以文字为中心。」

 

Dr. Gary Small, director of the Center on Aging at UCLA and author of iBrain, said Internet use activated more parts of the brain than reading a book did.

加州大学洛杉矶分校老化研究中心主任暨《网络大脑》（暂译）作者盖瑞．斯默尔博士表示，使用网络所激化的大脑部位比阅读书本所激化的部位还多。

 

On the other hand, online readers often demonstrate what Small calls “continuous partial attention” as they click from one link to the next. The risk is that we become mindless ants following endless crumbs of digital data.

另一方面，在线读者在点选一个个连结的时候，通常会呈现出斯默尔所谓的「持续性局部注意力」。这种现象的风险在于，可能会让人变成毫无头绪的蚂蚁般，追逐着无尽的数字数据面包屑到处跑。

 

“People tend to ask whether this is good or bad,” he said. “My response is that the tech train is out of the station, and it’s impossible to stop.”

「一般人常会问这种现象究竟是好或不好，」他说：「我的回答是，科技列车已经驶出车站，不可能停下来了。」

 

－by Alex Pham and David Sarno

 

单词发音

 

More Information

cognitive [ˋkɑgnətɪv] adj. 认知的

syntax [ˋsɪntæks] n. 语法；句法

mindless [ˋmaɪndlɪs] adj. 无知的; 毫无目标的

crumb [krʌm] n. 碎屑（尤指面包屑或糕饼屑）；a small fragment, scrap, or portion

 

 

 

单词发音

 

Vocabulary Focus

proliferate [prəˋlɪfə͵ret] v. 激增; 扩散 to increase a lot and suddenly in number

collaborator [kəˋlæbə͵retɚ] n.〔尤指在科学﹑艺术等方面的〕合作者; 协作者 a person who works together with others for a special purpose

trove [trov] n. 贵重的发现物（= treasure trove）a large collection of valuable items

amateur [ˋæmə͵tʃʊr] adj. 业余的 relating to an activity where the people taking part do not receive money

geyser [ˋgaɪzɚ] n. 喷泉；间歇泉 a hole in the ground from which hot water and steam are sent out

aspiring [əˋspaɪrɪŋ] adj. 有志气的；有强烈愿望的；有抱负的 describing someone who is trying to achieve a goal, such as becoming successful at a certain profession.

pack [pæk] rat  收藏无用东西的人 one who collects many useless things and does not like to throw things away

conundrum [kəˋnʌndrəm] n. 难题; 复杂问题 a problem that is difficult to deal with

chime [tʃaɪm] in  插话〔表示赞同〕to interrupt or speak in a conversation, usually to agree with what has been said; to join a conversation by saying something

champion [ˋtʃæmpɪən] v. 拥护 to support, defend or fight for a person, belief, right or principle enthusiastically

eviscerate [ɪˋvɪsə͵ret] v. 除去……的精华 to remove one or all of the important inner parts of something

broaden horizons (idiom) 开阔眼界 to increase the range of things that someone knows about or has experienced

flit [flɪt] v. 轻快地行进; 掠过 to fly or move quickly and lightly

 

 

 

 

What is a vook?