Lesson Nine The Trouble with Television
  电视的⽑病
  The Trouble with Television
  要摆脱电视的影响是困难的。
  It is difficult to escape the influence of television.
  假如统计的平均数字适⽤于你的话，那么你到20岁的时候就⾄少看过2万个⼩时的电视了，从那以后每⽣活10年就会增加1万⼩时。
  If you fit the statistical averages， by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20，000 hours of television. You can add 10，000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20.
  笔起看电视，美国⼈只有在⼯作和睡眠上花时间更多。
  The only things Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep.
  稍微计算⼀下，使⽤这些时间的⼀部分能够做些什么。
  Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours.
  听说⼀个⼤学⽣仅⽤5000⼩时就可以获得学⼠学位。
  Five thousand hours， I am told， are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree.
  在1万个⼩时内你能学成⼀个天⽂学家或⼯程师，流利掌握⼏门外语。
  In 10，000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently.
  如果你感兴趣的话，你可能读希腊原⽂的荷马史诗或俄⽂版的陀思妥耶夫斯基的作品；如果对此不感兴趣，那你可以徒步周游世界，撰写⼀本游记。
  If it appealed to you， you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't， you could have walked around the world and written a book about it.
  电视的⽑病在于它分散了⼈们的注意⼒。
  The trouble with television is that it discourages concentration.
  ⽣活中⼏乎⼀切有趣的、能给⼈以满⾜的事都需要⼀定的建设性的、持之以恒的努⼒。
  Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive， consistently applied effort.
  即使是我们中间那些最迟钝、最没有天才的⼈也能做出⼀些事来，⽽这些事使那些从来不在任何事情上专⼼致志的⼈感到像是奇迹⼀般。
  The dullest， the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate on anything.
  但电视⿎励我们不做出任何努⼒，它向我们兜售即时的满⾜，它给我们提供娱乐，使我们只想娱乐，让时间在毫⽆痛苦中消磨掉。
  But Television encourages us to apply no effort. It sells us instant gratification. It diverts us only to divert， to make the time pass without pain.
  电视节⽬的多样化成了⼀种⿇醉剂⽽不是促进思考的因素。
  Television's variety becomes a narcotic ， nor a stimulus.
  它那系列的、多变的画⾯引着我们跟着它⾛。
  Its serial， kaleidoscopic exposures force us to follow its lead.
  观众⽆休⽆⽌地跟着导游游览：参观博物馆30分钟，看⼤教堂30分钟，喝饮料30分钟，然后上车去下⼀个参观点，只是电视的特点是时间分配以分秒计算，⽽所选择的内容却多为车祸和⼈们的互相残杀。
  The viewer is on a perpetual guided tour： 30 minutes at the museum， 30 at the cathedral， 30 for a drink， then back on the bus to the next attraction —-except on television.， typically， the spans allotted arc on the order of minutes or seconds， and the chosen delights are more often car crashes and people killing one another.
  总之许多电视节⽬取代了⼈类最可贵的⼀种才能，即主动集中⾃⼰的注意⼒，⽽不是被动地奉送注意⼒。
  In short， a lot of television usurps one of the most precious of all human gifts， the ability to focus your attention yourself， rather than just passively surrender it.
  吸引并抓住⼈们的注意⼒是⼤多数电视节⽬安排的主要⽬的，它加强了电视是有利可图的⼴告的载体
的作⽤。
  Capturing your attention —and holding it—is the prime motive of most television programming and enhances its role as a profitable advertising vehicle.
  节⽬安排使⼈⽣活在⽆休⽌的恐惧之中，唯恐抓不住⼈们的注意⼒——不管是什么⼈的注意⼒都担⼼。
  Programmers live in constant fear of losing anyone's attention—anyone's.
  避免造成这⼀局⾯的最有把握的办法就是使⼀切节⽬都保持简短，不要使任何⼈的注意⼒过于集中⽽受到损害，⽽要通过多样化、新奇性、动作和⾏动不断地提供刺激。
  The surest way to avoid doing so is to keep everything brief， not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety， novelty， action and movement.
  很简单，电视的运作原则就是迎合观众的注意⼒跨度短这⼀特点。
  Quite simply， television operates on the appeal to the short attention span.
  这只是最简单的解决办法，但它逐渐被看作是电视这⼀宣传媒体特定的，内在固有的性质，是必须履⾏的职责，似乎是司令萨尔诺夫或另⼀个令⼈敬畏的电视创始⼈给我们传下了刻有铭⽂的⽯碑，命令电视上出现的⼀切节⽬均不得使观众需要⽚刻以上的注意⼒。
  It is simply the easiest way out. But it has come to be regarded as a given， as inherent in the medium itself； as an imperative， as though General Sarnoff， or one of the other august pioneers of video， had bequeathed to us tablets of stone commanding that nothing in television shall ever require more than a few moments' Concentration.
  要是运⽤得恰当，这倒也⽆可厚⾮。
  In its place that is fine.
  如此出⾊地把使⼈忘却现实的娱乐作为⼤规模推销⼯具加以包装，谁⼜能反对这样⼀种宣传媒介呢？
  Who can quarrel with a medium that so brilliantly packages escapist entertainment as a mass-marketing tool？
  但是我看到了它的价值现已充斥于这个国家及其⽣活之中。
  Rut I see its values now pervading this nation and its life.
  认为快速思维和快餐⾷品⼀样影响着⽣活节奏很快、性情急躁的公众，这已成了时髦的看法。
  It has become fashionable to think that， like fast food， fast ideas are the way to get to a fast-moving， impatient public.
  在新闻⽅⾯，我认为这种做法不能进⾏很好的交流。
  In the case of news， this practice， in my view， results in inefficient communication.
  我怀疑电视每晚的新闻节⽬真正能够被⼈吸收和理解的有多少。
  I question how much of television's nightly news effort is really absorbable and understandable.
  其中许多被形象地描述为“机关不连贯地点射”。
  Much of it is what has been aptly described as “machine-gunning with scraps.”
  我认为这种技术是与连贯性作对的。
  I think the technique fights coherence.
  我认为它最终会使事情变得枯燥乏味、⽆⾜轻重（除⾮伴以恐怖的画⾯），因为任何⼀件事，如果你对它⼏乎⼀⽆所知，那么它差不多总会是枯燥乏味、使⼈觉得⽆⾜轻重的。
  I think it tends to make things ultimately boring and dismissible （unless they are accompanied by horrifying pictures）because almost anything is boring and dismissible if you know almost nothing about it.
  我认为，电视迎合观众注意⼒跨度短的做法不仅会造成交流不畅，⽽且还会降低⽂化⽔平。
  I believe that TV's appeal to the short attention span is not only inefficient communication but decivilizing as well.
  想⼀想电视要达到的那些极不慎重的原则吧：必须避免复杂性，⽤视觉刺激来代替思考，语⾔的精确早已是不合时宜的要求。
  Consider the casual assumptions that television tends to cultivate： that complexity must be avoided， that visual stimulation is a substitute for thought， that verbal precision is an anachronism.
  它可能已过时，但我所受的教育告诉我思想就是语⾔，是按准确的语法规则组织起来的。
  It may be old-fashioned， but I was taught that thought is words， arranged in grammatically precise
  在美国存在着读写能⼒的危机。
  There is a crisis of literacy in this country.
  据⼀项研究估计，约有3000万美国成年⼈是“功能性⽂盲”。他们的读写能⼒⽆法回答招聘⼴告，或读懂药瓶上的说明。
  One study estimates that some 30 million adult Americans are “functionally illiterate” and cannot read or write well enough to answer the want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
  能读写可能算不上是⼀项不可剥夺的⼈权，但是我们学识渊博的开国元勋们并不感到它是不合理的或者甚⾄是达不到的。
  Literacy may not be an inalienable human right， but it is one that the highly literate Founding Fathers might not have found unreasonable or even unattainable.
  从统计数字上看，我们的国家不仅未达到⼈⼈能读写的程度，⽽且离这⼀⽬标越来越远。
  We are not only not attaining it as a nation， statistically speaking， but we are falling further and further short of attaining it.
  尽管我不会天真到认为电视是造成这⼀情况的原因，但我却相信它起了⼀定的作⽤，是有影响的。
  And， white I would not be so simplistic as to suggest that television is the cause， 1 believe it contributes and is an influence.
  美国的⼀切：社会结构、家庭组织形式、经济、在世界上的地位，都变得更为复杂，⽽不是相反。
  Everything about this nation —the structure of the society， its forms of family organization， its economy， its place in the world— has become more complex， not less.
  然⽽其占主导地位的传播媒介，全国联系的主要⽅式，却在⼈类存在的问题上推销简单的解决⽅式，⽽这些问题通常是没有简单的解决⽅式的。
  Yet its dominating communications instrument， its principal form of national linkage， is one that sells neat resolutions to human problems that usually have no neat resolutions.
  在我的⼼⽬中，那30秒钟⼀个的商业⼴告：⼀位家庭主妇因选对了⽛膏⽽感到幸福的那⼩⼩的戏剧性场⾯就是这⼀切的象征。电视已使这极其成功的艺术形式成为我们⽂化不可缺少的⼀个部分了。
  It is all symbolized in my mind by the hugely successful art form that television has made central to the culture，the 30-second commercial： the tiny drama of the earnest housewife who finds happiness in choosing the right toothpaste.
  在⼈类历，⼏时曾有这样多的⼈共同把⾃⼰这样多的业余时间奉送给⼀件玩具，⼀项⼤众娱乐？
  When before in human history has so much humanity collectively surrendered so much of its leisure to one toy， one mass diversion？
  ⼏时曾有⼀个国家使⾃⼰整个地置于商品推销媒介的摆布之下？
understandable  When before has virtually an entire nation surrendered itself whole-sale to a medium for selling？
  ⼏年前，耶鲁⼤学的法学教授⼩查尔斯？L？布莱克写道：“……被喂⾷本⾝并不是件琐碎⼩事。”
  Some years ago Yale University law professor Charles L. Black. Jr.，wrote：“…… forced feeding on trivial fare is not itself a trivial matter-”
  我认为我们这个社会正在强⾏被喂⾷。
  I think this society is being forced-fed with trivial fare，
  我担⼼这⼀做法对我们的思维习惯，对我们的语⾔、我们努⼒的极限度及对复杂情况的兴趣等⽅⾯所造成的影响，这⼀点我们还只是极模糊地意识到。
  and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind， our language， our tolerance for effort， and our appetite for complexity are only dimly perceived.
  就算我的看法不对，⽤怀疑和批判的眼光来分析这个问题，来考虑如何抵制它，也不会有任何害处。
  If I am wrong， we will have done no harm to look at the issue skeptically and critically，to consider how we should be resisting it. I hope you will join with me in doing so.

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