I have a friend， culturally minded， who used to share my love of books. Now， for whatever reason， he lost interest in reading. When people gift him with a book， he gives it to me， with one request： “Keep it but tell me the gist1 of it so I can tell my friend I’ve read it.” No one is inclined to read books anymore. Thanks to the Internet， we have been transformed into what they call “hyper readers.” Our attention span for reading has been reduced to how fast it takes to read a “meme”. On social media posts， long paragraphs of text are a turn-off. Our fingers are always swipe-ready， itching2 to click on to something that seems more interesting but short and easy to read.

我有個(gè)朋友，熱衷文化，過(guò)去和我一樣喜歡讀書(shū)。可不知為何，他現(xiàn)在對(duì)讀書(shū)失去了興趣。有人送書(shū)給他，他轉(zhuǎn)手就送給了我，并拜托道：“你留著吧，不過(guò)要給我講講書(shū)的大致內(nèi)容，這樣我就可以對(duì)朋友說(shuō)我讀過(guò)了。”再?zèng)]有人愿意讀書(shū)了。受互聯(lián)網(wǎng)影響，我們變成了所謂的“超級(jí)讀者”。閱讀專注時(shí)長(zhǎng)短到只能瀏覽一條模因梗圖。社交媒體中，長(zhǎng)篇大論的文字往往讓人望而卻步。我們的手指總是隨時(shí)準(zhǔn)備滑動(dòng)屏幕，急不可耐地去點(diǎn)擊那些看起來(lái)更有趣且簡(jiǎn)短易讀的內(nèi)容。

My reading habits too have been transformed not only because of the prevalent technology but also for other reasons. I am a child of traditional book reading. I used to go through one book continuously from beginning to end， not in one seating of course. I would take notes， highlight passages I like， and sometimes even pore3 through the bibliography at the end of the book. Then on to the next book.

我的閱讀習(xí)慣也發(fā)生了轉(zhuǎn)變，這不單是科技發(fā)展的結(jié)果，還有其他緣由。我深受傳統(tǒng)閱讀方式的熏陶，拿到一本書(shū)，總是從頭至尾細(xì)細(xì)品讀，當(dāng)然，也不是一口氣讀完。我會(huì)做筆記，標(biāo)注喜歡的段落，有時(shí)甚至?xí)J(rèn)真研讀書(shū)末的參考文獻(xiàn)。然后才開(kāi)始讀下一本書(shū)。

It was a slow but deeper way to absorb a book. That’s why it would take me several months to finish heavy books such as Dostoevsky’s4 “Brothers Karamasov”， John Steinbeck’s5 “East of Eden” and Jose Rizal’s6 “Noli” and “Fili”. When I landed a job after college， most of my tasks involved reading a lot of background materials for projects. Remember that was before computers and the Internet. Many nights I stayed awake till past midnight just reading. Someone convinced me to take up Evelyn Wood’s Speed Reading lessons. It helped me breeze through7 my reading requirements. But then when it came to books that really interested me， I would switch to my slow reading mode， but still one book at a time.

用這種方式消化一本書(shū)，雖節(jié)奏緩慢，理解卻更為深刻。因此，遇到陀思妥耶夫斯基的《卡拉馬佐夫兄弟》、約翰·斯坦貝克的《伊甸之東》、何塞·黎剎的《不許犯我》和《起義者》這樣厚重的書(shū)，我常常要花費(fèi)幾個(gè)月的時(shí)間才能讀完。大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，我找到了一份工作，當(dāng)時(shí)大部分任務(wù)都需要閱讀大量的項(xiàng)目背景材料。要知道，那時(shí)可還沒(méi)有電腦和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。許多個(gè)夜晚，我一直讀到午夜之后。在一些人的勸說(shuō)下，我參加了伊夫琳·伍德的速讀課程。這確實(shí)有助于我輕松應(yīng)對(duì)閱讀任務(wù)。然而，每逢心儀之作，我會(huì)切換回慢讀模式，仍是一次只讀一本書(shū)。

That was then. Nowadays I have acquired this habit of multiple book reading. I no longer stick to one book at a time. I jump from book to book without finishing one book first. Half an hour on one book， then another book in the next half hour. I normally have two to three books for reading at home and another set of three different books in the office， which I read only there. I also have e-books on my cellphone. As of this writing， I am into at least six books， in varying stages of completion. Other books are queued up to be taken up soon. Have you seen a chess master playing against multiple opponents at the same time？ Multiple book reading is something like that.

那都是過(guò)去的事情了。如今，我養(yǎng)成了同時(shí)閱讀多本書(shū)的習(xí)慣，不再一次只讀一本書(shū)。一本書(shū)沒(méi)讀完我就跳到了另一本，甚至前半小時(shí)還沉浸在一本書(shū)中，后半小時(shí)就轉(zhuǎn)向了另一本。家里通常有兩三本待讀的書(shū)，辦公室另放了三本只在那兒讀的不同的書(shū)。手機(jī)里也存有電子書(shū)。寫(xiě)這篇文章時(shí)，我正有至少六本書(shū)同時(shí)在讀，進(jìn)度各不相同。除此之外，其他書(shū)也在等著我盡快翻閱。你可見(jiàn)過(guò)國(guó)際象棋大師同時(shí)與多位對(duì)手對(duì)弈？同時(shí)閱讀多本書(shū)就與此類似。

There are now movies where the hero has the ability to instantly transport himself to any place or time he can imagine. “Jumper” is the title of one movie I recall. So it’s like jumping from book to book without staying too long in one book. You can move from world to world： Quantum physics science now， renaissance time next. From person to person： Lawrence of Arabia8 now， then later Thomas More9 or scientist Richard Feynman or playwright John Osborne next. From place to place： aboard a train now with Paul Theroux10， then shift to traveling the desert of the Sahara and jungles of Brazil with Michael Palin11 and back. You have in your hands the ability to change the scene on a whim， so you never get bored.

如今有一些電影，里面的主角能瞬間將自己傳送到他能想象到的任何時(shí)間和地點(diǎn)。在我印象中，有部這樣的電影叫《心靈傳輸者》。同時(shí)閱讀多本書(shū)就好似從一本書(shū)跳到另一本書(shū)，不會(huì)在某一本書(shū)里停留太久。這樣，你就可以在不同世界之間穿梭，此刻還置身于量子物理世界，下一瞬就去到文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期?？梢栽诟鞣N人物之間自由切換：此刻面前還是“阿拉伯的勞倫斯”，轉(zhuǎn)眼間就變成了托馬斯·莫爾，或是科學(xué)家理查德·費(fèi)曼，亦或是劇作家約翰·奧斯本。還可以在眾多地點(diǎn)之間來(lái)回變換：現(xiàn)在還隨保羅·泰魯同乘火車，下一秒就同邁克爾·佩林一起穿越撒哈拉沙漠與巴西叢林，之后又回到原處。你能隨心所欲地改變場(chǎng)景，永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)感到無(wú)聊。

It is like a smorgasbord of12 food arrayed in front of you. In the same way that a variety and contrast of the food items on your plate keeps your taste buds awake and on the alert， and even results in new dish concoctions13， multiple book reading helps “spice up things” as they say. You need not start with the first dish， you can go into the middle dishes， or the ones at the end. You can take a little from every plate of food and then nibble on each dish alternately. Sometimes， I unconsciously mix some of the dishes and the inadvertent14 or improvised15 mixing of dishes on my plate can result in something surprisingly delicious.

同時(shí)閱讀多本書(shū)，仿佛置身于一桌琳瑯滿目的美食前。盤(pán)中種類豐富、風(fēng)味各異的食物碰撞在一起，可以刺激你的味蕾，使其保持敏銳，甚至組合出全新的菜品混搭。同時(shí)讀多本書(shū)也像人們說(shuō)的那樣，能“為生活加點(diǎn)料”。品味這桌美食時(shí)，無(wú)需按部就班從第一道菜開(kāi)始，中間美味、尾盤(pán)珍饈，可隨心選擇；亦可每盤(pán)菜中都夾一點(diǎn)，輪流品嘗每道菜。有時(shí)，不經(jīng)意間我會(huì)把幾道菜混合在一起，這種無(wú)意或即興的混搭，竟是出乎意料的美味。

One main reason why I abandoned the usual slow-burn reading mode is because of the many books on my shelves and plastic boxes. Too much choice， so little time. I have books I bought five years ago that I have yet to read. I am also into e-books， which you can download for free from the Internet. Not to mention free audio books， which are conveniently available on streaming platforms. Someone once said， “A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.” Is it really a bad practice to juggle between too many books at a time？ Maybe I like to have many half-finished love affairs.

至于我為什么摒棄了常規(guī)的慢讀模式，主要是因?yàn)闀?shū)架上和塑料箱中積壓了太多的書(shū)。選擇太多，時(shí)間卻如此有限。有些書(shū)五年前就買了，卻至今未曾翻閱。我還熱衷于電子書(shū)，網(wǎng)上可以免費(fèi)下載。更不用說(shuō)免費(fèi)的有聲書(shū)了，各流媒體平臺(tái)上唾手可得。有人曾說(shuō)，“一本半途而廢的書(shū)，宛如一段未竟的戀情”。同時(shí)在太多書(shū)之間切換閱讀真的是不良習(xí)慣嗎？或許我就是喜歡擁有無(wú)數(shù)有始無(wú)終的戀情。

My reading style and habits may have changed， but there’s one thing that has never changed—my love of book reading. So far， I’m enjoying it more because of multiple book reading. As I am relishing one book， I can’t wait to open the page of another. I’ve been juggling multiple books for quite a while now that I’ve kind of gotten the hang of it！ My acquired skills in speed-reading also help me scan contents fast without any loss in comprehension. The thing is I can stop at any point and switch to slow mode if something really catches my interest. But if there are drawbacks， I still believe that jumping or switching from one book to another makes for richer reading， which expands the mind.

我的閱讀方式和習(xí)慣或許已經(jīng)改變，但那份對(duì)閱讀的摯愛(ài)卻始終如一。時(shí)至今日，同時(shí)閱讀多本書(shū)使我愈發(fā)享受閱讀了。沉浸在一本書(shū)中時(shí)，我內(nèi)心也充滿了翻開(kāi)下一本書(shū)的渴望。同時(shí)閱讀多本書(shū)已經(jīng)有段時(shí)間了，我似乎掌握了其中的竅門(mén)！我所掌握的速讀技巧也讓我能夠在不影響理解的前提下，迅速瀏覽內(nèi)容。最重要的是，遇到真正吸引我的內(nèi)容時(shí)，我可以隨時(shí)停下來(lái)，轉(zhuǎn)為慢讀模式，細(xì)細(xì)品讀。這樣做可能存在一些弊端，但我仍然認(rèn)為，在多本書(shū)之間跳躍或切換能讓閱讀更加豐富多彩，從而也能夠拓寬思維。

In fact， new research in schools finds that “mixing it up” produces dramatic and long-lasting learning benefits. It’s a type of learning process called “Interlearning，” which involves alternating between topics during one study session. Students mix multiple subjects or topics while they study in order to encourage connections between ideas or skills and thus improve their learning. This is in direct contrast to the traditional “Blocked practice16，” which consists of studying one topic very thoroughly before moving to another topic.

事實(shí)上，學(xué)校的最新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，“混合進(jìn)行”可以產(chǎn)生顯著而持久的學(xué)習(xí)效益。這種學(xué)習(xí)方式被稱為“交替學(xué)習(xí)”，即在一次學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程中交替涉獵不同的主題。學(xué)生在學(xué)習(xí)時(shí)會(huì)混合多個(gè)科目或主題，以加強(qiáng)思維或技能之間的聯(lián)系，從而改善學(xué)習(xí)效果。這與傳統(tǒng)的“區(qū)塊學(xué)習(xí)”截然不同，后者主張?jiān)趶氐渍莆找粋€(gè)主題后，才轉(zhuǎn)向另一主題。

If this is true， then my evolution as a reader of books has been in the right direction all along. To those who have gone this far， thanks for resisting the itch to switch. But I understand.

倘若果真如此，那我作為閱讀者的成長(zhǎng)之路便始終沿著正確的方向行進(jìn)。對(duì)于堅(jiān)持讀到這里的朋友們，衷心感謝你們克服了想要中途換一篇的沖動(dòng)。但我對(duì)此深表理解。

（譯者單位：大連外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)）

1 gist（文章）主旨，要點(diǎn)。 2 itch渴望。

3 pore認(rèn)真研讀。 4 19世紀(jì)俄羅斯最重要的文學(xué)家之一。 5 20世紀(jì)美國(guó)作家。 6 19世紀(jì)菲律賓民族英雄、革命者、國(guó)父。 7 breeze through輕易通過(guò)；輕松完成。

8即托馬斯·愛(ài)德華·勞倫斯，英國(guó)學(xué)者、作家和軍事戰(zhàn)略家。因在1916年至1918年的阿拉伯大起義中出名，被稱為“阿拉伯的勞倫斯”。 9歐洲早期空想社會(huì)主義學(xué)說(shuō)創(chuàng)始人。 10美國(guó)當(dāng)代著名旅行文學(xué)作家、小說(shuō)家，最常采用的交通方式就是坐火車。 11英國(guó)旅行節(jié)目主持人，喜劇演員。

12 a smorgasbord of各式各樣的。 13 concoction 混合物。 14 inadvertent 無(wú)意的，無(wú)心的。 15 improvised 即興的。

16 區(qū)塊學(xué)習(xí)，指學(xué)習(xí)者反復(fù)練習(xí)一種技能，直到熟練，再進(jìn)行下一步的學(xué)習(xí)方法。