Why books are here to stay | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Transcriber: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

翻译人员: Wanting Zhong 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

I will lend books to people, but of course, the rule is

我会借书给别人， 不过，当然前提是：

"Don't do that unless you never intend to see that book again."

“除非你不打算再见到那本书， 否则不要这么做。”

[Small thing.]

【小事物】

[Big idea.]

【大道理】

The physical object of a book is almost like a person.

书本的物理模样几乎和人一样。

I mean, it has a spine and it has a backbone.

我的意思是， 书有书“脊”，书有书“骨”，

It has a face.

书有封“面”。

Actually, it can sort of be your friend.

事实上，它大概还能成为你的朋友。

Books record the basic human experience

书本记录了基本的人类体验，

like no other medium can.

其它任何媒介都难以相提并论。

Before there were books,

在书本诞生之前，

ancient civilizations would record things

古文明通过在骨头或者石头

by notches on bones or rocks or what have you.

或者别的材料上刻字记录事情。

The first books as we know them originated in ancient Rome.

我们所熟悉的书 最早起源于古罗马。

We go by a term called the codex,

我们将它们称为 “手抄本（codex）”，

where they would have two heavy pieces of wood

由两块厚重的木板

which become the cover,

组合成封面，

and then the pages in between would then be stitched along one side

然后沿着一侧 将中间的书页缝上去，

to make something that was relatively easily transportable.

做成相对比较容易携带的书。

They all had to completely be done by hand,

这些书全部都得用手写，

which became the work of what we know as a scribe.

因而有了我们称之为 “书吏（scribe）” 的工作。

And frankly, they were luxury items.

坦白说，它们属于奢侈品。

And then a printer named Johannes Gutenberg,

然后一位名叫约翰内斯·谷登堡 （Johannes Gutenberg）的印刷商，

in the mid-fifteenth century, created the means to mass-produce a book,

在 15 世纪中叶， 发明了大批量生产书籍的办法，

the modern printing press.

现代印刷机。

It wasn't until then

自那以后，

that there was any kind of consumption of books by a large audience.

书籍才开始有了大批的读者。

Book covers started to come into use in the early nineteenth century,

书皮到 19 世纪初才投入使用，

and they were called dust wrappers.

它们被称为防尘护封。

They usually had advertising on them.

上面一般有广告。

So people would take them off and throw them away.

所以人们会把它们卸下来扔掉。

It wasn't until the turn of the nineteenth into the twentieth century

直到 19 世纪末 与 20 世纪初的交界之际，

that book jackets could be seen as interesting design

书套护封本身

才被视为有趣的设计。

in and of themselves.

Such that I look at that and I think,

这样我看见护封会心想，

"I want to read that.

“我想读一读那本书。

That interests me."

它让我感兴趣。”

The physical book itself represents both a technological advance

纸质书籍本身 不仅代表了技术的进步，

but also a piece of technology in and of itself.

它自身也是一项科技。

It delivered a user interface

它所传递的用户界面

that was unlike anything that people had before.

是前所未有的。

And you could argue that it's still the best way

你也可以立论说，它至今仍是

将其传达给读者的最佳方式。

to deliver that to an audience.

I believe that the core purpose of a physical book

我相信，纸质书籍的核心价值

is to record our existence

在于记录我们的存在，

and to leave it behind on a shelf, in a library, in a home,

并将其留存在书架上， 图书馆中，家里，

for generations down the road to understand where they came from,

让未来的世代得以理解 他们从何处来，

that people went through some of the same things

让他们知道前人也曾经历过

他们现今正在经历的事情，

that they're going through,

and it's like a dialogue that you have with the author.

就像是和作者的对话一样。

I think you have a much more human relationship to a printed book

我觉得与屏幕上的书籍相比，

你和印刷书籍的关系更加人性化。

than you do to one that's on a screen.

People want the experience of holding it,

人们想要捧起书本的体验，

of turning the page, of marking their progress in a story.

想要翻过书页， 标记在故事中的进度。

And then you have, of all things, the smell of a book.

从而在其中有了书本的味道。

Fresh ink on paper or the aging paper smell.

书页上新鲜的油墨， 或是陈旧纸张的气味。

You don't really get that from anything else.

你真的没法从其他地方 得到这种体验。

The book itself, you know, can't be turned off with a switch.

书本身并不能一键关闭。

It's a story that you can hold in your hand

书是你能捧在手中的故事，

and carry around with you

你能将它随身携带，

and that's part of what makes them so valuable,

这也是让它们弥足珍贵的原因，

and I think will make them valuable for the duration.

我觉得也会让它们至少 在一段时间内很珍贵。

A shelf of books, frankly,

坦白说，一书架的书，

is made to outlast you, (Laughs)

必定比你更加长久，（笑声）

no matter who you are.

不管你是谁。