It doesn't feel like Crash Course unless there's a roll in.

如果沒有片頭，實在不太像 Crash Course。

Today, before we begin our mini-series on reading and writing in English, we're going to discuss how to read and why.

開始英文閱讀及寫作系列前，我們要先探討如何和為何閱讀。

So, if you watched our series on world history, you’ll no doubt remember that writing (and the ability to read it) are so-called markers of civilization.

如果你曾看過我們世界歷史系列，你絕對記得寫作 (還有閱讀能力) 是所謂「文明的象徵」。

Now, that's a really problematic idea.

這個想法其實是有問題的。

I mean, for one thing, great stories can have great lives in the oral tradition.

在口耳相傳下，好的故事可以傳承。

Like, one of my favorite books, Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston, was a collection of folklore that lived in the oral tradition until Zora Neale Hurston wrote it down.

就像其中一本我喜歡的書，卓拉．尼爾．赫斯特所寫的《騾與人》，赫斯特記錄下來前，書中的民間故事一直都是以口耳相傳傳下來的。

And the same can be said for another of my favorite books, The Odyssey.

我另一本喜歡的書《奧德賽》(The Odyssey) 也是以這種方式寫成。

But we privilege reading and writing because they allow us to communicate directly and transparently with people who live very far away from us, and they also allow us to kind of hear the voices of the dead.

我們推崇閱讀和寫作，是因為閱讀和寫作讓我們可以無礙地直接和遠方的人溝通。

I mean, I don't want to get all liberal arts-y on you, but I want to make this clear; for me, stories are about communication.

而且亦讓我們聽到某種來自死亡的聲音。我不想把博雅教育套在你身上，但我想說清楚，對我而言，故事就是有關溝通。

We didn't invent grammar so that your life would be miserable in grade school as you attempted to learn what the Marquez a preposition is.

我們創造文法不是為了讓你有悲慘的校園生活，特別當你學習馬奎斯 (哥倫比亞作家) 的介詞使用時。

By the way, on this program, I will be inserting names of my favorite writers when I would otherwise insert curse words.

稍稍離題，在這個節目中，我會用我喜歡的作家名字取代平日罵人的字眼。

We invented grammar because without prepositions, we couldn't describe what it's like to fly through a cloud, or jump over a puddle, or Faulkner beneath the stars.

我們創造文法是因為如果沒有介詞，我們形容不了什麼是穿過白雲、跌過水坑或在星空下福克納 (和 Fxxx 音相似)。

Like, right now, if I'm doing my job, and you're doing your job, you aren't thinking about the fact that I'm contorting my mouth and tongue and vocal cords to create sounds that then exist as ideas in your brain. It's just happening.

像現在，我們各自做自己的事，你沒有想到其實我正在扭曲自己的嘴巴、舌頭及聲帶發出聲音，然後聲音成為你腦海裡的概念，就這麼發生了。

But if my language gets confusing--if I parles en francais or incorrect word order use or eekspay inyay igpay atinlay, then I erect a barrier between you and me.

但如果我把語言混在一起 -- 如果我說法文或使用錯誤的詞序，或胡言亂語，我就在你我間建立起阻隔。

You and I? You and me.

你和咱？你和我。

Writing--or at least good writing--is an outgrowth of that urge to use language to communicate complex ideas and experiences between people.

寫作，應該說至少好的寫作，讓人更想用語言去和其他人討論經驗和複雜概念。

And that's true whether you're reading Shakespeare or bad vampire fiction, reading is always an act of empathy.

無論你在讀莎士比亞還是劣質的吸血鬼小說，閱讀是種同理心的表現。

It's always an imagining of what it's like to be someone else.

閱讀就是去思考「如果變成別人會怎樣」的問題。

So when Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter, or Salinger uses a red hunting cap, they aren’t doing this so that your English teachers will have something to torture you with.

所以莎士比亞用五音步抑揚格，或沙林傑用上紅色獵帽時，他們不是想讓英文老師折磨你。

They're doing it, at least if they're doing it on purpose, so the story can have a bigger and better life in your mind.

如果是有目的，他們這樣做是為了讓故事能在你腦海裡有更宏大更美好的生命。

But, for the record, the question of whether they're doing it on purpose is not a very interesting question.

不過，思考他們有意或無意，是個蠻無聊的問題。

Oh, we're still doing open letters?

我們現在還要讀出公開信？

An Open Letter to Authorial Intent. But first, let's see what's in the secret compartment today.

寫給作者意圖的公開信。但開始前，我們先看看暗格裡有什麼。

Oh, it's a boat beating against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

小船逆水行舟，但不斷被浪潮推回到過去 (出自《大亨小傳》)。

Dear authorial intent, As an author, let me speak to you directly. You don't matter.

親愛的作者意圖，身為作者，我要跟你說清楚。你並不重要。

Look, I'm not willing to go as far as the postmodernists and say that the author is dead because that would make me very nervous.

我不想像後現代主義者走得那麼前面，說出作者已死的話，因為這讓我很不安。

However, the author is not that important.

不過，作者真的不太重要。

Whether an author intended a symbolic resonance to exist in her book is irrelevant.

無論作者是否意圖把象徵放在書中，並不太重要。

All that matters is whether it's there because the book does not exist for the benefit of the author.

重要的是象徵有沒有存在，因為書不是為作者的利益而存在。

The book exists for the benefit of you.

書是為了你的利益而存在。

If we, as readers, could have a bigger and richer experience with the world as a result of reading a symbol and that symbol wasn't intended by the author, we still win.

如果讀者讀懂象徵意義，而有更多更有用的經驗，即使作者沒有意圖加入象徵，我們仍是勝利的一方。

Yes, inevitably, reading is a conversation between an author and a reader.

無可否認，閱讀是作者和讀者間的對話。

But give yourself some power in that conversation, reader. Go out there and make a world.

但是，讓自己在對話中有些能力吧，讀者。走出房間，有一番作為。

Best wishes, John Green.

祝好運，約翰．葛林。

Here's the thing: It is extremely hard to get other people to feel what we are feeling.

重點是 : 其實很難讓別人感受到我們的情緒。

Like, you may have experienced this in your own life. Say my college girlfriend broke up with me...and she did.

例如你一定有經驗。假設大學的女朋友和我分手，事實也是如此。

I want to explain what I'm feeling to my best friend in the entire world.

我想和世上最要好的朋友表達我的心情。

So I say, I am completely obliterated. My heart is broken.

我會說，我想消失在這世上。我的心碎成一片片。

In fact, my heart is shattered into a million pieces..

事實上，我的心已經碎成千萬塊了。

Right, so, a few things are going on here: First, in excellent news, my heart has not been shattered into a million pieces.

現在有幾樣東西發生。首先 好消息是我的心沒有真的碎成千萬塊。

It is pumping blood in precisely the same way that it did before the breakup.

它和分手前一樣，照舊無誤地運作。

Secondly, in further good news, I am not totally obliterated.

第二，更好的消息是，我沒有完全消失。

Total obliteration of me would look like this.

我完全消失的話，該是像這樣。

I'm using the techniques of hyperbole, in the case of obliteration, and metaphor, in the case of my broken heart, to try to describe the things that are happening inside of me.

消失那部分，我用了誇張手法。心碎的部分，我用了暗喻，嘗試形容我心裡的想法。

But because I'm not using particularly compelling or original figurative language, my friend may struggle to empathize with me, and this is my BEST FRIEND in the entire world.

但因為我不是用平日用的圖象語言，我的朋友可能會同情我這事上的掙扎，而他是我世上最好的朋友。

Now imagine that you're trying to communicate far more complicated and nuanced experiences and emotions.

現在試想像你要說出更困難更細緻的事情和感受。

And instead of just trying to communicate them to your best friend, you're trying to talk to strangers, some of whom may live very far away and, in fact, live centuries after your death.

比起只是跟你的好朋友說，你要跟陌生人說，跟住在很遠的人、生活在未來的人說。

Not only that, but instead of this happening during a pleasant conversation, they are reading your dry, dead text on a page.

不單這樣，讀者不是從愉快的對話聽到，而是從紙上看著乾巴巴的文字。

So they can't hear your intonation or see the tears dripping from your cheeks even though it turns out that this breakup is going to be one of the best things that ever happened to you.

所以他們不會聽到抑揚頓挫，也不會看到眼淚流下來，即使這次分手將會成為你一生中最好的事情。

So THAT is the challenge that Shakespeare faces, and it's also the challenge that you face whenever you write for an audience, whether it's a novel or a pedantic YouTube comment about the accuracy of our Gallifreyan.

那就是莎士比亞面對的挑戰，這也是你寫任何東西給群眾看時要面對的挑戰，無論是小說或在 YouTube 上對咖哩文的精確度的學術評論。

Hush! This is fantastic Gallifreyan.

噓！這是厲害的咖哩文 (影集《奇異博士》中的文字)。

So I'm going to ask you to read critically, to look closely at a text and pay attention to the subtle ways the author is trying to communicate the full complexity of human experience, but I'm not asking you to go symbol-hunting because reading is supposed to be some treasure map in which you discover symbols, write them down, and then get an A in class.

所以我希望你帶著批判性的思考來仔細研讀文字，注意作者用微妙的方式，表達人類經驗中的複雜度。但我不是要你去尋找象徵，因為閱讀應該是某種藏寶圖，你發現某些象徵，寫下來，然後在班上拿到 A 的優異成績。

I'm asking you to read critically because by understanding language, you will...

我希望你讀得仔細點，因為藉由理解語言，你會 :

1. have a fuller understanding of lives other than your own, which

1. 對於你自己以外的生活有更全面的理解，這件事也 ...

2. will help you to be more empathetic, and thereby

2. 會讓你更有同理心，因此 ...

3. help you to avoid getting dumped by that young woman in the first place, although more importantly

3. 幫助你一開始就避免被那個年輕女人甩掉，但更重要的是 ...

4. reading critically and attentively can give you the linguistic tools to share your own story with more precision.

4. 仔細閱讀可以給你語言上的工具，讓你精準分享自己的故事。

And that will help people to understand your joy and your heartbreak, yes, but will also be helpful in many other ways, like when you are trying to convince the company to move forward with your fourth quarter strategy or whatever it is that people with real jobs do.

而這能讓人們了解你的快樂和心碎，對，也會在其他方面有所助益，比如說，當你試著說服公司進行你第四季的策略，或任何真的有工作的人們做的事。

Reading thoughtfully gives us better tools to explain corporate profits and broken hearts.

仔細閱讀讓我們有更好的工具，去解釋合作的利益和心碎的時刻。

And it also connects us to each other.

這也讓我們與他人更靠近。

The real reason the green light in The Great Gatsby is such a wonderful symbol is because we all know what it's like to be outside in the evening, staring off into the distance at a future that may never be ours.

綠燈在《大亨小傳》裡是個完美象徵的真實原因是，我們都知道那種感覺，晚上待在外頭，盯著遠方可能永遠不會屬於我們的未來。

We've all felt that stomach-churning mix of yearning and ambition that Gatsby feels as he stares out at that green light across the harbor.

我們都感受過那種蓋茲比 (《大亨小說》主角) 盯著港口另一端的綠燈時，充滿渴望和雄心大志的腸胃翻騰感。

And by knowing what it's like to be Gatsby, we learn more about those around us, those who came before us, and we learn more about ourselves.

知道了蓋茲比的感受，我們更能了解身邊的事物、在我們面前的人們，對自己也更了解。

So, over the next few weeks, we'll be reading not just Gatsby but also Romeo and Juliet, some poetry by Emily Dickinson, and The Catcher in the Rye.

所以，接下來的幾個禮拜，我們不只會讀《大亨小傳》，也會讀《羅密歐與茱麗葉》、艾蜜莉．狄更生的詩，還有《麥田捕手》。

There are links to get all of these books in the video info below.

在影片資訊中有關於這些書的資訊。

We'll begin with Romeo and Juliet next week. I'll see you then.

我們下週會先讀《羅密歐與茱麗葉》，到時見！

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller. Our script supervisor is Meredith Danko.

Crash Course 是由 Stan Muller 製作和導演的。我們的場記是 Meredith Danko。

The associate producer is Danica Johnson. The show is written by me.

監製是 Danica Johnson。劇本是我寫的。

And our graphics team is Thought Bubble. If you have questions about today's video, you can leave them in comments where they will be answered by our team of experts.

我們的美術團隊是 Thought Bubble。如果你對今天的影片有問題，你可以留言，我們團隊中的專家會回答。

And if you haven't already, read Romeo and Juliet. It's a very good play, although at times derivative of West Side Story.

如果你還沒準備好，讀《羅密歐與茱麗葉》吧！這是很好的一部劇，雖然有時是《西城故事》的延伸。

Thanks for watching Crash Course.

謝謝收看 Crash Course。

And as we say in my hometown, don't forget to be awesome.

如同在我家鄉說的，別忘了變得很棒！