TED演讲:书的演变(1)

 　　What makes a book a book? 到底什么才叫书呢？

　　Is it just anything that stores and communicates information? 是指那些能储存或者传达信息的东西吗？

　　Or does it have to do with paper, binding¹, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages? 还是它必须与跟纸、装订、字体、墨水、拿在手中的重量和书页的气味有关？

　　Is this a book? Probably not. But is this? 这是书吗？大概不是。那这个呢？

　　To answer these questions, we need to go back to the start of the book as we know it 为了回答这些问题，我们需要回溯到已知的书的起源，

　　and understand how these elements came together to make something more than the sum of their parts. 去了解不同的的元素如何一起去整合为一件有着丰富意义的物件。

　　The earliest object that we think of as a book is the codex, a stack of pages bound along one edge. 我们已知的最早期的书是抄本，一叠单边装订的纸页。

　　But the real turning point in book history was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century. 但是在书的历史中真正的转折点，是约翰尼斯·谷登堡在十五世纪中期发明的印刷机。

　　The concept of moveable type had been invented much earlier in Eastern culture,  虽然东方在更早时就发明了活字印刷术，

　　but the introduction of Gutenberg's press had a profound effect. 但谷登堡的印刷机却带来了巨大的影响。

　　Suddenly, an elite² class of monks³ and the ruling class no longer controlled the production of texts. 突然间，诸如僧人和统治阶级之类的精英阶层无法再控制文本的生产。

　　Messages could spread more easily, and copies could constantly be produced, so printing houses popped up all over Europe. 消息可以更简单地传播，文本可以不停地复制，因此全欧洲涌现了许多印刷厂。

　　The product of this bibliographic⁴ boom is familiar to us in some respects, but markedly different in others. 书本蓬勃发展时代的产品在很多方面是我们所熟悉的，但也在一些方面存在显著不同。

　　The skeleton of the book is paper, type, and cover. 书的骨架是纸、字和封面。

　　More than 2000 years ago, China invented paper as a writing surface, which was itself predated by Egyptian papyrus⁵. 在两千多年以前，中国发明了纸作为书写平台，而之前的书写平台是埃及的纸莎草。

　　However, until the 16th century, Europeans mainly wrote on thin sheets of wood and durable⁶ parchment made of stretched animal skins. 然而直到十六世纪，欧洲人主要把字写在薄木片或者用动物皮延展制成的耐用羊皮纸上。

　　Eventually, the popularity of paper spread throughout Europe,  最终，纸在欧洲也得到了广泛的使用，

　　replacing parchment for most printings because it was less expensive in bulk. 在大多数印刷中取代了羊皮纸，因为散装购买更便宜。

　　Inks had been made by combining organic plant and animal dyes with water or wine, 墨水之前都是利用有机的植物与动物染料，加上水或酒一起合成，

　　but since water doesn't stick to metal type, use of the printing press required a change to oil-based ink. 但由于金属活字不能沾水，印刷机的使用需要一种油基墨水。

　　Printers used black ink made of a mixture of lamp soot⁷, turpentine, and walnut⁸ oil. 印刷机用的黑色墨水是由灯烟灰、松节油和胡桃油混合制成。

1 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

2 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

3 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 bibliographic   

书籍解题的，著书目录的

参考例句：

• Hall and Brown first define an on-line bibliographic data base as a collection of records. 霍尔和布朗首先把联机书目数据库定义为纪录集合。
• Neat notes especially count for bibliographic information and URLs. 对于书目和网址来说，整洁的笔记特别有价值。

5 papyrus   

n.古以纸草制成之纸

参考例句：

• The Egyptians wrote on papyrus.埃及人书写用薄草纸。
• Since papyrus dries up and crumble,very few documents of ancient Egypt have survived.因草片会干裂成粉末所以古埃及的文件很少保存下来。

6 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

7 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

8 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。