纸质书地位岌岌可危英国教育大臣担心英国孩子阅读不足

2014-05-08 14:48:39来源：可可英语

　　The OECD’s hard-nosed economic concern with skills leads logically to reading for pleasure, which is closely associated with educational success. An analysis of the 1970 British cohort, tracking about 6,000 young people born in April of that year, found children’s test scores correlated more with how often they read than with how educated their parents were. “Being able to read a book mechanically is vital, but reading for pleasure shouldn’t be optional,” says Joanna Prior, managing director of Penguin UK. “The benefits will be reaped throughout a child’s life.”

　　经合组织务实地从经济角度考量技能问题，必然得出快乐阅读重要性的结论，而快乐阅读又与教育成功与否紧密关联。对英国1970年4月出生的6000人群体进行追踪分析，发现孩子们的考试成绩与其说和他们父亲的受教育程度相关，倒不如说与他们的阅读能力紧密关联。“能够按部就班的阅读至关重要，但快乐阅读也不是可有可无，”英国企鹅出版集团(Penguin UK)发言人乔安娜•普赖尔(Joanna Prior)说。“阅读将让孩子受益终生。”

　　For publishers, the commercial implications of a decline in literacy are obvious. In some ways the threat to the UK’s £3bn book market is more fundamental than that faced by the record industry: even when people stopped paying for music, they never stopped listening to it.

　　对于出版社来说，读写能力下降对自身商业利益的影响显而易见。在某些方面，它对英国年营业额30亿英镑的图书市场的威胁要大大高于对唱片业的影响：消费者即便不再花钱购买音乐产品，但他们仍一如既往地在欣赏音乐。

　　Literacy charities have tried various tricks to promote reading – including the Six Book Challenge, to get less confident readers in the habit; Quick Reads, which distributes short, easy texts for adults; and Premier League Reading Stars, which enlists top footballers to spend time with struggling schoolchildren. In areas such as Harlesden, such initiatives have drawn countless children and adults closer to books. But they are fragmented.

　　扫盲慈善团体想方设法提高国民的阅读能力————包括推出让自信心不足的学生养成阅读习惯的“Six Book Challenge”计划，给成年人分发短小易懂的阅读材料的Quick Reads计划、以及让英超明星陪伴学习有困难学生的Premier League Reading Stars计划。在哈里斯登等地区，这些计划成功地让无数学生及成年人亲近书籍，但星星之火，难成燎原之势。

　　So literacy charities have come together under a single “Reading for Pleasure” campaign in the hope of having greater impact, particularly in lobbying government. “We need to slightly toughen up the message,” says Prior. “There’s a literacy crisis in the country. There shouldn’t be anybody who doesn’t read properly when they leave school.”

　　所以扫盲慈善机构精诚团结，大张其鼓掀起目标单一的“快乐阅读”运动，以期拥有更大影响力，尤其是游说政府采取行动。“我们必须稍稍强化这一信息，”普赖尔说。“英国面临读写能力危机，每个学生毕业后，都应该有正常的阅读能力。”

　　Views differ on the most effective interventions. Some focus on the period in which books enter a child’s life; some on the ages of 10 and 11, when other hobbies often take over; and others see the emotionally formative teenage years as the most important. But the wider point is clear: “If you’re going to engage a reader for life, you need to engage them before they become an adult,” says Louisa Livingston, head of consumer insight at Hachette UK.

　　就采取何种最有效的干预手段，可谓众说纷纭。有些专家专注于书籍走入孩子生活的那个阶段;有些专注于其它兴趣爱好开始后来居上的10-11岁那个阶段;有些则认为情感成型的青少年时期最为关键。但专家的普遍共识是：“若要养成终生阅读习惯，就得在成人之前养成，”阿歇特集团(Hachette)负责消费者洞察能力的主管路易莎•利文斯顿(Louisa Livingston)说。

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