来源：芝士英语
Recently, British actress and activist Emma Watson launched a campaign to advocate more reading. Coordinated by her book club “Our Shared Shelf,” she distributed 100 books throughout the London Underground. Shortly afterward, The Fair, a content producer in China, launched a similar initiative (倡议) in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. However, instead of receiving praise, the publisher suffered some much-deserved ridicule.
最近，英国女演员和活动家艾玛•沃特森发起了一场倡导阅读的活动。她和其读书俱乐部“我们共享的书架”一起合作，在伦敦地下铁发放了100本书。随后不久，中国的内容营销公司The Fair在北京、上海和广州也发起了类似活动。然而，他们不但没受到称赞，还遭到了嘲弄。
The reason is not hard to see. The Chinese campaign was considered a poorly executed publicity stunt (公开做秀). Cleaners threw the books away, some passengers mistakenly thought the books were put there to save seats, and overcrowded carriages (车厢) prevented reading during rush hour. Finally, the Shanghai Metro issued a formal statement urging passengers not to participate during peak hours, fearing the campaign would disrupt commutes (上下班往返).
其中原因很难说明。在中国，一些活动会被看作拙劣的公开作秀。清洁工会把地铁里的书扔掉，一些乘客则误认为这些书是用于占座的，拥挤的车厢也会让阅读困难重重。最终上海地铁不得不发布了一则正式声明来劝导乘客不要在高峰时期参加这场活动，生怕“丢书活动”会干扰上下班往返。
As if Metro authorities putting on the brakes wasn’t enough, celebrity endorsements from Huang Xiaoming and Xu Jinglei were criticized, too. Unlike Watson, who leads her own book club, they may not read that much. In fact, according to a BBC report, the average Chinese reads less than half as much as his American counterpart. But why do people in China read so little?
似乎地铁方面抑制活动的力度并不够。黄晓明和徐静蕾代言推广了这个活动，却也饱受争议。和沃特森读书俱乐部活动不同的是，黄晓明和徐静蕾本身并不热爱阅读。事实上，BBC曾报道，中国人的平均阅读量比美国人少了一半。为什么中国人阅读量会这么少呢？
“I’m too busy” is an all-too-common defense, but that’s a bad excuse. I see people like Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, who manages a multi-billion-dollar empire (大企业) and studies multiple languages including Chinese. He somehow reads a new book every other week. If he can find time, you can, too. Too crowded on the subway? Try an audiobook (有声书)!
“我太忙了”已是老借口了，但也太缺乏说服力！我知道像脸书创始人马克•扎克伯格这样的人，管理着市值几十亿美金的大企业还在学习多种语言包括汉语。他总能抽空每隔一周读一本新书。如果他能挤出时间，你也该能。若嫌地铁太挤？试试有声书呗！
However, it may not be so simple. Reading is more than a habit—it is a skill that must be practiced. Each year when I was in school, I had a summer reading list with books required by my teachers for the following year. While Chinese students struggle through a mountain of summer homework, most of their American counterparts are diving into literary classics by William Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, and others. While Chinese students are reciting textbook vocabulary, their American peers are discussing themes of adolescence (青春期) in The Catcher in the Rye (《麦田里的守望者》), or loneliness in Of Mice and Men (《人鼠之间》).
然而，说来容易做来难。阅读不只是一个习惯——它还是一种长期训练形成的技能。当我还是学生的时候，每年我都有一张暑假书单，这些书都是老师要求我们下一学年阅读的。当中国学生还陷在堆积成山的暑期作业中时，大多美国学生则在文学名著里遨游，诸如莎士比亚、弗朗西斯•斯科特•菲茨杰尔德、马克•吐温、儒勒•凡尔纳等等。当中国学生在死背课本单词时，同龄的美国学生则在讨论《麦田里的守望者》或者《人鼠之间》里的青春。
Reading isn’t fun unless you can debate about what you just read. Until Chinese schools prioritize reading and discussion, too few students will develop a passion for literature. Pick up a book and start your own discussion group today!
除非你勤于思考，否则阅读对你来说毫无意思。除非中国学校将阅读和辩论置于教育的首位，否则很少会有学生对文学产生兴趣。那么，今天就拿起一本书，组建你自己的讨论小组吧！
