by Molly Flatt Arony 譯

多媒體閱讀
——不能承受之重

Is Your Reading Suffering from Multimedia Overload?

by Molly Flatt Arony 譯

電子產(chǎn)品和網(wǎng)絡(luò)的普及大大方便了我們獲取信息，一臺手機或電腦就能獲知世界各地的大小新聞，一臺輕便的電子閱讀器就能收藏許許多多的書。這一切都迎合了方便、快速這一時代主題。然而，對著屏幕高速地瀏覽了一段時間后，疲勞的身心卻突然渴望從前單一的讀書方式帶來的輕松愉悅。

T wo years ago, I had a very straightforward reading pattern. Every few days, I’d read a book. I would immerse myself in its characters and storylines, swim in its style, snatch up every opportunity throughout the day to return to its enveloping world. Then I would fnish it, and start another one.

兩年前，我的閱讀方式很簡單。花幾天時間讀一本書。我會把自己沉浸在人物和故事情節(jié)中，暢游于書的寫作風(fēng)格中，每天只要有時間，我都會回到那個被封存起來的世界。讀完這本后接著開始讀另一本。

Things were so simple then.

I wish I could blame it on the Christmas eReader, but my evolution into1)schizophrenic multimedia literature butterfy started long before it landed in my lap-via iPod and Audible, Twitter and Gutenberg, and brick-like new-writing magazines that take weeks to digest. My reading has taken on a strangely driven, guilty quality, as I try to justify the cost of all those subscriptions and all that hardware by consuming fiction in an unprecedentedly multiplicitous and simultaneous way. Secretly, I long to return to a world in which I had a loving, stable relationship with one paperback at a time.

那時候就那么簡單。

我希望我能歸咎于圣誕禮物——電子閱讀器，但早在擁有電子閱讀器前，我就開始變成了一個“精神分裂”的多媒體文學(xué)讀者——通過隨身聽、在線聽書網(wǎng)站、推特和古登堡網(wǎng)站，還要花幾個星期來消化磚頭般的新作品雜志。我的閱讀變得多而雜亂，為了試著證明自己在訂閱書籍和購買硬件設(shè)備方面的花費物有所值，我以前所未有的多樣化、同步的方式閱讀書籍。其實我心里渴望回到從前的世界，每次只與一本書建立一段充滿愛而穩(wěn)定的關(guān)系。

1) schizophrenic [,sk?dz??'fren?k] adj. 患精神分裂癥的

A day in my life as a literary butterfly starts at 7:30a. m., with a few select paragraphs from the short story in last weekend’s Sunday papers over a morning cup of tea. By 8:30a. m., I’m fully plugged into my latest audiobook as I stride to the station. On the tube, it’s the rush to plough through the story and poems in the latest, expensively imported edition of the New Yorker, before next week’s lands on my mat. Throughout the day, I might catch up on a Twitter novel every few minutes, or check out the latest2)freemium offering from an enterprising new author. Back on the tube, I3)crack out the eReader, scroll past the 100 free books I haven’t e v e n d i p p e d into, and try to settle into the download I just had to buy to see if it worked. Finally, at bedtime, I open my book—my real, smelly, prefix-free book—and fall asleep, waking six hours later with ink on my face.

A recent study by Stanford University’s Department of Psychology has (in the time-honoured fashion of research) told us something we know all too well: we children of the long tail economy pay the price of unlimited choice with the misery of the always-something-better-out-there syndrome. “Even in contexts where choice can foster freedom, empowerment, and independence”, says the study’s author, Professor Hazel Markus, “it is not an4)unalloyed good. Choice can also produce a numbing uncertainty, depression, and selfshness.”

我這只“文學(xué)蝴蝶”的一天從早上七點三十分開始，泡一杯茶，看幾段上周末周日報紙上的短篇故事精選。八點三十分，在趕往車站的路上，我會戴上耳機，聽最新的電子書。在地鐵上，我粗略瀏覽最新一期昂貴的進口版《紐約客》上的故事和詩歌，為了趕在下周新刊到達前看完。這一天里，可能每過幾分鐘我就會查看推特上的小說，或在免費增值網(wǎng)站上查看某位野心勃勃的新作家的作品。搭地鐵回家時，我拿出電子閱讀器，忽略那100本還沒看過的免費書，看看我購買的書下載成功沒有。最后，睡前，我打開書——我那真正的書，有著特殊味道、不帶前綴（e）的書——然后睡著，六個小時后醒來，墨水印在臉上。

斯坦福大學(xué)心理學(xué)院最近的一項長期研究告訴我們早就熟知的研究結(jié)果：我們這些成長于“長尾經(jīng)濟”時代的孩子要為大量的選擇付出代價，我們的癥狀是“總有更好的東西”?！斑x擇給了我們更多的自由、權(quán)力和獨立性，即使在這樣的前提下，”該研究的發(fā)起人黑澤爾·馬庫斯教授說，“這也不完全是件好事。選擇還會帶來令人麻木的猶豫、壓抑和自私。”

2) freemium ['fri?m??m] n. 免費增值；免費增值模式

3) crack out 拿出來

4) unalloyed [?n?'l??d] adj. 純粹的，完全的

5) the cream of the crop 出類拔萃者，精英

6) cornucopia [k??nj?'k??p??] n. 豐富，豐饒

7) merlot ['mз?rl??] n. 梅洛（一種葡萄，起源地是法國波爾多右岸，是法國最為廣泛種植的葡萄品種。單品種梅洛釀的葡萄酒，通常有絲絨般柔和的口感，具有梅子氣息。）

8) tequila [t?'ki?l?] n. 龍舌蘭酒

9) martini [mB?' ti?ni?] n. 馬提尼酒

小知識

Long tail economy 長尾經(jīng)濟

“長尾”這一概念是由美國《連線》雜志主編克里斯·安德森在2004年提出的。

安德森用真實發(fā)生的幾件事向我們直接勾畫出了長尾現(xiàn)象：在線音樂店里下載排行10萬名以后的那些歌，在任何一家最最專業(yè)的唱片店都找不到，每月下載次數(shù)只有幾次、幾十次，加起來卻占了所有下載次數(shù)的15%；在線DVD租賃店銷量占末尾21%的碟片在任何一家線下碟店都找不到。這些“多出來”的冷門產(chǎn)品每樣都賣得少得可憐，但因為品種數(shù)目龐大，加起來卻能帶來不小的銷售。這就是長尾。

長尾理論生動而形象地反映了我們的經(jīng)濟和文化，其基本原理是：只要存儲和流通的渠道足夠大，需求不旺或銷量不佳的產(chǎn)品所共同占據(jù)的市場份額可以和那些少數(shù)熱銷產(chǎn)品所占據(jù)的市場份額相匹敵，甚至有過之而無不及。

As psychologist Barry Schwarz puts it in his brilliant TED Talk on the Paradox of Choice, “there’s no question that some choice is better than none, but there’s some magical amount. I don’t know what it is. I’m pretty confdent that we have long since passed the point where options improve our welfare.” And it’s true: I love the fact that I can download some great new author’s self-published PDF onto my screen, that I can carry the electronic Riverside Chaucer wherever I go, that I can access almost any obscure old tome from Amazon marketplace and get5)the cream of the fictional crop delivered quarterly to my door. But it’s a long time since I experienced the intense pleasure of leisurely browsing; the careful selection and devoted reading of a single text. For me, reading has become a fractured competitive sport.

There is joy in this6)cornucopia of ways to consume quality literature, but there is also anxiety and loss—I feel like an alcoholic pushed into a permanently stocked bar, and I can’t even taste the7)merlot because I’m trying to down a8)tequila and sip a9)martini at the same time. I’m dying to return to the mono-media of paper and glue. But I’m just not sure that I’m strong enough to resist the lure of that Dickens in my pocket; the new Jim Crace short story nestling in that mega-zine.

正如心理學(xué)家巴里·施瓦茨在TED上那場關(guān)于“選擇的矛盾”的出色演講中所說，“有選擇當(dāng)然比沒選擇要好，但這其中有著某個奇妙的數(shù)量。我不知道是多少。我確信我們的選擇早就多得有損自身利益了?！贝_實是這樣：我很高興可以下載一些優(yōu)秀的新作者自己推出的PDF版作品到我的電子設(shè)備上,可以隨身帶著電子版的《河畔喬叟》，可以在亞馬遜商城買到任意一本晦澀的舊著作，可以訂閱一些精品小說（每三個月送貨上門一次）。但我已經(jīng)很久沒有感受到閑適地翻閱書本的樂趣；細心挑選并身心投入地閱讀一本書。對我來說，閱讀已成了一場碎片化的競技比賽。

以這種豐富多樣的方式閱讀優(yōu)秀的文學(xué)作品固然能獲得愉悅感，但同時也有憂慮和失落——我感覺自己是一個酗酒者，被推進了藏酒室，但我連梅洛的味道都嘗不到，因為我在咽下龍舌蘭酒的同時又想嘗一口馬提尼酒。我渴望回到由紙張和膠水組成的單一媒體時代。但我不確定自己能否抵抗口袋里的狄更斯電子書和電子雜志上吉姆·克雷斯的新短篇小說的誘惑。