數字時代：只求享用，不求持有

或許大部分人都會理所當然地認為電子書比紙質書便宜，在網上付費看電影比購買電影光碟便宜。所以當亞馬遜上的電子書定價比紙質書還要高，下載高清版電影比購買二手光碟還要貴時，很多人感到疑惑不解。但如果換個角度思考，電子版帶給我們的除了信息內容，還有便利舒適的使用體驗，也許你就會覺得多付的錢是值得的。

Imagine, for a moment, that you want to buy The Complete Works of Primo Levi1edited by talentedtranslator Ann Goldstein. If you were to buy a new version of the hardcover2collection on Amazon, the price is $58.40. If, however, you decided that rather than adorning3 your shelves with Levi, you wanted to download it to your e-reader, saving yourself paper and time, you would need to pay $59.49. It would cost you more not to physically own the

books.

我偶爾會設想，假如你想購買由優秀翻譯家安·戈德斯坦編輯的《普里莫·萊維全集》，亞馬遜上的新版精裝書售價為58.40美元。但是如果你認為與其用萊維的書裝飾書架，不如把它下載到電子閱讀器上，這樣還節省紙張和時間，那麼你需要支付59.49美元，比購買紙質書還要貴。

1. Primo Levi: 普里莫·萊維（1919—1987），猶太裔義大利化學家、小說家，也是納粹大屠殺的倖存者，曾在奧斯維辛集中營里被關押了11個月，他於1947年出版的處女作《如果這是一個人》就記錄了那一段生活。

2. hardcover: 硬皮書，精裝書。

3. adorn: 裝飾。

Of course, it』s just a difference of $1.09. But spend some time on Amazon and a trend becomes clear: Many (though certainly not all) digital versions cost more than their physical counterparts4. The Blu-ray Disc of the Christmas classicLove Actuallycosts a very reasonable $8.68, but to download and buy the HD5version on Amazon Video costs $14.99. (To

download and rent it costs $3.99, while a used version is only $2.37). Download Beyoncé』s6Lemonadefrom Apple to your iPhone for $17.99, but get the CD on Amazon for just $15.76.

當然，價格只相差1.09美元，如果你在亞馬遜上花點時間，就會發現一個趨勢日益明顯：很多產品（當然不是全部）的數字版價格高於其實體版。經典聖誕愛情片《真愛至上》的藍光碟定價相當合理——8.68 美元，而從「亞馬遜視頻」上購買下載高清版需要花14.99 美元（租看下載這部電影是3.99 美元，而二手光碟只需2.37 美元）。從蘋果商店下載歌手碧昂絲的專輯《檸檬水》到iPhone上需要支付17.99 美元，而從亞馬遜上買張CD只要15.76美元。

4. counterpart: 職位（或作用）相當的人，對應的事物。

5. HD: high definition，（電視或錄像）高清晰度的。

6. Beyoncé: 碧昂絲，美國著名流行音樂女歌手。

Certainly this is far from the case in every instance—there are lots of examples of the digital version being cheaper than the physical. But the list will only get longer, raising the question: Why are we increasingly paying more money to not actually have the thing we』re buying? Amazon and Apple acknowledged receipt of but did not respond to requests for comment. But while we cannot know their official answers, we can nevertheless speculate7as to why we』re now paying more to own without physically owning.

當然很多時候並非如此——很多產品的數字版還是比實體版便宜。但是數字版價格高於實體版的產品只會越來越多，讓我們不禁發問：為什麼要花越來越多的錢去購買不能實際持有的產品呢？亞馬遜和蘋果公司都承認收到過相關提問，但沒有給出答覆。儘管不知道他們的官方回答，但我們還是可以推測為什麼我們要支付更多的錢去購買不能實際持有的東西。

7. speculate: 推測，猜測。

For one thing, we』ve reached a point at which it』s the digital version that won』t let us down. Mark Dean, assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Columbia University, surmised in an email that while he could try to create 「some clever behavioral econ explanation,」8he thinks the real answer is that we are paying more to download because we are learning to trust the digital, easily available version. It used to be that to have the physical copy was to have reliability and consistency. But that isn』t true anymore, he said. The internet is now reliable, and with it Amazon and Netflix9. In fact, they』re more durable than the physical copy, as anyone who has scratched10a CD or had a package get lost in the mail or misplaced a beloved book would likely agree.

一方面，現在的情況是數字版一般不會讓我們失望。哥倫比亞大學經濟系副教授馬克·迪恩曾在一封郵件中做出猜想，他嘗試給出「某種合理的經濟行為解釋」，認為人們支付更多錢去下載的真正原因在於我們越來越信賴容易獲取的數字版本。在過去，實體產品意味著可靠性和持久性，然而現在情況變了，迪恩說。互聯網變得可靠，使得亞馬遜和奈飛也讓人信賴。其實數字版比實體版更加持久，相信每個刮花過CD、快遞中丟過包裹或忘記把心愛的書放在哪裡的人都會同意這一點。

8. surmise: 猜測，推測；behavioral: 行為的；econ: economic的縮寫。

9. Netflix: 奈飛公司，一家知名在線影片租賃提供商。

10. scratch:（用指甲）撓，抓，（用利器）劃破。

We』ve also come to see the digital version as superior in some ways. Mark Armstrong, professor of economics at the University of Oxford, noted in an email that we』ll shell out11 for things like being able to quickly consume a product wherever one wants, or clicking on a word reading to see its definition, or skipping to the place in a book where a character first appears. Furthermore, he said, digital copies don』t take up any space in a home office or university library, and perhaps more importantly, it』s the 「only way to get immediate access from your sofa.」 All of which is to say that we pay more for digital copies not only because they are more reliable, but also because they are more convenient.

同時我們也認識到數字版在某些方面的優越性。哈佛大學經濟學教授馬克·阿姆斯特朗在一封郵件中指出，我們其實在為一些體驗付費，比如隨時隨地可快速消費的產品，或是閱讀過程中通過點擊某一單詞查看其釋義，或是快速跳到書中某個人物首次出場的地方。他進一步說，數字版不會佔據家庭辦公室或大學圖書館的空間，也許更重要的是，它是「窩在沙發上就可獲取的唯一方式」。也就是說，我們為數字版本支付更高的價錢不僅僅因為其可靠性，更因為其便捷性。

Physical formats, on the other hand……

另一方面，實體版本……

11. shell out: 付款，還賬。

相比之下，實體版本劣勢何在？人們對於實體版本的態度又是如何？更多精彩，鎖定《英語學習》2017年2月刊。

2017年雜誌訂閱 看這裡看這裡！

1、郵局訂閱全年雜誌（郵發代號2-447）

1）撥打當地郵局服務電話11185，工作人員上門收訂；

2）到郵局訂閱窗口辦理

郵局每年10月至12月受理次年雜誌訂閱，請勿錯過。

2、微信平台「訂閱直通車」訂閱新刊

3、登錄噹噹網「中郵期刊旗艦店」訂閱新刊

（可購買各期次單刊、過刊）

5、全國各地書店均有銷售

歡迎訂閱哦！