数个世纪以来在中国书法一直都是备受崇敬的艺术形式。儿童被教导用毛笔写字，无尽的抄写汉字是他们学校授课中的必经仪式。写字是记忆的壮举。掌握（写字）要求学会成千上万个独立的汉字。虽然有这些磨难，识字率从1949年的约20%上升到现在超过95%。但是电脑、智能手机和平板电脑都在对进展产生新的障碍。笔法正在走下坡。阅读技巧可能随着（）下滑。
Calligraphy has been a revered art from in China for centuries. Children are taught to write with /a/ brush[es], /the/ endless copying of characters is a rite of passage in their schooling. Writing is a feat of memory. Mastery requires learning thousands of unique characters. Even with[/Despite] these ordeals, /the/ literacy rate[s] [have increased] from about[/around] 20% in 1949 to more than[/over] 95% now. But computers, smartphones and tablets are all creating[/posing] a new obstacle to /the/ process. Penmanship is on the decline. Reading skills may follow.
世界各地的权威人士都谴责依赖电脑进行粗略的书写和拼写。在中国，这个问题尤其严峻。有严重阅读困难的小学在校儿童的数字正在上升，根据国家科学院院刊的一份2012年研究。作者把低下的阅读分数和上升的键盘使用联系在一起。
Pundits /all over/ the world [over] blame [a] reliance on computer for [shoddy] [hand]writing and spelling. In Chin, this[/the] problem is especially[/particularly] severe[/acute]. The number of primary schoolchildren with several reading difficulties is rising, according to a [2012] study in the Proceedings of the National Academy [of Science]. The author[s] linked /the/ poor reading score [to] increased [use of] keyboard[s].
一个原因是学习写字是如此艰难。因为中文使用表意文字，或者汉字，而不是字母表来代替每一个音节，要花费6年的小学教育才能掌握读一份报纸所需要的3000左右汉字。
One reason is learning [to write] is so arduous. Since[/Because] Chinese uses [ideograms], or characters, instead of[/rather than] [an] alphabet, to represent each syllable, it takes six years of primary education to master the 3,000 or so characters /that/ needed[/required] to read a newspaper.
如今中国人可以使用键盘打字，（只需）输入拼音，这是反应了发音但是不反映外形的罗马化中文词汇。接着他们从一个列表选出正确的汉字。这个过程并没有强化如何组成一个汉字的分开笔画，也可能甚至扰乱记忆的过程，香港大学的Wai Ting Siok（萧惠婷）如是说。萧小姐预测按照当前的趋势，识字水平可能会在十年内开始下滑。
Nowadays Chinese can [use] keyboard[s] [to type a word] in pinyin, a Romanisation of Chinese words that reflects /the/ sound[s] but not the appearance. Then they choose[/select] the right word[/character] from a list. Th[is] process does not reinforce [how to write the] separate strokes that make up a character, and may even disrupt the process of remembering, [says] Wai Ting Siok of the University of Hong Kong. Ms Siok predicts that [on] current trend[s] /the/ literacy level[s] may[/will begin to] decline within a decade[/ten years].
在过去一个世纪，一些人已经发起活动，企图通过用字母表取代汉字来提高识字率。那依旧处于不太可能的情况。同音字在汉语里是如此常见，许多不同的字可以拼成一样的（发音）。而且中国把手稿视为近乎神圣的境界。抛弃其书写形式是将会是完全不相符的。
[Over] the past century, some have campaigned raise literacy [by] replac[ing] characters with [an] alphabet to. That remains /very/ unlikely. Homophones are so common in Chinese that many different words [would be spelled] /have/ the same /sound/. And China sees[views] [its] script as almost[near] sacred. Abandoning its writing form would be totally[/entirely] out of character.
6.22
calligraphy/write with brushes/writing/penmanship/handwriting
a revered art form/views its script as near-sacred
art form/written form
endless copying of characters/a rite of passage in schooling
writing/a feat of memory/remembering
require/need
master/mastery
character/ideograms
be taught/learning
ordeals/arduous
thousands of unique characters/takes six years of primary school
increase/rise
literacy rates/levels
computers/smartphones/tablets/posing a new obstacle
be on the decline/begin declining
shoddy/poor
pundits the world over
reliance on
handwriting/spelling
particularly/especially
acute/severe
reading skills/reading difficulties
link poor reading scores to increase use of keyboards
alphabet/syllable
rather than/instead of
represent/replace
keyboard/type a word
in pinyin/a Romanisation of Chinese words
reflects sounds but not appearance
sound/pinyin
appearance/ideograms
select/choose
process/progress
reinforce/ending copying
separate strokes that make up a character/disrupt the process of remembering
on current trends
raise literacy
replacing characters with an alphabet
remains unlikely
so common that/many words would be spelled the same
script/character
replace/abandon
out of character
