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看电视和阅读是我们生活中两个很重要的休闲方式，那么它们都有什么样的优点和缺点呢?让我们来比较一下!

　　 Viewing vs Reading

　　The pace of reading, clearly, depends entirely upon the reader. He may read as slowly or as rapidly as he can or wishes to read. If he does not understand something, he may stop and reread it, or go in search of elucidation before continuing. The reader can accelerate his pace when the material is easy or less than interesting, and slow down when it is difficult or absorbing. If what he reads is moving, he can put down the book for a few moments and cope with his emotions without fear of losing anything①.
　　The pace of the television experience cannot be controlled by the viewer; only its beginning and end are within his control as he clicks the knob on and off. He cannot slow down a delightful program or speed up a dreary one. He cannot “turn back” if a word or phrase is not understood. The program moves inexorably forward, and what is lost or misunderstood remains so.
　　Nor can the television viewer readily transform the material he receives into a form that might suit his particular emotional needs, as he invariably does with material he reads. The images move too quickly. He cannot use his own imagination to invest the people and events portrayed on television with the personal meanings that would help him understand and resolve relationships and conflicts in his own life; he is under the power of the imagination of the show’s creators. In the television experience the eyes and ears are overwhelmed with the immediacy of sights and sounds.
　　If someone enters the room while one is watching television — a friend, a relative, a child, someone, perhaps, one has not seen for some time — one must continue to watch or one will lose the thread②. The greetings must wait, for the television program will not. A book, of course, can be set aside, with a little regret, perhaps, but with no sense of permanent loss.

　　[331 words]

点评及翻译

行文点评：

　　本文结构属于comparison and contrast,把两类事物进行对照比较。comparison and contrast不要求作者有鲜明的立场，即支持哪一方，或反对哪一方，只要清楚明白地说出两者之间的异同就可以了，这是它与议论文(argument)不同的一点。
　　纵观全文，可以明显看出，作者偏向于阅读，所以在对比过程中作者肯定了阅读的优点。在第一段中clearly的插入，使句式新颖。文章的前两段从速度方面将viewing与reading两者进行了对比。句首The pace of...排比句的应用形成了段落间的并列，使文章结构严谨。这两段都是首句提出主题，然后围绕这句话再展开具体的论述。第三段作者旨在说明看电视限制了人们的想象空间。在第四段中作者通过生活中一个非常普遍的例子论证了前文谈到的观点，其中插入语的运用增加了文章句式的变化。

翻译：

　　 看电视与阅读

　　很明显，阅读的速度完全由读者决定。他可以按自己的能力和意愿读慢一点或读快一点。如果有什么他没读懂，他可以停下来再读一遍，或看一下注释说明再继续往下读。当阅读材料易懂或者不太有趣时，读者可以加快阅读速度;当它难懂或引人入胜时可以放慢速度。如果阅读的东西令人感动，他可以放下书停一会儿，调整一下情绪，而不必担心错过了什么。
　　电视的速度不能由看电视的人来控制;只有它的开始与结束在他的掌握中，因为他可以把开关打开或按下。他不能慢放一个令人愉快的节目，也不能快放一个令人乏味的节目。如果有一个字或一个词组没听懂，他也不能“倒回去”再听一次。节目无动于衷地进行着，而错过的就这样错过了，没看懂的也没机会看懂了。
　　看电视的人也不能像他在阅读时通常做的那样，将他接收到的材料转化为一种可能适合他的特殊感情需求的形式。图像变化得太快。他不可能用他的想象给电视中饰演的人和事赋予个人意义，以帮助他理解和解决自己生活中的关系和冲突;他被节目制作者的想象力控制住了。看电视时，眼睛和耳朵被稍纵即逝的图像和声音控制住了。
　　当一个人正在看电视时，如果有人——朋友，亲戚，小孩，可能是一个他很久没见过的人进入房间，他必须继续观看电视，不然就会乱了头绪。必须等一会儿再招呼客人，因为节目不会等人。当然，一本书可以被放在一旁，可能会有些惋惜，但不会有永久的损失。

词汇斟酌：

　　elucidation n. 注释，解释
　　knob n. 旋钮
　　drearya. 沉闷的，枯燥无味的
　　inexorablyad. 无动于衷地，无情地
　　invariablyad. 不变地，始终如一地，总是
　　portrayvt. ①描写，描绘②扮演，饰演
　　set aside 把…置于一旁，不理会
　　permanent a. 永久(性)的