Roughly a month after passing a law requiring adults to regularly visit their elderly parents, Chinese policy makers are considering legislation to encourage another activity the country’s people have neglected: Reading.
在出台成年子女须定期探望年迈父母这一法律大约一个月后，中国决策者开始考虑通过立法鼓励另一项被国人忽视的活动：阅读。The General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television announced that it had drawn up the first draft of a new Regulation on Public Reading Promotion, which it planned to submit to the country’s cabinet, the State Council, for approval by the end of the year.
中国国家新闻出版广电总局宣布，草拟了《全民阅读促进条例》初稿，打算在年底前将其提交给国务院审批。The regulation, which has been in development since the country’s annual legislative conclave in March, is motivated by new research showing Chinese people reading books at a relatively low rate despite the country being one of the world’s most prolific book producers.
自从今年3月中国召开年度立法会议以来，该条例便一直在酝酿中，而这么做的动力来自一份新研究调查。调查显示，尽管中国是世界上最多产的图书生产国之一，但中国人的阅读率偏低。
Chinese people between the ages of 18 and 70 read 6.7 books on average last year, including paper books and e-books, an increase of roughly one book per year compared with 2011, according to a national public reading survey conducted by the state-affiliated Chinese Academy of Press and Publication.
国有机构中国新闻出版研究院对全国公众阅读情况的调查结果显示，去年年龄在18岁至70岁的中国人平均读了6.7本书（包括纸书和电子书），比2011年增加了一本左右。American readers consumed an average of 15 books per year in 2012, according to a survey by Pew. Three-quarters of Americans read at least one book last year, Pew found, which means that Americans read 10.5 books on average in 2012 when nonreaders are factored in.
皮尤(Pew)调查显示，2012年美国读者平均一年阅读15本书。调查发现，四分之三的美国人去年至少读了一本书，这意味着如考虑那些不读书的人，2012年美国人平均读了10.5本书。China publishes more than 400,000 different book titles last year ─ a 14.4% increase from 2011 ─ according to official statistics.
据官方统计，以不同的书名来看，中国去年出版的书籍数量超过40万种，较2011年增加了14.4%。Such a low reading rate is disturbing to leaders in a country that once chose its officials according to how well-read they were. Yet social-media users haven’t taken kindly to the announcement of the law, details of which have yet to be released.
对于曾经根据博学程度来选拔官员的中国来说，如此低的阅读率令中国领导人不安。但社交媒体用户并未对有关“阅读法”消息持欢迎态度。相关法律细节尚未公布。“I totally agree with promoting reading, but doing it by law is totally crap and useless,” wrote one user of Sina Corp.’s popular Weibo microblogging service.
一位网友在新浪公司(Sina Corp.)旗下人气颇高的微博上写道：我极度赞同全民读书，但是用立法推动阅读，纯属扯淡！净整没用的！“Will people get sentenced for not reading enough?” asked another.
另一位网友问道：看不够书要判刑吗？Even the Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper was skeptical about legislating better reading habits, though it defended the spirit of the proposed regulation.
就连作为中共喉舌的报纸也质疑是否能通过立法培养更好的阅读习惯，尽管该报为这一条例的用意进行了辩护。“No matter whether (the law) can really improve the reading rate, it is true that more and more Chinese don’t read,” People’s Daily said in on its verified Weibo feed.
《人民日报》在新浪微博的认证账户发帖说，姑且不论能否提高阅读率，但“不阅读的中国人”的确越来越多。Given China’s long history of valuing scholarly pursuits, it isn’t clear why Chinese people have such a weak appetite for the written word, though some say it is precisely the country’s obsession with education and stiff competition on the college entrance exams ─ that’s too blame.
考虑到中国人长久以来就有重视求学的传统，当下的中国人为什么对读书如此提不起兴趣还没有明确的解释，不过有些人说，正是中国人对教育的投入以及考大学竞争激烈造成了这种现状。“To score high in exams, we are forced to read something outdated and valueless,” said Kang Kai, editor of CS-BOOKY, a Beijing-based publishing company. “The painful experience leaves a negative impression on people’s mind and later leads to the popular idea that ‘reading is useless.’”
位于北京的出版企业中南博集天卷文化传媒公司(CS-Booky)的编辑康慨说，为了高分，我们被强迫读一些没有价值的，过时的内容，这种痛苦的经历给人们留下消极的影响，之后导致了读书无用论的盛行。Others point to censorship. The publishing regulator maintains strict control over the issuance of book numbers, which are required for a book to be published or sold legally, denying them to books it deems inappropriate. Topics that allude to violence, religion, sex and politics are strictly controlled. Some publishers say this year, novels about Chinese officialdom an immensely popular genre widely embraced by Chinese readers in recent years have been unable to get book numbers.
还有一些人把矛头指向了审查机制。出版监管机构严格控制书号的发放，不给其认为不适合出版的书发放书号，而一本书要合法出版、合法销售就必须要有书号。与暴力、宗教、性和政治有关的主题更是受到了严格的控制。一些出版商说，今年，官场小说也拿不到书号了。近些年来，官场小说在中国读者中大受欢迎。“It’s not that Chinese don’t like to read,” said Wang Xiaodong, president of China Pioneer Culture & Media Co., whose company has many published books that later were adapted into films and dramas, including “The Flowers of War.” “It’s that Chinese don’t like to read what the government publishes.”
新华先锋文化传媒有限公司总裁王笑东说，并不是中国人不喜欢读书，而是中国人不喜欢读官方出版的书。新华先锋文化传媒有限公司出版的很多书后来被改编成了电影和电视剧，包括《金陵十三钗》(The Flowers of War)。The wide availability of pirated books online is another problem, according Mr. Wang. “It will be more meaningful for the government to try harder to curb online piracy and protect writer’s rights,” he said.
在王笑东看来，盗版书在网上泛滥是另一个问题。王笑东说，政府应该做打击互联网盗版以及保护作者的权利这样更有意义的事情。Finally, there are the bad memories many Chinese have of the last time Beijing tried to force its citizens to read.
而且，对于上一次中国政府强迫人们阅读的事，很多人还有着不好的记忆。“It is fine to recommend good books to the public, but compelling people to read may lead to mental oppression,” said Mr. Kang, referring to the Cultural Revolution when the public was commanded to read works by Mao Zedong.
康慨说，向公众推荐好书是好的，但是强迫阅读会导致打压思想。他指的是文革中，人们曾被命令读毛泽东的文章。