(5)The Art of Listening 教案 翻译与理解,上下文

<第五课 (一)课文讲解赏析 (二)理解与翻译 (三)补充材料:上下文 The Art of Listening< Martin Armstrong There are few people, I imagine , except those who are already good lecturers of orators?( orator: person who makes speeches, esp. a good speaker), to whom speaking on t h e wireless comes naturally. 除了老练、出色的院校讲师或演说家,我料想极少有人能在无线电播音机前自自然 然地讲话。 Like acting, it is an art which must be patiently acquired. 如同演,这是一门须耐心磨练才能获 得的艺术。 M a ny lively, self-confident folk don’t believe this. "Nonsence!" says one. "You've simply to be your own natural self, forget the studio and. the microphone and talk as you would t a lk to a group of friends. " 许多活跃、自信的人不相信此事。“胡扯!”有人如是说:“你只须像平常一样自然,不去管那演播室和麦克风,就如同对一群朋友说话那样就行了。”There is a simply cure for this flattering conviction?(conviction: firm or assured belief), namely to treat him to the hum i liating experience of a recording of himself. 治疗此类夸夸其谈,有一种简单的办法,那就是让他经历一下给他自己录音 的难堪。 The cure begins even before he hears the recording, for at his first encounter with the microphone he discovers that it is far from easy to talk to a group of friends who only too evidently are not there. 甚至在他听到录音之前,疗法就奏效了——当他刚一接触到麦克风,他就发现对显然不在眼前的一群朋友讲话绝非 易事。 Worse still, he himself is his only audience and it is unnatural and unnerving(unnerving: causing to lose courage) to hear yourself loudly and emphatically or, still worse, rather feebly talking to yourself. 更不如意的是,他本人便是他自己的唯一听众,听到自己大声地,加重语气地或者软弱无力地(后者更糟)说话,不仅使人感到不自然,而且使人丧失勇气。 And when it comes to listening to the recording, one and only one of his unpleasant discoveries is that his broadcast voice is not the voice he knows as his own. 到听录音时,他只有一个令人大为不悦的发现,那就是自己的录音并不是自己所熟知的自己的声音。 Broadcasting, he finds, is not natural behaviour. 他这才意识到播音并不是自然行为。The same is true of listening to broadcast speech——the voices of absent spe a kers who singly or severally talk to us or to each other. 听广播讲话,即听不在眼前的说话人单独讲演或多人对话时,情形也是如此。 In these brief observations I shal l discuss only what is classfied by the B.B.C. as the spoken word^-. to include broadc a sts of a dramatic kind would take me too far and, incidentally, compel me to point out how badly Shakespeare wrote for the radio. 在这些简短的议论中,我只想讨论一下被英国广播公司定位为口语的内容——倘若包括戏剧类广播,我就不免离题过远,而且,偶尔还不得不讲讲莎士比亚为广播写作该有多糟。 To listen to speakers visib l y present is not only easy but, except for the very strong-minded, unavo i dable, but nothing is easier than to ignore the sense, if not the noise,'-of the talk that pours from a radio-set. 现场看得见说话人,听其讲话就不仅是很容易的事,而且,除意志力极强的人之外,也是不可避免的事。但是,最容易的事还要算对收音机里传出的谈话 意义(如果不是声响的话)置若罔闻。The absence of the talker:wi th his whole visible personality, his facial expression -a nd his gestures which so often help us to catch what he says, l eaves no occupation for the eye: all the listener gets of him comes in sound and this throws an abnormal burden on the ear. 讲话人不在场,能够帮助人们领会其讲话内容的所有可见特征,面部表情和手势都看不见,便使讲话人的眼睛无所事事,听讲人从讲话人那里的全部所得便是声音,这就给耳朵造成超常负担, No wonder then that when the talk falls beneath his intere s t or soars above his comprehension, or when a humdrum? delivery lulls his hearing into a do z e, or bad reception makes it difficult for him to catch the sense, the eye, with nothing better to do, conscientiously takes on the duty of entertaining him, drawing his attention to a bowl of flowers, the still active appeals of a familiar picture, or the fascinating tricks played by sunlight or lamplight on the objects about him, while the ear seizes the opportunity for a much-ne e ded rest. 也怪当所讲的内容为听者所不感兴趣 或无法理解时,或者,当单调的演说令人昏昏欲睡时,当接收过差使人难以解意时,眼睛由于没有更好的事情可做,便尽力承担起娱乐责任,将听者的注意力引向一碗花,或更具感染力的熟悉图画,或由阳光或灯光照在周围物件上所出现的迷人戏法,这时耳朵便抓住这个需要好好休息一下的机会。 The remedy, of course, i s to shut out these alluring distractions by closing t h e eyes. 对这种状况的疗法当然是闭上眼睛,把所有吸引人的事物关在外面。Unfortunately this is not only a remedy and an infallible? one; it is a panacea?; and soon the other senses close down a nd the listener falls asleep. 不幸的是,这不仅是个疗法,是个称得上肯定有效的疗法,而且还是万应药——很快其他感官也封闭了,听讲者睡着了。 The amateur listener, who listens for pleasure or instruction, had much better switch off as soon as he realizes that the game is not worth the c a ndle?, but the critic sometimes feels it so be his duty to fight to the last, if only to make useful comment on his harassing? experience. 或为愉悦,或为领教而听的非专业听众,一旦意识到节目不值一听,立即关机是再好不过的;而评论者却将坚持战斗到 最后一刻作为己任——如果对他倍感折磨的经历作出适当评论的话。 In earlier times, when the fie l d o f a vailable knowledge was comfortably small and its advance slow, the lover of learning might hope to explore the greater part of it. 在久远的年代,当有用知识的领域尚小,发展尚慢时,酷爱学问者或许在志在较大范围内探索知识。 Today, when it is not only driving ahead at a bewildering speed but tunneling back into wider and wider areas of the past, even the most dogged? adventurer cannot hope to explore more than a small fraction of the vast continent. 今日,知识不仅有了突飞猛进的发展,而且,越来越广泛地挖掘了过去的诸多领域,就连最顽强的探险者也无法在如今这广袤的疆域中涉足更多的领域,而只能探索极小的一块地方。 In our listening, as in our other intellectual activities, we must pick and choose. 我们的收听活动,如同我们的其他智力活动,必须挑拣和选择。 But nobody except those who are content to think with a superannuated ? mind or not to think at all can afford to ignore modern science. 除了那些满足于用陈旧观念思考或根 本不思考的人,没有人能够忽视现代科 学。 Its intricate processes are, of course, for above the heads of most of us, but we can at least grasp something of its conclusions and theories and their (mplications, and the B. B. C. provides opportunities to do so in numerous talks and discussions, many of them of outstanding excellence. 当然,科学的复杂过程远非大多数人的脑力所能把握,但我们至少可以了解它的一定结论、理论及其意义。英国广播公司在大量的交谈和讨论节目中 提供了许许多多这样做的机会,而且在这些交谈和讨论节目中也不乏杰作。When listening to all but the simplest scientific programmes I find it essential to take notes, for often, if I don’t, I discover at the end that concentration on hearing and understanding the details has absorbed my available energies and I am unable to recall the argument and grasp the whole. 当收听节目(最简单的科技节目除外)时,我感到做笔记很重要。·经常有这种情形,如果我不做笔记,到末尾我便会发现由于专注于倾听和理解细节而耗费了精力,既没能记住论点,也没掌握全部。 Such listening is no easy self-indulgence: it is sheer hard work and sometimes, either because the speaker has talked too quickly, too obscurely or too far above my head?, it has been labour in vain. 这样的收听绝不是轻松自在的放纵自己,而是十足的艰苦工作。有时,讲话人说的太快,太含糊或太超越我的理解力,收听还会成为白费气力的劳动。 But often I am rewarded by new and exciting ideas which stimulate my mind and enrich my outlook on life. 但更多的时候,我得到了回报,吸收了新的令人振奋的观念,这些所得促进了我的思维,丰富了我对生活的见解。But there are other broadcasts which the listener may find difficult to understand in which the taking of notes would be useless even if it were possible. I mean readings of poems which are new to him. 不过,也有一些广播节目人们感到难以理解,即使能做笔记,但做了也毫无用处。我指对收听者来说是全新的诗歌的朗读。 The difficulty here is of quite another kind than that of the scientific talk. 这里的困难与科技讲话相比完全是另 一类型。 The scientist uses words in their narrowest sense, as he uses the coins of his-country's currency: the poet uses them not only as coins but for their sounds, shapes, rhythms and their power to call up other words and ideas. 科学家使用的是较狭义的词语,正如他使用自己国家的通行硬币一样;诗人则不仅将硬币当作硬币使用,而且使 用它们的声音、形状、节奏,以及它们唤起对其他词,其他概念的联想的能力。 To understand a poem fully we must grasp not only its surface meaning and the sound and rhythms of its phrases and their particular way of exploiting the metre, but also the implications and emotive suggestions of its words, which add a contrapuntal ? double entendre? to. the surface meaning. 要透彻理解一首诗,不仅要掌握它的表层意义,掌握词语的声音、节奏和韵律,而且要掌握字句的内涵意义和情感暗示。这些因素往往在表层意义之外增添了具有对位性质的双关意义。 Evidently, then, except in the case of simple poems or- new poems by a poet with whose other work we are familiar,. it is by no means an, .unmixed pleasure to make the acquaintance of a poem through the wireless. 因此,很明显,除了非常简单的诗歌或作品为人们所熟悉的诗人的新作,通过广播来了解一首诗绝不是纯粹的乐事。 The pleasure may be well worth the pain or there may be no pleasure at all, but in either case to read it oneself is a much more satisfactory method. 无论是愉悦与幸苦相抵,还是毫无乐趣,亲自阅读总是一个更令人满意的方法。 Why then should we listen to such broadcasts? The answer can be given in another question: "If you like wine, why refuse a sample bottle?" If you dont like it when you have tasted it, there's an end of it: if you do, so much the better. 那么,我们为什么还要听这样的广播?可以给出另一个问题作为回答:“如果你喜欢葡萄酒,何必拒绝喝一瓶货样?”如果你尝后感觉不喜欢它,那便就此了结;如果你喜欢,那就更好。 If you like i t so much that you went more, why not order a dozen? After all, poetry, though expensive nowadays, is cheaper than wine. 如果你十分地喜欢,还想再要,为何不订购一打?当今诗歌虽然昂贵,但毕竟比葡萄酒便宜一些。 But what of all those broadcasts which, so far from making these stern demands on the listener, make few or none at all? 并未向收听者提出这些苛刻的要求,少有或全无要求的广播节目的情况又如何呢? The inexorable? highbrow? will advise him not to waste his time on the stuff, but this advice leaves out of account? the pleasures of participation- which the wireless so surprisingly conveys to the solitary listener. 毫不宽容的有高度修养的人建议收听 者不要将时间浪费在此类废物上,但这种建议全然没有考虑无线电十分令人惊奇地给予了孤独的收听者以参与的愉悦。 When he switches on such a programme as "Any Questions?""h e finds himself projected into a hall full of people humming with anticipation, and as questions and answers succeed each other he senses unmistakably the fluctuating mood of the audience. 当他拨到一个诸如“有什么问题吗?”这样的节目时,他感到自己被投入一个挤满人群,充斥着期望的低语的大厅。当问答持续进行,他便实实在在地体验到听众的波动心情。 Indeed it is -astonishing that anything so subtle as moods and feelings- can be so powerfully transmitted in terms of sound atone and that the recipient should at once and automatically translate it back into the moods and feelings that caused it. 的确,令人吃惊的是,像情绪和感觉这样微妙的东西可以如此强有力地仅以 声音这个形式播送出来。 而接受者竟会立即自动地将声音 译回至形成此音的情绪和感觉。But the serious listener demands something more than animal noises to sustain his participation through three quarters o f an hour and he m a y complain, after some of these programme s, that high spirits and common sense are not enough to keep him going, 然而,严肃的收听音要求听到胜于动物噪音之类的东西,以维持长达三刻钟的参与。也许,在听到一些这样的节目后他会报怨,认为高昂的情绪和一般的常识均不足以使他继续收听下去。 in that case he had better switch his set and his attention to something l e s s popular unless he is able to carry his participation to the length of silent l y contributing his own answers and vehemently contradicting those of the team. 在那种情况下,他最好将电台和注意力转换到较不流行的事物上,除非他有能力将他的参与发展到默默地给予自己 的回答,强烈地反驳节目组意见的程度。 Other programmes which invite the listener's particip a tion "Round Britain Quiz" a nd "Twenty Questions"; 其他邀请收听者参加的节目有“全英答问比赛”、“二十题”等。 the first requiring of its teams--an erudition? so comprehensive ..most arrant highbrow, need not blush- to switch it on, even t h oug h by doing so, he will fi n d hi m self on th e Light Programme: 前一个广播节目要求节目组人员知识 十分渊博,就连最以拥有高度文化修养自诩的人打开收音机去听这个节目也 无须脸红,即使他只是将此举视为收听轻松节目。 the latter o f fering innocent amusement; to li steners over the age of twelve or thirteen. 这后者一般是给十二岁或十三岁以上的听众提供无害娱乐节目。 "Twenty Questions" is the old game of guessing a hidden word b y the animal-vegetable-mineral method and the listener may amuse himself by trying to beat the team to the answers. “二十题”是一种由动物、植物、矿物构成的古老的猜宇游戏。收听者可以通过在回答上胜出播音组而感受乐趣。 In "Round Britain Quiz" two rival teams of two a side, each equi p with its Question-master, compete for top marks in answering questions of a formidable? difficulty. 在“全英答问比赛”中,有两个二人一方的竞赛组,各配一个答问节目主持人,在回答难度极大的问题中争夺高分。 In fact this is a learned affair, yet thanks to the light touch of its Question- masters fully reinforced by the team, it forges ah e ad with an infectious?gaiety. 事实上,这是一种很有学问的事情,但是由于在竞赛组成员大力协作下主持人的轻松操作,节目便以具有感染力的愉悦气氛向前推进。 Both these programmes not only invite the participation of the listener; they also entertain him with a fascinating display of the curious workings of the human mind. 这两个节目都不仅邀请收听者参与,并且都通过富于吸引力地展示人类智能 的奇妙运用而起到娱乐作用。 In "Twenty Questions" they follow a simple and familiar pattern except when some member of the team executes one of those astonishing intuitive jumps for which some sort of telepathy? or clairvoyance?seems to be the only explanation. 在“二十题”中,人们依据的是 简单且为人熟悉的形式,除非节目组某个成员偶尔冒出个似乎只有某种心灵感应和洞察力才能解释得了的令 人吃惊的直觉跳跃。 But the mechanisms displayed in "Round Britain Quiz" are much more complicated. As the competitor audibly .gropes among his mental clues we can a ctually follow h i s journey from total ignorance to discovery along a fascinatin g se r ies of stepp i ng-stones. “全英答问比赛”所展示的机制要复杂得多。当参赛者出声地搜寻脑海里的种种线索时,人们便可以跟随他通过采用一连串办法,一步步从一无所知到有所发现的心路历程。 "Round Britain Quiz" is in fact a dazzling display not only of mental but intel l ectual a thletics during which the erudite listener may now and then have the supreme gratification of beating the champions and may acquire a valuable collection of str a nge and recondite? information, much of it of that ? attractive quality, once praised by Chesterton, o f being entirely useless. 其实,“全英答问比赛”不仅是一个令人眼花撩乱的心灵展示,而且是一种智力竞技。在其进展过程中,博学的收听者也许不时从中获得击败获胜者的最 大满足,也许搜集到一些宝贵、奇妙而意味无穷的信息。具有此种吸引力的这些信息大多一度受到切斯特顿的称赞, 但却毫无实用性。 Yes, the wireless is a great aid to the pursuit both of culture and recreation. In pre-radio days the pursuit was expensive both in time a n d money. 不错,无线电对追求文化和娱乐活动都有很大帮助。在前无线电时期,这种追求在时间和金钱方面均须付出较多。To hear concerts, plays, courses of lectures and so on, we had not only to buy tickets for them but to waste time in getting to and from them. 听音乐会,看戏,听课等等,都不仅要买票,还会因往返于这些场所而浪费时间。 Now the hill comes to Mahomet; with a turn of the knob we summon to our f i resides the voices of eminent philosophers, poets, actors, scientists of all kinds, M. P. s o f.every colour, and the sounds of the cornet?, flute, harp, sackbut?, psaltery?, dulcimer? and all kinds of music, in the twinkling o f on eye and free of any charge but that of a wireless licen c e. 现在却是相反的情况:我们只消在壁炉边转动旋钮,方方面面的著名哲学家、诗人、演员、科学家及形形色色的议员的话音,短号、长笛、竖琴、低音喇叭、八弦琴、洋琴的声响及各种各样的音乐,眨眼间使可唤来,并且,除了无线电许可证外,全然无须付费。 In pre- radio days considerations of politeness and the price we had paid for the t i cket kept us tied to our seats to the bitter end, however disappointed and bored we might be. 在前无线电时期,关于礼貌和购票费用的考虑总是将人束缚在娱乐场所的 座位上。无论人们多么失望和厌烦,也须痛苦地坚持到底。 Today we simply turn the knob in the opposite direction and take up a good book. 如今,人们仅须向相反的方向转动旋钮或拿起一本好就行了。 As I remarked at the outset, listening to absent talkers'-is unnatural and much more tiring than listening to talkers present in the flesh. 正如我在文章开端所说的,听不在场的讲话人说话是不自然的,远比听亲身在场的人说话容易使人疲倦。 I t tires the'ears as reading tires the eyes and' if we over-indulge in either the mind closes down. 如同阅读使人眼睛疲倦一样,它使人的耳朵疲倦。 For most serious readers it is a f a miliar expe r ience to discover th a t for the f ast p a ge or two, although still reading, they have ceased to attend to the matter in hand?. 如果我们在任何一种情况下过分用力,心智就会停歇。大多数认真的读者常常 发现读最后一两页时,尽管读是在读,但却不再接收所读的内容。 The some thing happens t o the exorbitant? listener. He forgets "that there is more nourishment in a modicum? well-digested than in a surfeit?. 收听过度的听讲者也是如此——他忘记了少量真正消化的东西比大量的过度摄取会有更多的营养。 听的艺术 马丁·阿姆斯特朗 作者简介:马丁·阿姆斯特朗是英国作家,曾担任《观察者》的文学编辑。 除了老练、出色的院校讲师或演说家,我料想极少有人能在无线电播音机前自自然然地讲话。如同表演,这是一门须耐心磨练才能获得的艺术。许多活跃、自信的人不相信此事。“胡扯!”有人如是说:“你只须像平常一样自然,不去管那演播室和麦克风,就如同对 一群朋友说话那样就行了。”治疗此类夸夸其谈,有一种简单的办法,那就是让他经历一下给他自己录音的难堪。甚至在他听到录音之前,疗法就奏效了——当他刚一接触到麦克风,他就发现对显然不在眼前的一群朋友讲话绝非易事。更不如意的是,他本人便是他自己的唯一听众,听到自己大声地,加重语气地或者软弱无力地(后者更糟)说话,不仅使人感到不自然,而且使人丧失勇气。到听录音时,他只有一个令人大为不悦的发现,那就是自己的录音并不是自己所熟知的自己的声音。他这才意识到播音并不是自然行为。听广播讲话,即听不在眼前的说话人单独讲演或多人对话时,情形也是如此。在这些简短的议论中,我只想讨论一下被英国广播公司定位为口语的内容——倘若包括戏剧类广播,我就不免离题过远,而且,偶尔还不得不讲讲莎士比亚为广播写作该有多糟。现场看得见说话人,听其讲话就不仅是很容易的事,而且,除意志力极强的人之外,也是不可避免的事。但是,最容易的事还要算对收音机里传出的谈话意义(如果不是声响的话)置若罔闻。讲话人不在场,能够帮助人们领会其讲话内容的所有可见特征,面部表情和手势都看不见,便使讲话人的眼睛无所事事,听讲人从讲话人那里的全部所得便是声音,这就给耳朵造成超常负担,也怪当所讲的内容为听者所不感兴趣或无法理解时,或者,当单调的演说令人昏昏欲睡时,当接收过差使人难以解意时,眼睛由于没有更好的事情可做,便尽力承担起娱乐责任,将听者的注意力引向一碗花,或更具感染力的熟悉图画,或由阳光或灯 光照在周围物件上所出现的迷人戏法,这时耳朵便抓住这个需要好好休息一下的机会。对这种状况的疗法当然是闭上眼睛,把所有吸引人的事物关在外面。不幸的是,这不仅是个疗法,是个称得上肯定有效的疗法,而且还是万应药——很快其他感官也封闭了,听讲者睡着了。或为愉悦,或为领教而听的非专业听众,一旦意识到节目不值一听,立即关机是再好不过的;而评论者却将坚持战斗到最后一刻作为己任——如果对他倍感折磨的经历作出适当评论的话。 在久远的年代,当有用知识的领域尚小,发展尚慢时,酷爱学问者或许在志在较太范围内探索知识。今日,知识不仅有了突飞猛进的发展,而且,越来越广泛地挖掘了过去的诸多领域,,就连最顽强的探险者也无法在如今这广袤的疆域中涉 足更多的领域,而只能探索极小的一块地方。我们的收听活动,如同我们的其他智力活动,必须挑拣和选择。除了那些满足于用陈旧观念思考或根本不思考的人,没有人能够忽视现代科学。当然,科学的复杂过程远非大多数人的脑力所能把握,但我们至少可以了解它的一定结论、理论及其意义。英国广播公司在大量的交谈和讨论节目中提供了许许多多这样做的机会,而且在这些交谈和讨论节目中也不乏杰作。当收听节目(最简单的科技节目除外)时,我感到做笔记很重要。·经常有这种情形,如果我不做笔记,到末尾我便会发现由于专注于倾听和理解细节而耗费了精力,既没能记住 论点,也没掌握全·一- 部。这样的收听绝不是轻松自在的放纵自己,而是十足的艰苦工作。有时,讲话人说的太快,太含糊或太超越我的理解力,收听还会成为白费气力的劳动。但更多的时候,我得到了回报,吸收了新的令人振奋的观念,这些所得促进了我的思维,丰富了我对生活的见解。不过,也有一些广播节目人们感到难以理解,即使能做笔记,但做了也毫无用处。我指对收听者来说是全新的诗歌的朗读。这里的困难与科技讲话相比完全是另一类型。科学家使用的是较狭义的词语,正如他使用自己国家的通行硬币一样;诗人则不仅将硬币当作硬币使用,而且使用它们的声音、形状、节奏,以及它们唤起对其他词,其他概念的联想的能力。要透彻理解一首诗,不仅要掌握它的表层意义,掌握词语的声音、节奏和韵律,而且要掌握字句的内涵意义和情感暗示。这些因素往往在表层意义之外增添了具有对位性质的双关意义。因此,很明显,除了非常简单的诗歌或作品为人们所熟悉的诗人的新作,通过广播来了解一首诗绝不是纯粹的乐事。无论是愉悦与幸苦相抵,还是毫无乐趣,亲自阅读总是一个更令人满意的方法。那么,我们为什么还要听这样的广播?可以给出另一个问题作为回答:“如果你喜欢葡萄酒,何必拒绝喝一瓶货样?”如果你尝后感觉不喜欢它,那便就此了结;如果你喜欢,那就更好。如果你十分地喜欢,还想再要,为何不订购一打?当今诗歌虽然昂贵,但毕竟比葡萄酒便宜一些。,并未向收听者提出这些苛 刻的要求,少有或全无要求的广播节目的情况又如何呢?毫不宽容的有高度修养的人建议收听者不要将时间浪费在此类废物上,但这种建议全然没有考虑无线电十分令人惊奇地给予了孤独的收听者以 参与的愉悦。当他拨到一个诸如“有什么问题吗?”这样的节目时,他感到自己被投入一个挤满人群,充斥着期望的低语的大厅。当问答持续进行,他便实实在在地体验到听众的波动心情。的确,令人吃惊的是,像情绪和感觉这情绪和感觉这样微妙的东西可以如此强有力地仅以声音这个形式播送出来。而接受者竟会立即自动地将声音译回至形 成此音的情绪和感觉。然而,严肃的收听音要求听到胜于动物噪音之类的东西,以维持长达三刻钟的参与。也许,在听到一些这样的节目后他会报怨,认为高昂的情绪和一般的常识均不足以使他继续收听下去。在那种情况下,他最好将电台和注意力转换到较不流行的事物上,除非他有能力将他的参与发展到默默地给予自己的回答,强烈地反驳节目组意见的程度。 其他邀请收听者参加的节目有“全英答问比赛”、“二十题”等。前一个广播节目要求节目组人员知识十分渊博,就连最以拥有高度文化修养自诩的人打开收音机去听这个节目也无须脸红,即使他只是将此举视为收听轻松节目。这后者一般是给十二岁或十三岁以上的听众提供无害娱乐节目。 “二十题”是一种由动物、植物、矿物构成的古老的猜宇游戏。收听者可以通过在回答上胜出播音组而感受乐趣。 在“全英答问比赛”中,有两个二人一方的竞赛组,各配一个答问节目主持人,在回答难度极大的问题中争夺高分。 事实上,这是一种很有学问的事情,但是由于在竞赛组成员大力协作下主持人的轻松操作,节目便以具有感染力的愉悦气氛向前推进。 这两个节目都不仅邀请收听者参与,并且都通过富于吸引力地展示人类智能的奇妙运用而起到娱乐作用。 在“二十题”中,人们依据的是简单且为人熟悉的形式,除非节目组某个成员偶尔冒出个似乎只有某种心灵感应和洞察力才能解释得了的令人吃惊的直觉跳跃。 “全英答问比赛”所展示的机制要复杂得多。当参赛者出声地搜寻脑海里的种种线索时,人们便可以跟随他通过采用一连串办法,一步步从一无所知到有所发现的心路历程。 其实,“全英答问比赛”不仅是一个令人眼花撩乱的心灵展示,而且是一种智力竞技。在其进展过程中,博学的收听者也许不时从中获得击败获胜者的最大满足,也许搜集到一些宝贵、奇妙而意味无穷的信息。具有此种吸引力的这些信息大多一度受到切斯特顿的称赞,但却毫无实用性。‘不错,无线电对追求文化和娱乐活动都有很大帮助。在前无线电时期,这种追求在时间和金钱方面均须付出较多。听音乐会,看戏,听课等等,都不仅要买票,还会因往返于这些场所而浪费时间。现在却是相反的情况:我们只消在壁炉边转动旋钮,方方面面的著名哲学家、诗人、演员、科学家及形形色色的议员的话音,短号、长笛、竖琴、低音喇叭、八弦琴、洋琴的声响及各种各样的音乐,眨眼间使可唤来,并且,除了无线电许可证外,全然无须付费。在前无线电时期,关于礼貌和购票费用的考虑总是将人束缚在娱乐场所的座位上。无论人们多么失望和厌烦,也须痛苦地坚持到底。如今,人们仅须向相反的方向转动旋钮或拿起一本好书就行了。正如我在文章开端所说的,听不在场的讲话人说话是不自然的,远比听亲身在场的人说话容易使人疲倦。如同阅读使人眼睛疲倦一样,它使人的耳朵疲倦。如果我们在任何一种情况下过分用力,心智就会停歇。大多数认真的读者常常发现读最后一两页时,尽管读是在读,但却不再接收所读的内容。收听过度的听讲者也是如此——他忘记了少量真 正消化的东西比大量的过度摄取会有更多的营养。补充内容:上下文 Powerpoint\Context.