And I'm Georgie. For me, there's nothing like reading a book. I love turning the pages and the smell of the paper. But nowadays the fact is that much of the time we read from electronic screens, not paper.

我叫喬吉對我來說，沒有什麼能比得上讀書了。我喜歡翻書，喜歡紙張的味道。但如今，我們大部分時間都是在電子螢幕上閱讀，而不是紙上。

Yes, like Georgie, I love books. I also find that too much screen time hurts my eyes. But the availability of digital information means that I end up reading from screens most days.

是的，和喬吉一樣，我也愛看書。我也發現過多的螢幕時間會傷害我的眼睛。但數字信息的普及意味著我大多數時間都在螢幕前閱讀。

So apart from sore eyes, is this a problem? Is reading from screens harmless or could it be damaging us in some way, such as reducing our attention span, the length of time that someone can keep concentrated on what they are doing? That's what we'll be discussing in this programme. And of course, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

那麼，除了眼睛痠痛之外，這是否是個問題？從螢幕上閱讀是無害的，還是會以某種方式損害我們的身體，比如降低我們的注意力，即一個人專注於自己正在做的事情的時間長度？這就是我們將在本節目中討論的問題。當然，我們還將學習一些有用的新詞彙。

Great. But first, it's time for my question. Whether you prefer paper or screens, as humans we're now reading more words than ever before. So, how many words does the average person read a day? Is it… a. 50,000 words, b. 100,000 words, or c. 200,000 words?

好極了但首先，該我提問了。無論你喜歡紙張還是螢幕，作為人類，我們現在閱讀的文字比以往任何時候都多。那麼，平均每人每天閱讀多少字呢？是...... a. 50,000 字，b. 100,000 字，還是 c. 200,000 字？

I'll guess it's 50,000 words a day.

我猜一天要寫五萬字。

OK, Georgie, we'll find out the correct answer later in the programme. Of course, there's little doubt that any kind of reading is good for you. Here's Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon children's books, speaking with BBC Ideas.

好了，喬吉，我們稍後會在節目中找出正確答案。當然，毫無疑問，任何形式的閱讀都對身體有益。以下是《馴龍高手》兒童讀物的作者克蕾西達-考威爾（Cressida Cowell）接受 BBC Ideas 採訪的內容。

Reading brings three magical powers – creativity, intelligence and empathy. Reading for the joy of it is one of the two key factors in a kid's later economic success. You're more likely to not be in prison, to vote, to own your own home. All of these advantages and benefits happen as a result of lip-sync.

閱讀能帶來三種神奇的力量--創造力、智慧和同理心。快樂閱讀是孩子日後經濟成功的兩大關鍵因素之一。你更有可能不進監獄，有選舉權，擁有自己的房子。所有這些優勢和好處都是脣語的結果。

Cressida talks about the importance of reading for the joy of it. When you do an activity for the joy of it, you do it simply for the pleasure of doing it, rather than as a way to gain something else.

克蕾西達談到了為快樂而讀書的重要性。當你為了快樂而去做一件事時，你只是為了享受做這件事的樂趣，而不是為了獲得其他東西。

Cressida lists the many benefits of reading for children, including economic success in later life, but many of these benefits depend on a state known as deep reading – analysing a text to understand its deeper meaning. And in test after test, researchers have shown that deep reading skills develop better when kids read from books.

克蕾西達列舉了閱讀對兒童的諸多益處，包括在以後的生活中取得經濟上的成功，但其中許多益處取決於一種被稱為深層閱讀的狀態--分析文章以理解其深層含義。在一次又一次的測試中，研究人員表明，當孩子們閱讀書籍時，深層閱讀能力會得到更好的發展。

Professor Marianne Wolfe is a teacher and advocate for children's literacy around the world. Here she explains more about deep reading to BBC Ideas.

瑪麗安-沃爾夫教授是一名教師，也是全球兒童讀寫能力的倡導者。在此，她向 BBC Ideas 詳細介紹了深度閱讀。

When we read at a surface level, we're just getting the information. When we read deeply, we use much more of our cerebral cortex. Deep reading means that we make analogies, we make inferences, which allows us to be truly critical, analytic, empathic human beings.

當我們進行表層閱讀時，我們只是在獲取信息。當我們深度閱讀時，我們會使用更多的大腦皮層。深度閱讀意味著我們會進行類比和推理，這讓我們成為真正具有批判性、分析性和移情能力的人。

The reality is, it's not what or how much we read, but how we read that's really important.

事實上，真正重要的不是我們讀了什麼或讀了多少，而是我們如何閱讀。

The very volume is having negative effects, because to absorb that much, there's a propensity towards skimming.

由於要吸收這麼多的資訊，就會產生撇脂的傾向。

Professor Wolfe's research shows that reading from screens encourages reading at the surface level – quickly and superficially looking at what can be easily understood. Reading books, on the other hand, activates different areas of the brain, allowing a reader to develop positive traits like empathy and to understand the deeper level of a book, including analogies and inferences. An analogy is a comparison between things that have similar features.

沃爾夫教授的研究表明，從螢幕上閱讀鼓勵表層閱讀--快速、膚淺地閱讀容易理解的內容。而閱讀書籍則會激活大腦的不同區域，讓讀者發展出積極的特質，如同理心，並理解書中更深層次的內容，包括類比和推理。類比是將具有相似特徵的事物進行比較。

For example, you might talk about the human heart using the analogy of a pump.

例如，您可以用泵來比喻人類的心臟。

An inference is a guess, opinion or conclusion that you make based on the information you already have. For example, seeing smoke in the distance, you would make an inference that there's fire. It's these types of deeper, more subtle understanding that we get from reading books.

推斷是你根據已有資訊做出的猜測、看法或結論。例如，看到遠處有煙，你就會推斷那裡著火了。我們正是從閱讀書籍中獲得了這類更深入、更微妙的理解。

So why is it that reading from screens doesn't develop these skills in the same way? Well, the answer has to do with the volume – the sheer number of words, pings and notifications that screens bombard us with every day. Instead of deep reading, this encourages skimming – reading rapidly in order to get a general overview of something.

那麼，為什麼從螢幕上閱讀不能以同樣的方式培養這些技能呢？答案與螢幕的容量有關--螢幕每天都會向我們轟炸大量的文字、ping 和通知。這反而鼓勵了略讀--快速閱讀，以便對某一事物有一個大致的瞭解。

I think it's time to reveal the answer to my question, Georgie. I asked you how many words does the average modern person read a day?

我想是時候揭曉我的問題的答案了，喬吉。我問你現代人平均每天讀多少字？

And I guessed it was 50,000 words.

我猜有五萬字。

Well, you were half right! In fact, the correct answer was double that – 100,000 words!

你說對了一半！事實上，正確答案是雙倍--10 萬字！

Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've learnt from this programme, starting with attention span – the length of time that someone can stay concentrated on one thing.

好了，讓我們來回顧一下從這個節目中學到的詞彙，首先是注意力持續時間--一個人專注於一件事的時間長度。

If you do something for the joy of it, you do it simply for the pleasure you get, rather than as a way to get something else.

如果你做一件事是為了快樂，那麼你做這件事只是為了獲得快樂，而不是為了獲得其他東西。

The phrase on-the-surface-level describes looking at something quickly and superficially rather than trying to understand its full, deeper meaning.

膚淺 "一詞指的是快速、膚淺地觀察事物，而不是試圖理解其全面、深刻的含義。

An analogy is a comparison between things that have similar features, for example a human heart and a pump. And an inference is a guess or conclusion that you make based on the information you already have, like inferring fire from seeing smoke.

類比是將具有相似特徵的事物進行比較，例如人的心臟和泵。推論是根據已有資訊做出的猜測或結論，比如看到煙推斷出火。

And finally, skimming is reading rapidly in order to get a general overview of the text being read. Once again, our six minutes are up. Goodbye for now.

最後，略讀是指快速閱讀，以便對所讀文章有一個大致的瞭解。我們的六分鐘時間再次到了。再見。

Bye!

再見！