My Evolution As a Book Reader我的阅读成长路

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.

我有个朋友，热衷文化，过去和我一样喜欢读书。可不知为何，他现在对读书失去了兴趣。有人送书给他，他转手就送给了我，并拜托道：“你留着吧，不过要给我讲讲书的大致内容，这样我就可以对朋友说我读过了。”再没有人愿意读书了。受互联网影响，我们变成了所谓的“超级读者”。阅读专注时长短到只能浏览一条模因梗图。社交媒体中，长篇大论的文字往往让人望而却步。我们的手指总是随时准备滑动屏幕，急不可耐地去点击那些看起来更有趣且简短易读的内容。

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.

我的阅读习惯也发生了转变，这不单是科技发展的结果，还有其他缘由。我深受传统阅读方式的熏陶，拿到一本书，总是从头至尾细细品读，当然，也不是一口气读完。我会做笔记，标注喜欢的段落，有时甚至会认真研读书末的参考文献。然后才开始读下一本书。

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.

用这种方式消化一本书，虽节奏缓慢，理解却更为深刻。因此，遇到陀思妥耶夫斯基的《卡拉马佐夫兄弟》、约翰·斯坦贝克的《伊甸之东》、何塞·黎刹的《不许犯我》和《起义者》这样厚重的书，我常常要花费几个月的时间才能读完。大学毕业后，我找到了一份工作，当时大部分任务都需要阅读大量的项目背景材料。要知道，那时可还没有电脑和互联网。许多个夜晚，我一直读到午夜之后。在一些人的劝说下，我参加了伊夫琳·伍德的速读课程。这确实有助于我轻松应对阅读任务。然而，每逢心仪之作，我会切换回慢读模式，仍是一次只读一本书。

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.

那都是过去的事情了。如今，我养成了同时阅读多本书的习惯，不再一次只读一本书。一本书没读完我就跳到了另一本，甚至前半小时还沉浸在一本书中，后半小时就转向了另一本。家里通常有两三本待读的书，办公室另放了三本只在那儿读的不同的书。手机里也存有电子书。写这篇文章时，我正有至少六本书同时在读，进度各不相同。除此之外，其他书也在等着我尽快翻阅。你可见过国际象棋大师同时与多位对手对弈？同时阅读多本书就与此类似。

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.

如今有一些电影，里面的主角能瞬间将自己传送到他能想象到的任何时间和地点。在我印象中，有部这样的电影叫《心灵传输者》。同时阅读多本书就好似从一本书跳到另一本书，不会在某一本书里停留太久。这样，你就可以在不同世界之间穿梭，此刻还置身于量子物理世界，下一瞬就去到文艺复兴时期。可以在各种人物之间自由切换：此刻面前还是“阿拉伯的劳伦斯”，转眼间就变成了托马斯·莫尔，或是科学家理查德·费曼，亦或是剧作家约翰·奥斯本。还可以在众多地点之间来回变换：现在还随保罗·泰鲁同乘火车，下一秒就同迈克尔·佩林一起穿越撒哈拉沙漠与巴西丛林，之后又回到原处。你能随心所欲地改变场景，永远不会感到无聊。

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.

同时阅读多本书，仿佛置身于一桌琳琅满目的美食前。盘中种类丰富、风味各异的食物碰撞在一起，可以刺激你的味蕾，使其保持敏锐，甚至组合出全新的菜品混搭。同时读多本书也像人们说的那样，能“为生活加点料”。品味这桌美食时，无需按部就班从第一道菜开始，中间美味、尾盘珍馐，可随心选择；亦可每盘菜中都夹一点，轮流品尝每道菜。有时，不经意间我会把几道菜混合在一起，这种无意或即兴的混搭，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.