無書不人生:書非得要讀完嗎

Until very recently, Michelle Ginder, a transportation planner in Seattle, forced herself to finish every book she cracked open. An avid reader, she says she felt 'like a quitter' for giving up a novel halfway. Then, while plodding through John Sayles's 2011 'A Moment in the Sun' and 'still not knowing what it was about,' she made a conscious decision to put down the book. She moved on to something more gripping, reading the 'Game of Thrones' series.

直到最近，西雅圖的交通運輸規(guī)劃師米歇爾?金德(Michelle Ginder)都是強迫自己讀完已經(jīng)開讀的每一本書。身為一個書迷，她說讀一本小說時半途而廢的話，她會感覺自己“像是一個輕言放棄的人”。后來，在苦讀了約翰?塞爾斯(John Sayles)2011年出版的《陽光下的一刻》(A Moment in the Sun)半天卻“依然不知所云”之后，她做了一個清醒的決定，把書放下，轉(zhuǎn)而去讀更吸引她的東西，開始讀《權(quán)力的游戲》(Game of Thrones)系列。

'It felt so good,' Ms. Ginder, 39, says. 'There was so much guilt associated with quitting, but when I finally did it, it was liberating.'

39歲的金德說：“這種感覺太好了。以前半途而廢讓我產(chǎn)生了那么多的內(nèi)疚感，但是當我最終這么做了的時候，那是一種解脫。”

In the age of the e-reader, dropping a book has never been easier: It doesn't even require getting up to grab another off the shelf. But choosing to terminate a relationship with a bookprematurely remains strangely agonizing, a decision fraught with guilt.

在電子書的時代，放棄一本書是再容易不過的事情了：它甚至不需要你起身到書架上去取另一本書。但是選擇與一本書斷絕關(guān)系仍然讓人感到莫名的痛苦，那是一個充滿愧疚感的決定。

'It goes against how we're built,' says Matthew Wilhelm, a clinical psychologist with Kaiser Permanente in Union City, Calif. 'There is a tendency for us to perceive objects as 'finished' or 'whole' even though they may not be. This motivation is very powerful and helps to explainanxiety around unfinished activities.'

加利福尼亞州聯(lián)合市(Union City)凱薩醫(yī)療機構(gòu)(Kaiser Permanente)的臨床心理學家馬修?威廉(Matthew Wilhelm)說：“這么做是與我們的心理結(jié)構(gòu)相悖的。我們有一種把事物視為‘完成了’或‘完整’的傾向，哪怕它們可能并非如此。這個動機非常強大，可以幫助解釋為何活動未完成時人會產(chǎn)生焦慮。”

The idea of stopping midway is stressful, but still, we do it. And even brag about it. Goodreads, an online community of readers that was recently bought by Amazon.com Inc., allows its 18 million members to rank the most initiated but unfinished books of all time; 7,300 members have voted. Top of the list: 'Catch 22,' Joseph Heller's American classic. Books in the 'Lord of the Rings' series finished a close second.

想著要中途放棄可能會讓自己感覺很有壓力，但我們?nèi)匀粫@么做，有時甚至還會宣揚出來。亞馬遜公司(Amazon.com Inc.)最近收購的讀者社區(qū)網(wǎng)站Goodreads讓它的1,800萬會員選出自己有生以來極為熟知的卻沒有讀完的書，7,300名會員參加了投票。名列榜首的是約瑟夫?海勒(Joseph Heller)所著的美國文學經(jīng)典《第22條軍規(guī)》(Catch 22)，《指環(huán)王》(Lord of the Rings)系列則緊隨其后。

Readers age 16 and older average 17 books a year, according to Pew Research Center data, with the median around 8. Ms. Ginder used to read an average amount. But using her newapproach to reading, she says she is up to 31 books a year. She has about 10 books ready to begin on her shelf or Kindle at any time. When she drops one, she simply pulls up another in seconds.

根據(jù)皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)的數(shù)據(jù)，16歲及16歲以上的讀者一年平均讀17本書，中位數(shù)在八本左右。金德過去的閱讀量處于平均水平，但是在使用新方法讀書之后，她說她一年讀書的數(shù)量增加到了31本。她的書架上和Kindle電子書閱覽器里還有大約10本書，隨時可以開讀。在她停止閱讀一本書后，很短的時間內(nèi)又會拿起另一本書。

Kindle readers abandon books frequently, according to Ms. Ginder and other readers. Sara Nelson, editorial director of books and Kindle at Amazon.com, says she believes that e-readers have given voracious consumers not so much license to stop, but the ability to dip in and out of books, depending on their mood. 'So while you might stop midstream, you can also very easily go back to the book later,' she says. She herself gives a book about 25 pages to enthrall her before putting it back on the digital shelf.

金德和其他閱讀者說，用Kindle電子書閱讀的人經(jīng)常棄讀。亞馬遜公司的紙質(zhì)圖書和Kindle電子書編輯部主任薩拉?納爾遜(Sara Nelson)說，她認為電子書給予如饑似渴的讀者的并不是太多的棄讀許可權(quán)，而是根據(jù)心情點進點出圖書的能力。她說：“因此，雖然你可能半途中止閱讀，但也可以在今后輕松回來重拾那本書。”她自己把一本書放回數(shù)字書架之前先要讀25頁左右，看看這本書是否能吸引她。

Leigh Haber, books editor at O, the Oprah Magazine, who suggests candidates to Oprah Winfrey for her consideration for the popular Oprah Book Club, says that while the obviousreasons for abandoning books are distraction and boredom, she attributes much of the behavior to a backlash against writing in which technique trumps storytelling.

《奧普拉雜志》(O, the Oprah Magazine)的圖書編輯利?哈伯(Leigh Haber)向奧普拉?溫弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey)推薦參加熱門節(jié)目奧普拉讀書俱樂部(Oprah Book Club)的候選人。她說雖然棄讀圖書的明顯原因是無法集中注意力和感覺枯燥乏味，但是她認為這種行為很大程度上歸因于對那種重技巧而非故事情節(jié)的寫法的抵觸。

Certain types of people are more likely to push through a book. Dr. Wilhelm theorizes that people with competitive, Type-A personalities might be more likely to abandon a book because they tend to be motivated by reward and punishment, and 'if there are no consequences or public recognition, why finish?'

某些類型的人看書時更容易將其讀完。威廉博士提出的理論認為，A型性格的人爭強好勝，讀書更容易半途而廢，因為他們做事往往需要用獎勵和處罰來激勵，他們會想：“如果事情沒有結(jié)果，或者得不到公眾的認可，干嘛還要做完呢?”

Conversely, he says more laid-back, Type-B personalities may never start a book they know they won't finish. The more important motivator of finishing a book, says Dr. Wilhelm, is socialpressure, which is why book clubs are so good at getting readers to the epilogue.

相反，他說B型性格的人慵懶閑散，他們可能永遠不會翻開一本自知無法讀完的書。威廉博士說，促使人把書讀完的一個更重要的因素是社會壓力，這就是為何讀書俱樂部那么有能耐讓讀者讀到尾聲的原因。

Librarians like Mary Wilkes Towner, an adjunct lecturer at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, always gives readerspermission to stop whenever they want, to disentangle the act from childhood associations of reading as a task. 'I have found that people in their 30s, they feel guilted into finishing─just the same way that they were told to eat everything on their plate,' she says. 'If you want to be culturally literate, skim. But we all have to give ourselves permission to quit.'

像瑪麗?威爾克斯?湯納(Mary Wilkes Towner)這樣的圖書管理員一直都同意讀者想打住時就打住，不要再像兒時那種把讀書當做是一種任務(wù)。湯納是伊利諾伊大學厄巴納-香檳分校(University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)圖書館與信息科學研究生院的兼任講師，她說：“我發(fā)現(xiàn)30多歲的人不把書讀完會有一種負疚感──就像他們過去被人要求吃光盤子里的所有東西一樣。如果你想成為有文化素養(yǎng)的人，那就多閱讀。不過我們所有人都要給自己棄讀的權(quán)利。”

Choosing the right books lets people dramatically increase the number of books they can read in a lifetime, she says.

湯納說，選書得當可以大大增加人們一生中可以閱讀的圖書數(shù)量。

Some psychologists look at bailing on books on the spectrum of task persistence. Meena Dasari, a clinical assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine, works mostly with children in her private practice. She says that the ability to maintain a task even as any rewards and discontent fluctuate depends on what we attribute those feelings to. 'If you say, 'I'm not smart enough,' then you're likely to give up,' she says. 'But if you say, 'This is just a difficult book,' you're more likely to complete it.' Additionally, if your peer group or book club has finished the book, those outside forces can be powerful. 'The time I finished the most books was when I was in a book club,' Dr. Dasari says.

一些心理學家從做事毅力的角度來看待讀書半途而廢的問題。紐約大學醫(yī)學院(New York University Schoolof Medicine)的臨床助理教授米納?達薩里(Meena Dasari)在她的私人診所大多是與孩子打交道。她說，即便獎勵與不滿情緒出現(xiàn)波動，我們也可能會堅持完成一項任務(wù)，能否做到取決于我們對其有何種感受。她說：“如果你說：‘我不夠聰明’，那么你很可能會放棄。但是如果你說：‘這只是一本有點難讀的書’，你把它讀完的可能性就更大。”此外，如果你的同齡群體或者讀者俱樂部的人已經(jīng)讀完一本書，來自外部的這些壓力會產(chǎn)生很大作用。達薩里說：“我完整讀完書最多的時候是我參加了一家讀者俱樂部的那段時間。”

That said, some books, notes Ms. Haber at the Oprah magazine, are insurmountably difficult.

話雖這么講，《奧普拉雜志》的哈伯說，有些書讀起來難于上青天。

'If you come to a book at the wrong time, it won't connect,' she says. She started and stopped Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections' a few times before getting completely engrossed by it, and attributes her ability to finally finish the novel to trying it while on vacation. Reading it outside of her regular life, she says, gave the book new meaning.

哈伯說：“如果你在錯誤的時間開讀一本書，那是讀不進去的。”她在專心致志讀喬納森?弗蘭岑(Jonathan Franzen)的《糾正》(The Corrections)之前讀讀停停了好幾次，她認為最終能把這本小說讀完的原因是她是在度假期間再嘗試的。她說，在日常生活之外閱讀賦予了這本書新的意義。

'But there are also those magical books that you read differently at different points in your life,' she says, adding that a young woman might be swept away by the passion of 'Anna Karenina.' A mother later in life might view the protagonist as selfish and irresponsible.

哈伯說：“但是也有一些書充滿魔力，你會在人生的不同時間讀出不同的感受。”她指出一位年輕女子可能會被《安娜?卡列尼娜》(Anna Karenina)的激情深深打動，而在日后成為母親之后也許會認為主人公是一個自私和不負責任的人。

Publishers, says Ms. Haber, want readers to complete books so that they get hooked on the author and buy more of his work. But as a former book editor, she also understands the pressures on those inside the book industry to meet deadlines, and admits that many books need 'more time in the nurturing process' of editing. When she gets to page 25 of a poorly edited book, Ms. Haber admits, even she will put it down. Like most of her friends and colleagues, she says she still feels guilty about it.

哈伯說，出版商希望讀者能把書讀完，這樣他們就會喜歡上作者，買下他的更多作品。但是曾經(jīng)身為圖書編輯的她也理解圖書出版業(yè)里那些趕工期的人所承受的壓力，她承認很多圖書在編輯時需要“更長時間的培育過程”。哈伯承認，當她翻開一本編輯質(zhì)量很次的書時，讀到25頁時，甚至連她都會把書放下。她說，像她的多數(shù)朋友和同事一樣，她還是會感覺到很愧疚。