評論
打印
With free time and no TV, children and adults might rediscover reading. There is more entertainment in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming. Educators report that the generation growing up with television can barely write an English sentence, even at the college level. Writing is often learned from reading. A more literate new generation could be a product of the quiet hour.
有了空閑時間而又沒有電視可看，大人小孩便有可能重新發現閱讀。一本好書里的樂趣，勝過一個月中所有典型的電視節目。教育家們報告說，伴隨著電視長大的這一代人幾乎寫不出一句英語句子，甚至在大學一級受教育的人也是這樣。寫作往往是通過閱讀學會的。每晚清靜這么一個小時，可以造就出文化程度較高的一代新人。
A different form of reading might also be done, as it was in the past: reading aloud. Few pastimes bring a family closer together than gathering around and listening to mother or father read a good story. The quiet hour could become the story hour. When the quiet hour ends, the TV networks might even be forced to come up with better shows in order to get us back from our newly discovered activities.
也許還可以像過去那樣進行另一種形式的閱讀：高聲朗讀。沒有多少娛樂比一家人聚在一起，聽爸爸或媽媽朗讀一篇優美的故事更能使一家人關系融洽和睦了。沒有電視干擾的這一小時，可以成為朗讀故事的時間。等這靜悄悄的一小時過去后，想要再把我們從新發現的娛樂活動中拉回去，電視聯播公司也許將被迫拿出些更好的節目來才行。
At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical. What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter? How will we spend the time? But it is not radical at all. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time. Those of us thirty-five and older can remember childhoods without television, spent partly with radio — which at least involved the listener's imagination — but also with reading, learning, talking, playing games, inventing new activities. It wasn't that difficult. Honest. The truth is we had a ball.
乍一看，停播一小時電視的想法似乎過于偏激。如果少了這位電子保姆，做父母的可怎么辦呢？我們怎么來打發這段時間呢？其實這個想法一點也不偏激。電視開始主宰美國人的空閑時間，至今也不過才二十五年。我們之中那些年滿和年過三十五歲的人，還能回憶起沒有電視相伴的童年，那時我們有一部分空閑時間以收音機為伴——聽收音機至少還要發揮聽者的想像力——但另外我們還看書、學習、交談、做游戲、發明一些新的活動。日子也并不那么難過。真的。那時我們確實過得挺開心。
