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You know, back in the 40s and 50s, the original standard television had a 4 to 3 width to height ratio.
你知道，上世紀四五十年代時，電視屏幕的標準長寬比本來是4：3。
That shape was chosen to be a slight rectangle, but still mostly square, thus having the maximal screen area for the given dimensions.
這個形狀雖是長方形，但仍然很接近正方形，因此在給定的維度下實現的面積最大。
And that's still the ratio on many TVs and computer monitors in today's homes.
今天的許多電視電腦仍然沿用了這一比例。
The problem is, hardly anybody today treats video content in a 4 to 3 ratio.
問題是，現在幾乎沒人還看4：3的視頻了。
See, this whole problem started when people wanted to watch movies from the theater in the comfort of their own homes.
看吧，當人們想在自己家中欣賞和在影院效果一樣的電影時，問題就來了。
Movie screens are considerably larger than our home television.
銀幕的尺寸比電視大得多。
More important, the screen is completely different rectangle, and can't mathematically fit on our TV screens without manipulation.
更重要的是，銀幕用的是完全不同的長方形，這樣的尺寸很難不經調整就直接被搬上電視屏幕。
A typical TV is one and a third times wider than it is tall. Some movie screens could be up to three times as wide as it is tall.
通常，電視屏幕的長寬比是4：3。有些電影的長度可以達到寬度的三倍。
So what're we gonna do to make it fit? Well, we have all kinds of options.
那怎樣才能讓它們匹配呢？唔，選擇還是很多的。
Well, we could squeeze and stretch and mangle everything on to the screen, to make it all fill up, and everyone would look ridiculously thin and compressed.
我們可以壓縮和拉伸，把所有內容都塞進屏幕，讓屏幕被畫面完全覆蓋，但是畫面上的人就會顯得特別瘦，看起來像被壓扁了一樣。
The good news is the sound would be just fine.
好消息是，聲音和畫面還是匹配的。
Although I don't think people would be too happy about that option, particularly the actors in the movie.
不過我不知道人們會不會滿足于這個方式，尤其是電影的演員們。
We could just cut a chunk of the original movie like a cookie cutter and just see that frame of the movie.
我們也可以像用模具切面片一樣從原版電影中截一塊，并以此作為框架。
The problem with that would be that people and objects would be speaking from off the screen, or even worse, they might be cut in half.
這么做的問題是，說話的人可能被擋在了屏幕之外，更糟的是，他們可能被切掉一半。
Some movie editors use what's called the "pan and scan" technique to allow the full height of the TV screen to be used, but pick and choose what section of the original movie should be shown on your screen thus eliminating the annoying cutting of people.
一些影片編輯使用一種叫“平移與掃描”的技術來充分使用電視屏幕的寬度，可以選擇電影的哪一部分應該出現在電視屏幕上，這樣就能避免經常把人像剪開了。
Imagine that job, staring at a 4 to 3 hole watching movies all day, deciding for everyone which piece of the screen is the most important part for people to see.
想像一下這份工作：從4：3孔開始，整天就看電影，并決定畫面的哪一部分是觀眾一定要看的。
