The edict came down from above as much as a decade ago; we should all read more. And that the Chinese populace appears to be doing, judging by the turnout for a book fair which packed a punch these past few days in Suzhou.
早在十年前，这项法令就从上层下达了。我们都应该多读书。从过去几天在苏州举行的一场书展的参加人数来看，中国民众似乎正在这样做。
The 15th Jiangsu Book Fair came to a close yesterday, 15 July, 2025, after a 5-day exposition of all kinds of literature, held at the Suzhou Expo Centre. No need for directions; follow the crowd from the Metro. From the get go, it was packed.
经过为期5天的各类文学博览会，第十五届江苏书展于昨天、2025年7月15日在苏州博览中心落下帷幕。无需指引；跟着地铁里的人群。从一开始，它就挤满了人。
With our nation’s esteemed leader garnering centre stage at the entrance to the Fair, flanked by his publications, one could not help but first wonder in admiration; “How does he have time to write so many books?”.
当我们国家受人尊敬的领导人登上博览会入口处的中心舞台，两侧是他的出版物时，人们不禁首先惊叹不已； “他怎么有时间写这么多书？”。
Such a diversion aside, as most skirted the paramount’s offering to delve deeper into the world of literature, it was the large section devoted to English books which grabbed this correspondent’s attention, not only for its language of publication, but for the scale and variety of titles, and, most importantly, the fact that those in attendance were exhibiting a non-stop kind of interest in such.
抛开这种消遣不谈，由于大多数人都避开了派拉蒙提供的深入研究文学世界的内容，吸引了记者注意的是专门介绍英文书籍的大部分内容，不仅因为它的出版语言，而且因为书名的规模和种类，而且最重要的是，与会者对此类书籍表现出了不间断的兴趣。
Until now perhaps, English books in China have had a bad rap. Locked somewhere between mostly the 19th and 20th Centuries, with “Jane Eyre”, “Great Expectations” and “Hamlet” as staples, “1984” is about as exciting as it ever got, until the censors presumably cottoned on to what it is really about.
也许到目前为止，英文书籍在中国的名声并不好。 《1984》主要锁定在 19 世纪和 20 世纪之间，以《简·爱》、《远大前程》和《哈姆雷特》为主要内容，它一如既往地令人兴奋，直到审查人员大概明白了它的真正含义。
But this time around in Suzhou was altogether different, with the biggest variety of English books in one place this correspondent has every seen during his entire 32 years in China.
但这次苏州却完全不同，这里是记者在中国32年里见过的英文书籍种类最多的地方。
Hence it was a joy to find on the shelves of the Suzhou Expo Centre a copy of British comedian Stephen Fry’s latest, “Mythos”, or “Titan; the Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr.” by Pulitzer Prize winning Ron Chernow. Likewise for an extensive section dedicated entirely to design, in which could be found “China’s Hidden Century 1796-1912” out of the British Museum, “Soviet Bus Stops” and a tomb devoted to the work of HR Giger, by the Swiss surrealist painter and designer of the Oscar winning “Alien” himself.
因此，我们很高兴在苏州博览中心的书架上找到英国喜剧演员斯蒂芬·弗莱的最新作品《神话》或《泰坦：老约翰·D·洛克菲勒的一生》。作者：普利策奖得主罗恩·切尔诺。同样，还有一个完全致力于设计的广泛部分，其中可以找到大英博物馆的“中国隐藏的世纪1796-1912”、“苏联巴士站”和一座专门纪念HR吉格尔作品的坟墓，该墓由瑞士超现实主义画家和奥斯卡奖得主《异形》的设计师本人设计。
Rounding it all off, arguably the biggest English dictionary there has ever been produced (Collins’ “CoBuild; Advanced Learners’ Dictionary 10th Edition”) and an equally-weighty tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II (“Her Majesty; A Photographic History 1926-2022).
总而言之，这本书可以说是有史以来最大的英语词典（柯林斯的《CoBuild；高级学习词典第 10 版》），以及对已故女王伊丽莎白二世同样重要的致敬（《女王陛下；1926-2022 年摄影史》）。
All in, it was an impressive collection of English works, and an encouraging one to see, given the increasingly polarised and geopolitical tensions prevalent today, showing that, outwardly at least, China is living up to its claims to be continually opening up to the outside world.
总而言之，这是一本令人印象深刻的英文作品集，考虑到当今日益普遍的两极分化和地缘政治紧张局势，这是一本令人鼓舞的作品，它表明，至少在表面上，中国正在兑现其不断向外部世界开放的主张。
China has in fact an extremely good track record of improving literacy rates, at least since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Prior to this, average-adult literacy for male and female combined stood somewhere between 20 and 30 percent, and was even as low as 10 percent as the 20th Century dawned.
事实上，中国在提高识字率方面有着极其良好的记录，至少自 1949 年中华人民共和国成立以来是如此。在此之前，男女成人平均识字率加起来在 20% 至 30% 之间，在 20 世纪初期甚至低至 10%。
When new China took hold, the People’s Republic initiated widespread literacy programs, in effect the precursors to that we have seen over the past 10 years. As Language magazine has reported, the result was that by 1964, literacy rates among those aged 12-40 had increased from 20 percent to 57 percent.
新中国成立后，中华人民共和国启动了广泛的扫盲计划，这实际上是我们在过去十年中所看到的前兆。据《语言》杂志报道，结果是，到 1964 年，12 至 40 岁人群的识字率从 20% 增加到 57%。
By 1982, the percent of those in the general population able to read had climbed to over 65 percent, with steady increases continuing ever since. A 90-percent literacy rate in 2000 was followed by one of 95 percent a decade later. Statistica’s latest reports show a 2020 average-literacy rate for China of 97.15 percent.
到 1982 年，总人口中能够阅读的比例已攀升至 65% 以上，此后一直持续稳定增长。 2000 年识字率为 90%，十年后又达到 95%。 Statistica最新报告显示，2020年中国平均识字率为97.15%。
