issue38 电视与读书

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38. In the age of television, reading books is not as important as it once was. People can learn as much by watching television as they can by reading books.

1、电视具有比读书优越的功能
2、有些知识通过读书来获取更好
3、看电视会使人浮躁，而读书使人更深入地体会生活

In this world of information boom, we are surrounded by various television programs: news reports, talk shows, soup operas, etc.. It seems that television as a learning method will probably outweighs reading books. Indeed, however, the two have different functions respectively and there does exist some knowledge which can be acquired through books but not television.

To begin with, I concede that television offers a kaleidoscopic reflection of the world and it is superior to reading books to some extent. Besides words, which are books' main feature, television also provides images and sound. They together may form a vivid description for the audience. For instance, a well-produced tourism program will present in front of the audience a comprehensive introduction of a foreign country. The few words "colorful clothes" in a tour brochure cannot compete the various colors from lilac to sapphire straightly shown on the TV screen. Take one of today's best sellers: cuisine books as another example. The boring and difficult stages on a book page will probably steal the reader's interest or ever repel her; but a cuisine program on TV screen has the ability to attract attentions and make the procedure look easier. Now the technology of television and its derivative production is developing at a incredibly rapid speed. So it's natural to predict that television will gain more concern and more utilization in the future.  

However, it's rash to claim that people can learn as much by watching television as by reading books since in some fields books prove to be far more effective than television, such as mathematics and philosophy. Both the two fields put great emphasis on logical reasoning, which are best presented in words. In this way, knowledge in books tends to be more concise and univocal than that in TV programs. How can the demonstration of a famous equation change to a populous program? Also even an excellent producer will find it too hard to introduce clearly an outstanding philosopher's thoughts through images. Television has no good methods to deal with these topics since it doesn't underscore the use of words. Thus some knowledge cannot be easily got through television and sometimes it may become more confusing. At this time reading books is a better choice.

Moreover, books own some unique and charming characteristics which television doesn't. Hence they bestow books the considerable importance. Because television uses images and sound to give straight stimulations to people's eyes and ears, little by little they become dependent on it and don't think deeply themselves. The fast pace of living is even accelerated by TV programs. When people are used to seeking stimulation and peculiarity through violent and sexual TV programs to add seasonings to their daily routines, how can they calm down to seek for their own souls? The answer is reading books. There are so many great pieces which have passed through the examination of time. Reading books is not only to read word by word but to read between the lines, to touch the warm soul of the author, to seek the beauty of eternity, to show respect for humanity and life. So in this way reading books reveals the indispensable significance of itself which television doesn't have.   

To sum up, in the age of television, while TV programs have their replaceable status in people's everyday life, we still need reading books both to gain knowledge and to acquire the joys of living. I believe that without books the world will turn to be a dull and vulgar one.

[ 本帖最后由 quickbreeze 于 2006-7-28 16:19 编辑 ]