Reading is an acquired set of skills that literally changes the brain.

閱讀是一套後天獲得的技能，簡直是改變了大腦。

Everyone should be reading books. This is it.

每個人都應該閱讀書籍。這就是它。

Books are life experience, books are knowledge.

書籍是生活經驗，書籍是知識。

Books are community.

書籍是社區。

Without books, we wouldn't be human in the way that we are.

沒有書，我們就不會成為人類的樣子。

Literacy is one of the greatest inventions of the human species.

識字是人類最偉大的發明之一。

First fire, then reading, I'd say.

首先是火，然後是閱讀，我想說。

Reading is the blink of the eye in our evolutionary clock.

閱讀是我們進化時鐘中的眨眼功夫。

It's only six thousand years old, and it began in such a simple way

它只有六千年的歷史，而它是以如此簡單的方式開始的

to mark how many wine vessels or sheep we had.

來標記我們有多少個酒器或羊。

And with the birth of alphabetic systems,

而隨著字母系統的誕生。

we began to have an efficient means of remembering,

我們開始有了一種有效的記憶手段。

and storing knowledge.

和儲存知識。

What reading does is exploit a principle of design

閱讀所做的是利用設計的一個原則

in the human brain, that allows it to make new connections

在人的大腦中，允許它建立新的連接

between visual regions, language regions,

視覺區域、語言區域之間。

regions for thought and emotion.

思想和情感的區域。

It begins actually afresh in every new reader.

它實際上是在每個新的讀者身上重新開始的。

It doesn't exist inside our head.

它不存在於我們的頭腦中。

Each person who has to learn to read,

每個必須學習閱讀的人。

has to create a brand new circuit in their brain.

必須在他們的大腦中創建一個全新的電路。

Reading a great story is so much more than entertainment.

閱讀一個偉大的故事遠不止是娛樂。

Reading actually has many therapeutic benefits.

閱讀實際上有許多治療的好處。

Bibliotherapy is the art of prescribing fiction

書籍療法是處方小說的藝術

to cure life's ailments.

來治療生活中的疾病。

Claustrophobia, rage, exhaustion and the cure is Zorba The Greek.

幽閉恐懼症、憤怒、疲憊，治療方法是希臘人佐爾巴。

Reading brings three magical powers -

creativity, intelligence and empathy.

創造力、智慧和同理心。

Reading for the joy of it is one of the two key factors

閱讀的樂趣是兩個關鍵因素之一

in a kids later economic success.

在孩子們後來的經濟成功中。

You're more likely to not be in prison,

你更有可能不在監獄裡。

to vote, to own your own home.

投票，擁有自己的家。

All of these advantages and benefits happen as a result of literacy.

所有這些優勢和好處都是由於識字而發生的。

Your brain goes into a meditative state.

你的大腦進入了冥想狀態。

A physical process which slows your heartbeat and calms you down,

這是一個物理過程，可以減緩你的心跳並使你平靜下來。

and reduces anxiety.

並減少焦慮。

When we read at a surface level, we're just getting the information.

當我們在表面上閱讀時，我們只是在獲取信息。

When we read deeply, we're using much more of our cerebral cortex.

當我們深入閱讀時，我們使用的大腦皮層要多得多。

Deep reading means that we make analogies, we make inferences,

深度閱讀意味著我們進行類比，我們進行推理。

which allows us to be truly critical, analytic, empathic, human beings.

這使我們能夠成為真正具有批判性、分析性、同情心的人類。

We think of the book as the work,

我們把書看成是作品。

but the book is just a delivery mechanism.

但書只是一個傳遞機制。

The novel is evolving.

小說在不斷髮展。

There's all sorts of amazing books which are being written deliberately

有各種令人驚奇的書，正在刻意寫。

to be read on phones.

以便在手機上閱讀。

These kind of new mediums, they are giving a voice

這些新的媒體，他們正在給一個聲音

to a new generation of writers,

新一代作家。

who don't have to kind of get through a bottleneck.

他們不需要通過瓶頸的方式。

Stops us from having this kind of conditioning

阻止我們有這樣的條件

as to what is 'good writing'

至於什麼是 "好文章

and it actually allows people just to talk and share stories

而且它實際上允許人們交談和分享故事

and to share experiences.

並分享經驗。

It doesn't matter the medium, it doesn't matter how you get it,

媒介並不重要，你如何得到它也不重要。

it's a story.

這是個故事。

And the book maybe provides this illusion that this is it.

而這本書也許提供了這種錯覺，即這就是它。

It's never been it, it's a way into a thought process.

它從來都是它，它是進入思想過程的一種方式。

We brought together scholars and scientists from over 30 countries,

我們彙集了來自30多個國家的學者和科學家。

to do research about the impact of digitisation on reading.

做關於數字化對閱讀影響的研究。

We found that there is, what they call, a screen inferiority.

我們發現，存在著他們所謂的螢幕劣勢。

There is a lot that can be equally well read on your smartphone,

有很多東西同樣可以在你的智能手機上閱讀。

shorter news updates, but with something

更短的新聞更新，但有一些

that is cognitively or emotionally challenging.

在認知上或情感上具有挑戰性。

Reading on a screen leads to poorer reading comprehension

在螢幕上閱讀會導致更差的閱讀理解能力

than reading on paper.

比在紙上閱讀更有意義。

The reality is, it's not what or how much we read

現實是，不是我們讀了什麼或讀了多少書

but how we read, that's really important.

但我們如何閱讀，這真的很重要。

The very volume is having negative effects because to absorb that much,

非常多的數量正在產生負面影響，因為要吸收那麼多。

there's a propensity towards skimming.

有一種撇開的傾向。

The reading brain has a plastic circuitry.

閱讀的大腦有一個可塑的電路。

The circuit will reflect the characteristics

該電路將反映出以下特點

of the medium with which it reads.

的介質，它的閱讀。

The characteristics of the digital

數字化的特點

are going to be reflected in the circuit.

將會反映在電路中。

If we don't train those capacities, we may eventually lose

如果我們不訓練這些能力，我們最終可能會失去

the ability to understand more complex content,

有能力理解更復雜的內容。

and also perhaps to engage and to imagine.

也可能是為了參與和想象。

The human imagination is a fantastic thing - we're very flexible.

人類的想象力是一個神奇的東西--我們非常靈活。

We find ways of doing what we want with the technology we've got.

我們找到了用我們所擁有的技術做我們想做的事情的方法。

I think we'll see a lot more short story connections,

我想我們會看到更多的短篇小說聯繫。

and I think we'll see a lot more shorter books.

而且我認為我們會看到更多的短篇小說。

I've changed the way that I write

我已經改變了我的寫作方式

because children's attention span has got shorter.

因為兒童的注意力越來越短。

The chapters are short, it's incredibly visual.

章節很短，這是令人難以置信的視覺。

Look, shiny like a sweet.

看，閃閃發光的像個甜美的人。

Just and people can be bi and trilingual,

只是和人可以是雙語和三語。

my hope is that we will be developing a biliterate brain.

我的希望是，我們將發展一個兩文三語的大腦。

We can discipline ourselves to choose the medium

我們可以約束自己，選擇媒介

that is best suited for what we're reading

最適合我們閱讀的內容

so that we don't lose the extraordinary gift

以便我們不至於失去這個非凡的禮物

that reading has given our species.

閱讀給了我們這個物種。

So, what would happen if we stopped reading books?

那麼，如果我們停止閱讀書籍會發生什麼？

We'd die.

我們會死的。

We'd die. We'd be so boring.

我們會死的。我們會變得很無聊。