紙上智慧真的離中國人越來越遠了？

On a flight from Frankfurt to Shanghai, an Indian engineer noticed row after row of Chinese passengers deep into their iPads, playing games or watching movies. None was doing any reading.

在一架從法蘭克福飛往上海的航班上，一名印度工程師發現一排又一排的中國乘客都在埋頭用蘋果平板電腦玩遊戲或者看電影，沒有人在讀書。

Meng Shamei, the Chinese name of this engineer, posted his or her observation online and got a tidal wave of responses, most of which corroborated his or her view.

工程師的中文名叫孟莎美，他/她把所見所想發佈到網上，收到無數回覆，大都印證了他/她的看法。

I have to admit I have not done my due diligence to verify the identity of this person. There have been frequent stories of Chinese posing as foreigners to give a semblance of objectivity to their criticism of China. The title "Harvard professor" has been used or rather, abused, so often it has turned into something of a joke.

我得承認自己沒有盡職調查這個人的身份。爲了能更客觀地批判中國，曾出現很多中國人冒充老外的故事。人們濫用“哈佛教授”的頭銜，以致於它成了笑話一般。

To even a casual observer, what Meng wrote was not surprising. Another posting a few years ago by a Chinese passenger noticed the difference between first class and regular class: Those sitting in first class tend to read while those in regular class play games.

其實稍微觀察下，孟莎美寫的現象也見怪不怪。幾年前，有個中國乘客留意到頭等艙和經濟艙的區別，並放到了網上：那些坐頭等艙的乘客往往在閱讀，而經濟艙乘客在玩遊戲。

For me, the biggest shock came when Han Han, the young writer with enormous influence on China's youth, was asked by a reporter about his reading habits and he answered that he read only magazines. As if to show some proof, the accompanying photo revealed very few books on his bookshelf.

就我而言，最大的震驚是，對中國年輕一代影響深遠的年輕作家韓寒被記者問及其閱讀習慣時，他說他只看雜誌。還附上了一張顯示他書架上很少書的圖片作證明。

Before we get to "Why Chinese do not read", I'll reveal the spoiler, which is the most frequent defense. "We read. We just do not read in the same way as the old generations do. We rely on modern gadgets for faster access."

在我們問“爲什麼中國人不閱讀”前，還是我來揭曉吧，這是最常見的回擊“我們閱讀啊，只是不像老一代那樣閱讀而已。我們可以通過現代玩意來更方便地閱讀。”

It is true that you cannot claim that only content on a printed page is knowledge. Anything that's printed can be displayed digitally. There are millions of books available in digital form. And true electronic books can incorporate sound and video, thus enhancing the reading experience. Print is going the way of dinosaurs, many forecast. Even if they don't vanish completely, books will become a niche item a la long-playing records.

我們不能說只有紙質書上的內容纔是知識。任何紙質內容都可以數字化地顯示出來，無數紙質書都有電子版本。電子書還可以配上聲音和視頻，從而更享受閱讀過程，這都沒錯。很多人都預測印刷業和恐龍走在同一條道上——都會逐漸消失。即使紙質書籍不會完全消失，也會隨着時間變成小衆產品。

To those who believe they can get anything and everything from the Web, I'll hereby add my two cents' worth: Yes, you can, but you won't do it. I download thousands of books, but I use them for research, a sort of personal database for specific information. I've also noticed my friends and colleagues read fiction only on their tablets. Simply because a medium is capable of something does not mean people or a significant number of them will swarm to it for that purpose.

對於那些認爲可以從互聯網獲取任何信息的人，我想說：是的，你可以，但是你不會的。我下載了成千上萬本電子書作爲個人資料庫用於搜索特定信息。我也發現我的朋友和同事們都只用平板電腦看小說。一個媒介具備某種功能並不代表大家會爲這個功能蜂擁而來。

I believe reference books are most easily replaced by their digital versions and the kind of essay collections popular among China's literati are the most unlikely to make the transition.

我認爲紙質工具書更易被其電子版取代，而受中國文人喜愛的散文集是最不可能被代替的。

Now, I'm not going to cite statistics about Chinese consumption of books. While they invariably paint a bleak picture compared with previous generations or advanced countries, the truth could be even bleaker. My publishers (I work with several publishing houses in China) told me that most of the best-sellers in China would not even make the popular list. The reason: They are textbooks or supplement reading material, in other words, books that students are forced to read, or rather, forced to buy.

現在我不會引用關於中國人閱讀量的數據。當這個的數據與前幾代人或者發達國家相比顯得蒼白時，事實可能更悲劇。我的出版商（我和中國幾家出版商有合作）告訴我中國的暢銷書大多數還不足以上暢銷清單。原因是：它們是教科書或者補充閱讀材料，換句話說，這些書都是學生不得不讀或者買的書。

So, let's compare China's best-seller list with that of the New York Times. While the latter has a mix of serious books, especially about history, and celebrity memoirs, the former is almost totally fluff. A walk through an airport bookstore will bring you more doom and gloom: mostly how-to-get-rich titles written by those who've done it or who claim to have the secret recipe.

那我們來對比下中國和紐約時報發佈的暢銷書清單吧。紐約時報的清單中包含一些嚴肅的書籍，尤其是關於歷史、名人自傳，而中國的清單意義不大。在機場的書店轉一圈，你會發現更加無望：幾乎都是那些富人或者聲稱有致富祕訣的人關於如何致富的書。

On top of that, there are buyers of books in China who decorate their rooms with wall-to-wall tomes but never bother to open the pages. As a result, a cottage industry has appeared that churns out thick volumes that have nothing between the covers, perfect for decoration.

最重要的是，中國有很多人都用滿牆的書架將家裏裝飾得像個書香世家，但是卻很少翻幾頁書。所以，製作磚頭書的家庭手工業出現了，磚頭書只有封面，沒有內容，最合適裝飾。

Yes, people do read in China to enrich their bank accounts, but not to enrich themselves holistically. Sure, this is a trend, which means it does not apply to everyone. The terms "fragmentary reading" or "light reading" are efforts to encapsulate this phenomenon of a nation whose people have only recently unfettered the shackles of poverty and have not found the need to elevate themselves onto a higher plane of enlightenment and enrichment. Not yet.

是的，中國人會通過讀書來使銀行賬戶充實，但是卻沒有讓自己全面地豐盈起來。當然，這只是一種趨勢，並不適用於任何一個人。“碎片閱讀”或者“輕閱讀”這樣的詞濃縮了中國這樣一種現象——剛脫離貧困走上小康的人們覺得沒必要把自己提升到一個更具啓蒙性的階段。還沒必要。