When reading, don’t let your ears go

　　 When it comes to reading, I’m still an old school guy. I insist that sitting down, opening a book, and taking notes while reading is the best way to read. Reading is easy to produce pleasure, and when the pleasure comes, no matter what, rush to the end in one breath, that’s cool. I call this type of reading indulgent reading, and it has the disadvantage of seeing faster and forgetting faster.
　　 If you have a pen in hand, it will have an adjustment to the speed of reading. The role of the pen is actually the role of the brake. You scratch a few times on the book, and then write a few words, so that the reading speed will slow down, which will help understanding and memory. When I chat with young people, I often find such a thing. When we discuss a certain detail of the work, he will say: “I didn’t pay attention to it.” The problem is, you didn’t pay attention to this detail, and you didn’t pay attention to that detail. Didn’t notice either, so what did you read? To put it bluntly, it’s just the outline of the story. For popular fiction, this is naturally no problem. However, in the face of real literature, the omission here is a bit large. I mean, if you’re in a relationship, and after a month, you only know the girl’s height and weight, it can only say, you don’t love her.
　　 A few days ago, Yu Hua and I were judges together. I was surprised to find that Yu Hua’s reading speed was even slower than mine, and I was so happy. I always thought that I was slow in reading because my IQ was not high enough. Now that I am better, I know that it is me and Yu Hua who have similar good habits.
　　 In fact, my reading speed is quite fast, most of the time, I can read ten lines at a glance. However, when reading the classics, I am not even willing to let go of a single word, a single word. As a writer, I know the meaning of words and words, they mean a lot, they are the end of a writer, they may be the essence. In many cases, when words and phrases are missed, the whole work is missed, and even the writer is missed.
　　 However, I would say that no matter how good readers we are, reading has its limits. This limitation comes not from our abilities, but from the properties of words themselves.
　　 There are two basic attributes of text: one is “shape”, which is used for our reading, and it acts on vision; there is an equally important attribute of text, that is “sound”, which is used for our speech, It depends on our hearing. “Shape” and “sound” do not constitute a contradictory relationship with each other. However, due to physiological characteristics, it is difficult for us to take into account when dealing with words. For example, when we speak, we accept the “sound”, and naturally ignore the “shape” of the words; similarly, when we read, we naturally focus on the “shape” of the words, and it is difficult to understand the “sound” of the words. “.
　　 Take an example. In the second act of “Thunderstorm”, there is a dialogue between the stepmother Fanyi and the eldest son Zhou Ping. There is an incestuous love between them. In the script, Zhou Ping said:. “If you think you’re not the father of his wife, I also admit that I am my father’s son,” Fan Yi said: “Oh, you are your father’s son.”
　　 This is a paragraph of text I I read it when I was in college, and these two lines of “words” just slid past my eyes. However, one day, in the theater, my ears finally heard the “sound” of these two lines, and I admit, I got goosebumps. I am deeply impressed by the talent of Mr. Cao Yu.
　　 “I am my father’s son.” This is Zhou Ping’s cunning. Zhou Ping wants to end his incestuous relationship with his stepmother, and he wants to overwhelm Fanyi with ethics and hypocrisy.
　　 Fan Yi’s voice was full of resentment, she didn’t expect Zhou Ping to say such a thing. Fan Yi’s voice is also an indictment of the beginning and the end, a shocking ridicule and abuse—you and your father are in the same boat, it is complete despair, it is the last restraint before going crazy, and it is only one step away from the vixen’s scolding— – “You are your father’s son” Ah!
　　 There is a real question. If there is no “sound” of language, and I have no “listening”, can I really “read” “Thunderstorm”? Can I really get such a strong aesthetic shock?
　　 In fact, when we stress reading, we must not do stupid things like “self-harm”, we should not give up our ears. It’s not just for hanging glasses and wearing masks. In a word, we should never ignore another property of text.
　　 Reading is invaluable, however, we must also admit that its history is actually very short. Before printing was invented, the history we knew was the history of “oral transmission”, in a word, the history of “sound” and the history of “listening”. Literature is like this, religion is like this. This is the case with the “Homer Epic” in the West, and the same is true of our “Huaben” in the East – otherwise, how could it be called “Huaben”?
　　 Times have changed. Who would have thought that the development of technology could be so fast? When we were about to reach the limit of our vision, we finally remembered that we still have ears. Audio is here, and the era of “listening” has arrived. The human ear is delighted. They are proud, their wits are bloodshot, their ears are up on either side of their heads.