【经典原著导读】麦克卢汉：《理解媒介》（McLuhan: Understanding Media）—1媒介即讯息
一、原文选摘
In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium—that is, of any extension of ourselves—result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.
我们这样的文化，长期习惯于将一切事物分裂和切割，以此作为控制事物的手段。如果有人提醒我们说，在事物运转的实际过程中，媒介即讯息，我们难免会感到有些吃惊。所谓媒介即讯息只不过是说：任何媒介（即人的任何延伸）对个人和社会的任何影响，都是由于新的尺度产生的；我们的任何一种延伸（或曰任何一种新的技术），都要在我们的事物中引进一种新的尺度。
This fact , characteristic of all media, means that the “content” of any medium is always another medium. The content of writing is speech, just as the written word is the content of print, and print is the content of telegraph. If it is asked, “What is the content of speech?,” it is necessary to say, “It is an actual process of though, which is in itself nonverbal.”
事实上，一切媒介的特征都在说明，任何媒介的内容都是另一种媒介。文字的内容是言语，正如文字是印刷的内容，印刷又是电报的内容一样。如果要问“言语的内容是什么”，那就需要这样回答：“是实际的思维过程，而这一过程本身却又是非言语现象。”
For the “message” of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.
任何媒介或技术的“讯息”，就是由它引入人类事物的尺度变化、速度变化和模式变化。
That our human senses, of which all media are extensions, are also fixed charges on our personal energies, and that they also configure the awareness and experience of each one of us.
一切媒介均是感官的延伸，感官同样是我们身体能量上“固持的电荷”。人的感觉也形成了每个人的知觉和经验。
The effect of the medium is made strong and intense just because it is given another medium as “content.” The content of a movie is a novel or a play or an opera. The effect of the movie form is not related to its program content. The “content” of writing or print is speech, but the reader is almost entirely unaware either of print or of speech.
媒介的影响之所以非常强烈，恰恰是另一种媒介变成了它的“内容”。一部电影的内容是一本小说、一部剧本或一场歌剧。电影这个形式与它的节目内容没有关系。文字或印刷的内容是言语，但读者几乎完全没有意识到印刷这个媒介形式，也没有意识到言语这个媒介。
二、单词&短语
extension (n.) 延伸，扩展
message (n.) 信息，讯息，消息
accustomed to 习惯于…
split (v.) 分裂，分开 (n.) 裂口，分离，分歧
dividing (v.) 分开，分散，分配，分离
a bit of a shock 有点儿吃惊
affair (n.) 事物，事件；公共事务，政治事务；私人业务，私事
characteristic (n.) 特征，特点，特色
print (n.) 印刷，出版
nonverbal (adj.) 非言语的，不使用语言的，非文字的
scale (n.) 尺度
introduce (V.) 引入，引进，添入
charge (n.) 电量，电荷 (v.) 充电；控告
configure (v.) 使成型，安装，装配
novel (n.) 小说 (adj.) 新颖的，珍奇的
form (n.) 形状，外形，形态，形式，体型
entirely (adv.) 完全地，完整地，全然地
参考文献
[1] Marshall Mcluhan. Understanding Media[M]. London: Routledge, 1964: 7-23.
[2] 马歇尔·麦克卢汉. 理解媒介（55周年增订本）[M]. 何道宽译, 南京: 译林出版社, 2019: 3-7.
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