电子时代:你是否还读书?

A research on national reading by Chinese Academy of Press and Publication shows that per capita e-book reading increased by 65.5% in 2012 and annual per capita reading reached 2.35 books. Mobile reading devices and platforms such as cellphones and tablet PCs have replaced PC reading and become important reading tools， but problems including fragmented reading and utilitarianism have also emerged as e-reading develops.

由中国新闻出版研究院的中国国民阅读调查显示，2012年中国人均电子书阅读增幅惊人，达65.5%，年人均阅读达2.35本。在电子书阅读中，以手机、平板电脑为代表的移动阅读代替PC阅读，成为重要的阅读方式。但伴随着电子阅读总量上升，阅读的碎片化、功利化等问题也不容忽视。

Puzzles during e-times

电子时代的读书之困

“The way to be a great man is to study， and the key to study is to read good books.” Reading has long been deemed as a lofty activity since ancient China. But with the arrival of e-times and ever-increasing pace of life， we have witnessed changes in our way of reading and welcomed the arrival of a diversified reading era.

The reporter has learnt that compared with printing-books， the majority of today's youths prefer e-books. A young man named Wang Liang told the reporter： “I'm used to downloading latest on-line novels of great popularity to read because I have little time to go to a bookstore.”

Young people with e-devices in hand can easily be spotted almost at all public places， indicating e-reading has become an irreversible trend. Another research shows that during the recent years， more and more people between 18 and 70 chose to read with a cellphone， and what they read are mostly entertainment content. The reporter also noticed that more and more people are immersed into happiness brought by fast-food and shallow reading. Therefore， reading is more of a leisure consumption than thought-provoking tool to them.

“立身以立学为先，立学以读书为本。”长久以来阅读在中国享有崇高的尊荣。而如今，随着电子时代的来临以及现代社会越来越快的生活节奏，我们的阅读方式也发生了变化，多元化读书时代已经到来。

记者走访了解到，相比较纸质阅读，现在大多数青年都更青睐于电子书。青年王亮告诉记者，“平常没有太多时间逛书店，我经常会在网上下载最畅销的网络小说来看。”

不难发现，在地铁上、公交车站前，街边随处都可见手拿电子产品的年轻人，电子阅读已成为一种不可阻挡的趋势。另据调查显示，近年来，中国18至70周岁国民中，手机阅读的人群大幅增长。以手机阅读为代表的快速浅阅读发展极快，其中，娱乐内容成为手机阅读的重点。记者在走访中也发现，越来越多的人陶醉在快餐式、浅显化的阅读中。而读书给予他们的，不再是深沉的思考，更多的是一种休闲文化消费。

A lot people share the same feelings， and Xiao Zhang， a young white-collar told the reporter： “I feel more than ever before that my life has been fragmented by the internet. Every day I will have a look at my social networking tools such as weibo and weichat several times， which often distract my attention and even benumb my thoughts； therefore， I could hardly stop to think deeply and concentratedly as I did before.”

“Indeed， today's faster pace of life and information acquisition have imposed a leavening influence on young people's reading habits，” said director Zhao from China Youth & Children Research Center， “Short-messages and extensive reading help enlarge our information amount； however， this shallow and fast reading mode prevents us， to some degree， from reading deeply and comprehensively.”

Ms. Liu from a government department said that she was “addicted to weibo”： Every night when her baby falls asleep， she will sit and update weibo late into the night. She told the reporter： “Classical books do bring us lots deep insights and thoughts， but since we modern people are under much pressure， it's enough to get reading pleasures. As for the ideas， languages and writing techniques of a book， we just don't have the time to think about them.” The reporter noticed during the research that heavy working and living pressures make most of today's young people choose e-reading for entertainment， and bring about a trend of “Utilitarianism”. Students spent a large amount of time on extra-curricular exercises and test question analysis， hence gradually narrowing of visions. Likewise， it's the reason for office workers to read only “useful books”. Yang Yun， a worker from a foreign company told the reporter that she has been busy reading management publications including “Finance” and “Thick Black Theory”. “Under so much pressure， I have no choice but to read them for they can shed some light on my work，” Zeng Hong， a state-owned company worker also thought that way， “Compared with classics， I would rather pick up books about experiences of successful men and adapt them into my own job.”

有同样感觉的人不在少数化。在采访中，青年白领小张就告诉记者，“我现在越来越觉得，网络已经碎片化了我的时间，每天我会不停地刷微博、看微信，注意力经常会被分散，而这些麻痹了我的思想，好久都没有过以前读书时的那种慢下来的、深入的思考了。”

“的确，生活节奏的加快和信息的快速获取也潜移默化地影响了现在年轻人的阅读习惯”，中国青年研究中心赵老师说，“短消息，泛阅读的确极大地丰富了我们的信息量，但是另一方面其短、平、快的阅读特征也影响了阅读的深入性和思考性。”

在北京某机关工作的刘小姐称自己“上了微博的瘾”。她每天晚上哄睡了孩子后，再起来上网刷微博到很晚，她告诉记者“经典书籍确实让人深思，但现在生活压力这么大，获得阅读就ok了，至于文本的思想、语言的优美或者写作技巧，哪有精力去细究？”在调查中记者发现，工作、生活的压力不仅使大多数年轻人倾向于娱乐休闲的电子碎片式阅读，而且随之出现的“功利化”阅读，也逐渐成为青年阅读的另一个主要倾向。大中小学生把大量时间花在了课外辅导、试题解析等阅读上，阅读视野日渐狭窄，而职场人士只读“有用的书”似乎也顺理成章。在北京某外企就职的杨云告诉记者，她最近在读《金融学》、《厚黑学》以及一些管理类的书，“压力太大，没办法，这些书可以让我在工作上如鱼得水。”一家国营企业公司职员曾红也认为：“与其读经典，不如读读成功人士的成长经历，马上可以活学活用！”

Apart from classical books， books of humanities and social sciences have also been “deserted” by young readers. According to Xiao Deng， a person in charge of Beijing Douban Bookstore which sells exclusively literature books， said： “Visitors to my bookstore are mostly middle or upper-middle aged people. Maybe the majority of young readers like reading e-books.”

被青年读者冷落的不止经典书籍，人文社科类图书也几近被“打入冷宫”。据专卖文学类书籍的北京豆瓣书店负责人小邓说：“来书店买书的大部分是中年以上的读者，青年读者来光顾的非常少，现在大部分青年都愿意看电子书。”

Printing books versus e-books

纸质阅读PK电子阅读

For Director Zhao from China Youth and Children Research Center， “Information waves fragmented youths' time for learning. Reading for use and consumption is a product of our times. Anyhow， reading is one's most fundamental condition for progress. Contradicted as the two aspects seem to be， they should be unified in the era of information exploding.” She holds that a life in real progress needs reading， and real reading should start from printing books. People who read only e-books “cannot become intellectuals with deep insights and independent thinking.”

在中国青年研究中心赵老师看来，“快节奏汹涌而来的信息，分割了年轻人的求知时间。功利阅读、消费阅读是时代造成的。但另一方面，阅读又是一个人生存、生活以外，人生发展前进的最重要条件。这两方面看似矛盾，但其实应该统一于这个信息爆炸的时代”。她认为，真正进取的人生需要阅读，而真正的阅读应该从书开始。只会选择电子阅读，快餐阅读的人，“无法真正成为能够深入、独立思考的知识分子。”

However， a young man Xiao Liu thinks another way， “I don't believe reading tools can affect our reading habit to a large extent. I often download literature materials and can get deep insights. Besides， it's much more convenient for I can read in my spare time like on a bus or when I wait for someone. Of course they are cheaper than printing books.”

For him， several advantages of e-books are simply incomparable： first， printing books are space and money-consuming. They are heavy and cost natural resources. Second， it's easier to get an e-book through downloading. Third， full-text searches can only be applied to e-books. A white-collar Li Xiang told the reporter： “I can make full use of my spare time through e-reading.” He outlined his daily life： Every morning when he gets up， he is used to eating breakfast while reading SMS news. Then he will continue his reading on a crowded subway to his company. When he arrives at his office thirty minutes later， he will habitually log on QQ and MSN to communicate latest news with his friends. Besides， he uses weibo very often， which can let his friends learn about his latest activities. Li even uses his lunch time to browse latest news and participate in hot-issue discussions on major forums. In addition， he reads a lot of mystery and time-travel novels. He has made e-books his spare time companion， and he will have a look at them every night before he falls asleep.

The above-mentioned description has become a common scene in the digital era， and Li Xiang is just one miniature of the many modern people who read with electrical devices. Communication tools such as cellphones， smart phones， Mp4s， game machines and tablet PCs， etc. were used only as mobile terminals for telephoning and texting messages in the past， but nowadays also as devices for e-reading， which caused changes in people's reading habits and lifestyle.

但青年小刘不这么认为，他告诉记者：“我并不觉得阅读介质会极大程度上影响我们的读书习惯，我经常会在网上下一些文学类的书看，也可以获得深入思考，而且还更方便，坐公交车、等人的间隙都可以看，还比纸质书便宜。”

他认为电子书有几大优点是纸质书无法比拟的：首先，纸质书占空间，耗费自然资源，笨重，成本昂贵。其次对于发行来讲，电子书比纸质书更迅捷，毕竟下载即可。再次电子书能全文搜索，纸质书却无法做到。公司白领李想告诉记者“我觉得电子阅读可以把我零散的时间用起来”。他向记者描绘了一天的生活：每天早上起床后，他都会习惯性地边吃早餐边读手机报，随后匆匆挤上地铁去上班。在拥挤的地铁里，他仍然不停地浏览手机新闻，直至半个多小时后到达公司。刚在办公桌前坐下，李想就打开电脑，挂上QQ、MSN，开始跟朋友交流最新信息。他还经常使用微博，可以随时把自己的生活所见、所感发上去，跟大家交流。中午吃饭时，李想也不肯歇着，登录各大网站、论坛看新闻，参与热点话题讨论。当然，网络流行的悬疑、穿越小说，他也没少看，电子书成了休息时的伴侣。下班回到家直至睡觉前，他还要抽空翻几页电子书。

上述画面已经成为这个数字时代常见的场景，而李想也只是众多用电子设备看书的都市人之一。智能手机、MP4、游戏机、电子阅读器、平板电脑……从前只用来通话、娱乐和传送短消息的移动终端，如今全都承担起了电子阅读的功能，人们的阅读形态和生活形态也随之发生了改变。

“But we have to admit that there`s a fatal weakness of e-books， which is their overreliance on devices and the internet.” said Xiao Zeng from Douban Bookstore. “Convenient as e-reading is， it exists almost always in small fragments of time. It's of no good for systematic absorption of knowledge for people who tend to forget what they have read through this way.”

“Fragmented reading tends to throw people`s thoughts into stiffness and indifference. A reading mode like that， lacking deep dialogue and active thinking， loses the functions and significance originally bestowed on it.”

“但是，不得不承认，电子书有个致命的弱点，就是过于依赖于设备和网络。”豆瓣书店负责人小曾说“现在移动阅读虽然便捷，但几乎都是在碎片时间内进行，这不利于知识的系统吸收，让人感觉读了就忘，读了跟没读也差不多。”

“碎片化阅读容易将人们的思维和思想变得僵硬和无动于衷，这种无法与作品深入对话、欠缺积极思考的阅读，也就丧失了阅读最初所赋予的作用和意义。”

Director Zhao said： “Today`s youths' being fond of this fast and fragmented read is attributed to their anxiety their fear for missing any important information. But e-reading with hand-down information helps foment their anxiety as people have lost patience to think and become more utilitarian in book-selection.” In the interview， some youths said they would prefer printing books. “As for the several hundred Gs of e-books downloaded in my disk， few of them have been read from beginning to end. The biggest problem facing e-reading is that it may cause fickleness and distraction. Developed network and large amount of information may result in modern people's fickleness.”

中国青年研究中心赵老师说：“现在的青年喜欢这种快速、碎片式阅读的原因在于年轻人的焦虑，生怕遗漏掉了自己该了解的信息。而电子阅读的发展更是助长了这种焦虑，消息变得唾手可得且越来越快速，人们已经没有耐心去思考，而在读书的选择上也会变得越来越急功近利。”在走访中，一些青年也表示还是倾向于读纸质书。“电脑里下了几百G的电子书，五花八门的，但是实际从头到尾读过的好像没有多少。抛开电子书阅读不便问题，最大的问题是心浮气躁，很难专注精神读书。都说现在的人浮躁，部分原因要归公于网络的强大，信息量的巨大，容易造成人们眼花缭乱。”

A bookstore always welcomes you even in e-times

电子阅读时代，

仍期待与你在书店邂逅

In a network age， e-journals and books have become people's new favorite， and brought us convenient， fast and interactive reading experiences of large amounts. On the other hand， the number of printing books is on the decline. Imagine you are reading a printing book diffusing the fragrance of ink， how will you feel？

There're intensive reading and extensive one， consumer-orientated reading and learner-orientated reading， and practical reading and reading for aesthetic purposes. Paper-reading is linear and continuous， which can make people conduct deep thinking， language appreciation and idea communication， hence hard working is needed； however， e-reading focuses on pleasant experiences， but it's a jumpy and fragmented read featuring a fast-food and random style. According to Director Zhao， “The feeling of serenity and tranquility brought by traditional reading cannot be achieved by speed-oriented e-reading. People need not only entertainment but also serious thinking， so in the future， e-books and printing books will coexist rather than compete in a zero-sum game.”

在网络时代，电子期刊、电子书籍已经成为人们阅读的新宠，它带给我们便利、快捷、大容量、交流互动的阅读新体验。与此同时，纸质书籍似乎正日渐式微，手捧一本散发着油墨味的纸质书，你会想到什么？

阅读有深浅之分，有消费型阅读和学习型阅读的差异，有实用型阅读和涵养型阅读的区分。纸质阅读通常是线性的、连续的，它的优势在于可以进行深入研读、品味文字细节、交流观念思想，同时也需要阅读者付出相当的思考上的努力；而网络化阅读侧重于令人愉悦的体验，它具有快餐式、浏览式、随意性、跳跃性、碎片化等特征。据中国青年研究中心赵老师说：“传统阅读所带来的那种从容安静的感受，可能是讲求速度和快节奏的电子阅读无法取代的。人们需要娱乐，也需要严肃的思考，在未来世界里，电子阅读和纸质阅读将不是互相取代，而是各有分工。”

As for reading experiences， different people have different reading purposes： some just want to get information， some for entertaining， others for spiritual pleasures and still others for arty purposes. E-reading brings people more and easy-to-get information in a faster speed； whereas the reading of printing books is more real and of cultural taste. Ms. Zeng， person in charge of the operation office of Beijing Sanlian Bookstore， said： “Two kinds of reading should be complementary； e-reading is suitable for materials of entertainment， information and news， as well as shallow knowledge； but when it comes to academic essays and classics， we'd better read printed books for patience and time are needed.”

Two kinds of reading keep enriching people's life. The sign at the gate of Douban Bookstore reads： Reading is living. Owner of the store Xiao Deng said to the reporter， looking at the few youths in the store： “Although more and more young people become attached to new reading modes such as e-reading， they need to， during times of fast information acquisition， slow down their footsteps sometimes to think. We are looking forward to meeting more young people here.”

在阅读体验上，每个人平时阅读的目的不同，有人单纯为获取信息，有人则为了消遣，有人是为了精神上的享受，有人则是为了附庸风雅。电子阅读具有内容更新快、信息量大、易搜索的优势，纸质阅读则具有真实感和文化品位。北京三联书店业务办负责人曾女士说：“这两者应该是共存互补的；市民如阅读休闲类、信息新闻类和一些浅知识类的图书报刊，可以采取电子书的形式阅读；如果是阅读学术著作、文化经典等需要静心阅读的，建议采取纸质阅读比较好。”

两种阅读方式都在丰富着人们的生活，在北京豆瓣书店的门口赫然写着“读书即生活”的字样。望着店里零零散散的青年，店主小邓说：“尽管电子阅读作为新兴的阅读方式吸引着大批年轻人，但是在信息快速获取的年代，人们还是需要书籍来让自己匆忙的脚步和思想慢下来，在电子阅读时代，仍然期待与更多的年轻人在这里邂逅。”

Postscript：

后记：

Zhu Guangqian， a master of aesthetics， noted in the prelude of one of his books “On Beauty” that a road sign along a picturesque avenue in an Alpine valley reads： Please slow down to appreciate！ Mr. Zhu exclaimed that many people's attitudes towards life and the world resemble going for a drive in the Alpine valley， flashing by without looking at the sceneries. How pitiful it is！ Reading is like sightseeing； and good things， whether you want to have a deep research or just a rough taste， can only be found with slow motion.

美学大师朱光潜先生在《谈美》一书的序言中提到，阿尔卑斯山谷中一条风景极佳的大路上，有一条标语写着：“慢慢走，欣赏啊！”对此，朱光潜先生感叹，许多人对待生活、对待世界的态度，恰如在阿尔卑斯山谷中乘汽车兜风，匆匆忙忙疾驰而过，无暇回首流连风景，这是一件多么可惜的事情。阅读其实只能是一种慢慢走的姿态，不论是浅尝辄止，抑或是深潜其间，好的东西都需要慢慢来找。