TED演讲:短信是语言杀手(3)

 So, for example, in a distant era now,  比如说，在以前一个遥远的时代，

it was common when one gave a speech to basically talk like writing.  当一个人作演讲，说起话来像在写作一样，是很平常的事情。

So I mean the kind of speech that you see someone giving in an old movie where they clear their throat, and they go, 我的意思是那种你在一部老电影里看到的演讲，人们会清一下喉咙，然后说：

"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen," and then they speak in a certain way which has nothing to do with casual speech.  啊喝，女士们，先生们，然后，他们会用一种和现在说话完全不同的方式讲下去。

It's formal. It uses long sentences like this Gibbon one.  这种讲话很正式。它使用像刚才吉本式的长句子。

It's basically talking like you write, and so, for example,  基本上，它就是书面表达式的讲话，再比如，

we're thinking so much these days about Lincoln because of the movie.  我们这些天因为一部电影都在谈论林肯。

The Gettysburg Address was not the main meal of that event.  葛底斯堡演说并不是影片的重点。

For two hours before that, Edward Everett spoke¹ on a topic that, frankly², cannot engage us today and barely did then. 在这之前的两个小时，爱德华?埃弗里特的演讲，说实话，没有办法打动现在的我们而且当时也效果甚微。

The point of it was to listen to him speaking like writing. 问题的关键是听他书面表达式的演讲。

Ordinary people stood and listened to that for two hours.  普通人得站着听两个小时。

It was perfectly³ natural.  这在当时是非常平常的事情。

That's what people did then, speaking like writing.  这就是过去人们的演讲风格，正式得就像写作一样。

Well, if you can speak like writing,  那么，如果你可以说话像在写作，

then logically it follows that you might want to also sometimes write like you speak. 很自然的你也许会想要有时进行说话式的书面表达。

The problem was just that in the material,  问题就在传输媒介上，

mechanical sense, that was harder back in the day for the simple reason that materials don't lend themselves to it.  过去很难支持这种动手的表达活动，原因就在传输媒介无法满足这个需求。

It's almost impossible to do that with your hand except in shorthand, and then communication is limited. 用手写基本上是不可能的，除了速记外，但这又局限了交流。

On a manual typewriter it was very difficult,  用手写打印机也非常困难，

and even when we had electric typewriters,  即使我们有了电子打印机，

or then computer keyboards, the fact is that even if you can type easily enough to keep up with the pace of speech, more or less, you have to have somebody who can receive your message quickly.  或者电脑键盘，事实是即便你可以轻松飞快的打字来跟得上说话的速度，或多或少，你也需要你的谈话对象能快速的看到你的信息。

Once you have things in your pocket that can receive that message,  一但你在口袋里有了能接受这个信息的装置，

then you have the conditions that allow that we can write like we speak.  你就有条件来像说话一样打字了。

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。