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俄亥俄州格林市格林小学的二年级学生莉安娜·胡思（Julianna Huth）如今迷上了数字世界。 The 8-year-old uses both an iPad and a Nook, and she enjoys e-books at home and at school. 8岁的她会用iPad平板电脑和Nook电子阅读器，无论是在家里还是学校，她都喜欢读电子书。 “It’s just cool that you can read on your iPad,” said Julianna, who started using e-books when she was 6. “It’s more fun and you learn more from it.” 莉安娜从6岁起就开始用电子书，她说：“能用iPad读书真是太酷了。电子书更有趣，也可以让你学到更多的东西。” Children would say that. Books on iPads and some e-readers like the Nook Color or the Kindle Fire are fun. They include music, animation and other interactive elements that make reading a book feel like playing a video game. 孩子们会这样说的。iPad和一些电子阅读器（如Nook Color或Kindle Fire）上的电子书都很好玩。它们包含了音乐、动画和其他互动元素，使看书感觉像是在玩电子游戏。
In “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes,” an e-book for children ages 3 to 7, they can change the color of Pete’s shoes by touching them, sing along to music with the lyrics that roll along the page, listen to a narrator or record their voices as they read aloud. 在一本适合3至7岁儿童阅读的电子书《皮特猫：我爱我的白鞋子》（Pete the Cat: I Love MyWhite Shoes）中，孩子们可以触摸皮特猫的鞋子来改变颜色，可以看着滚动式歌词随音乐唱歌，还可以聆听叙述人或者自己大声朗读并录音。 But is it better than a book? It may take a generation to ever know for sure, and even 10 or 20 years from now it will be debated as the effects of television or video games are still discussed today. 但电子书比图书好吗？这也许需要一代人的时间才能确定答案，甚至从现在开始的今后10年或20年中，这个问题都会被争论，就像我们如今依然在讨论电视或电子游戏的影响那样。 Julianna’s teacher, Kourtney Denning, sees e-books as essential. “Old books don’t really cut it anymore,” she said. “We have to transform our learning as we know it.” 莉安娜的老师考特妮·丹宁（Kourtney Denning）认为电子书是必要的。她说：“老式的图书真的已经不再有吸引力了，我们必须转变我们的学习方式了，我们知道这一点。” Amid the excitement and enthusiasm, some people are suggesting a closer look, especially for younger children learning to read. “Right now, the state-of-the-art, in terms of research-based practice is: read traditional books with your child,” said Julia Parish-Morris, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied e-books and how children interact with them. “We don’t have any evidence that any kind of electronic device is better than a parent.” 即使在这种兴奋和热情之中，仍有人建议要对电子书更仔细地进行审视，尤其是为了那些正在学习阅读的孩子们着想。宾夕法尼亚大学的博士后朱莉娅·帕里什-莫里斯（Julia Parish-Morris）研究了电子书以及儿童如何与之进行互动的课题，她说：“现在，从基于研究的实践来看，当前的发展水平是：和你的孩子一起读传统图书。没有任何证据显示有哪种电子设备比父母还好。” In an attempt to figure out whether parents should embrace e-books with great enthusiasm or ration e-reader screen time as they do TV time, Julianna’s class is participating in a research project for the Center for Literacy at the University of Akron. 莉安娜的班级正在参与阿克伦大学读写中心（Center for Literacy atthe University of Akron）的一个研究项目，以弄清楚父母是否应该以极大的热情来接受电子书，还是该像限制孩子们看电视的时间一样限制他们对着电子阅读器屏幕的时间。 The project is meant to find the best way to integrate e-books into classrooms. It is part of a broader study of kindergartners through second graders using a range of devices and computers. 此项目意在寻找一种将电子书与课堂相结合的最佳方式。它属于一个更大的研究项目，后者对介于幼儿园和二年级年龄段之间的孩子使用各种设备和计算机进行研究。 Julianna’s mother, Cathy Ivancic, was elated when she learned the class would take part in the study. She said that devices like the iPad were new and fun and gave children an incentive to read, including those who might be reluctant. “It’s a new motivation to explore reading,” she said. “At this age is when you learn to love reading, or not love reading.” 莉安娜的妈妈凯茜·伊万希克（Cathy Ivancic）在得知女儿所在的班级参与了这项研究后很高兴。她说，像iPad这样的电子设备新颖有趣，并能激励孩子们——包括那些可能不爱读书的——阅读。她说：“这是孩子们读书的新动力。这个年纪正是你学会爱上读书或不爱读书的时候。” Ms. Ivancic’s other daughter, Jessica, 13, also uses an e-reader, preferring e-books over traditional books because they are easier to read. “And in between books you can play apps,” she said. 伊万希克的另一个女儿、13岁的杰西卡（Jessica）也在使用一部电子阅读器。比起传统书来，她更喜欢阅读电子书，因为它们读起来更容易。她说：“读书的空档你还可以玩玩应用程序。” Ms. Parish-Morris and educators are concerned that children can be distracted by the animations and gamelike features within e-books. Maintaining a focus on the story is important in developing literacy skills, they said. 帕里什-莫里斯和教育者们担心孩子们会为电子书中的动画和游戏般的特色分神。他们表示，在发展读写能力时，很重要的一点是把注意力保持在故事上。 One way this happens spontaneously is through a back-and-forth dialogue that develops naturally between a parent and child sharing a book. 这种情况自发产生的一种方式是：父母和孩子共享一本书，并自然地进行来回对话。 “The most important thing is sitting and talking with your children,” said Gabrielle Strouse, an adjunct assistant professor at Vanderbilt who has studied e-books. “Whether you’re reading a book, whether you’re reading an e-book, whether you’re watching a video. Co-interacting, co-viewing, is the best way for them to learn.” 范德堡大学（Vanderbilt University）兼职助理教授加布里埃尔·斯特劳斯（Gabrielle Strouse）曾研究过电子书，她表示：“最重要的事情是坐下来和你的孩子谈话。不管你是在读一本传统图书还是在读电子书，或是在看电视。一起互动、一起观看才是他们学习的最好方式。” Lisa Guernsey, director of the early education initiative at the New America Foundation, says conversations about how events of a story relate to the child’s own life, or asking open-ended questions about what happened, are examples of spontaneous dialogue. But this kind of interaction is often different with e-books, she said, and in some cases, disappears. 新美国基金会（New America Foundation）的早期教育项目负责人丽萨·格恩西（Lisa Guernsey）表示，讨论一个故事中的事件如何与孩子自己的生活有关系，或者就发生了什么事提出开放式问题，就是自发式对话的例子。她说，但这种互动常常和电子书不同，在某些情况下甚至会消失。 “We are seeing some evidence that parents expect the e-books to do it all and are stepping back from the engagement with their children,” she said. 她说：“我们看到一些迹象显示父母们指望电子书去包揽所有事情，而他们则从和孩子的交流中抽出身来。” Cristy Ludrosky, another parent with a child in Mrs. Denning’s class, is an advocate of e-books, although she does have concerns about the potential for distractions. “There’s this struggle there,” she said. “Sometimes you look at it and you are thinking, ‘Are they reading or learning to read, or are they playing an app or a game?’ ” 丹宁老师班里另一个孩子的母亲克瑞思蒂·路德罗丝克（Cristy Ludrosky）是电子书的倡导者，尽管她确实也担心孩子分心的可能性。她说：“我有些纠结，有时候你看着它就会想：‘他们是在阅读或学习阅读，还是在玩应用程序或游戏呢？’” 本文最初发表于2012年3月28日，由《纽约时报》授权之《时报信息》翻译。 |
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