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What if I told you that To Kill A Mockingbird is overrated?
如果我告诉你《杀死一只知更鸟》被高估了，会怎样
“Can you, uh...can you read and write?”
"你会……你会认字吗"
Wait, Atticus, let me explain, let me explain.
等等，阿提克斯，我来解释一下
What I’m saying is it’s weird how this book is so, so famous.
我想说的是，这本书火得让人觉得有些奇怪
Let me tell you a story.
我来给大家讲个故事
I read this book for fun in fourth grade.
四年级时我看了这本书，为了好玩
I lived in Tennessee, thought it was amazing,
我住在田纳西州，那时我觉得这本书很了不起
even though I probably didn’t understand it. Moved.
虽然我可能并没有看懂，我还是很感动
Read it in sixth grade class. Moved.
六年级在课堂上我又看了这本书，感动
Read it ninth grade. Moved.
九年级的时候读，感动
Read it again.
看了又看
By the end of school, I had read this book six times. Six times.
毕业的时候，我已经看了6遍了，6遍啊
I personally never read any of these books for school.
我个人在学校从不看这些书
So was To Kill A Mockingbird really 600% better than all of these other books?
那么，是不是说《杀死一只知更鸟》真的就比所有这些书都好6倍吗
I think there’s a surprising reason it’s so famous beyond Atticus Finch being great.
我想，这本书之所以这么有名，其背后有一个让人震惊的原因，除了阿提克斯·芬奇很棒之外
“I don’t care what the reasons are.”
“是什么原因我不在乎”
Please. Give me a chance.
摆脱，给我个机会吧
To understand why this book was a school staple,
要想知道这本书为什么成了学校的教材
you need to understand other books.
你得了解其他书
Like the illicit love in The Hangman’s Whip.
比如《刽子手的鞭子》里的非法恋情
When Harper Lee got To Kill A Mockingbird published in 1960,
哈珀·李1960年出版《杀死一只知更鸟》的时候
she never expected it to be a massive hit.
她从未期望这本书大卖特卖
As she said in her only radio interview:
正如她在她接受的唯一的电台采访中说的那样：
“My reaction to it was not one of surprise, it was one of sheer numbness.”
“我的反应不是惊讶，而是完全麻木”
It got a good review in the New York Times
《纽约时报》对这本书的评价也不错
(though it earned less coverage than “Ceremony in Lone Tree” by Wright Morris).
（尽管这本书的版面不如赖特.莫里斯的《孤树中的典礼》）
But let’s be clear: it sold millions of copies in hardback.
我们还是不要卖关子了：这本书的精装本卖了几百万册
It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961.
获得了1961的普利策文学奖
The hit movie came out in 1962.
1962年被搬上了大荧幕
Here’s Gregory Peck, AKA Atticus, and Harper Lee, posing as...
这是格里高利·派克，也就是阿提克斯，和哈珀·李摆着……
well, I don’t know why they’re posing like that, but I like it.
好吧，我也不知道他们为什么摆出那样的姿势，但我喜欢
The movie poster had a big picture of the book on it.
电影海报上是非常醒目的原著图片
So this book was a big critical and popular hit.
这本书成了人们关注和评论的热点
But it didn’t win all of the awards.
但它并没能拿到所有的奖项
And it wasn't the best selling book of the year.
也不是年度最受欢迎的作品
So what took it from hit to legend?
那么这本书是如何从热门变成传奇的呢？
The most important thing to notice about that 1961 Pulitzer Prize isn’t the prize.
关于1961年普利策奖最需要了解的并不是奖项本身
It’s the year.
而是这一年的年份
You probably recognize this logo.
你可能认得这个商标
It’s from Penguin Books, and it’s familiar because the company has been around,
这个商标来自企鹅图书，它之所以为人熟知是因为这家公司
with pretty much the same waddling logo, since 1935.
自从1935年开始就一直用的这个企鹅的标志
When Allen Lane founded the UK company,
当艾伦·莱恩成立企鹅图书这家英国公司的时候
paperback books were revolutionary.
平装书还是一种创新的东西
The idea was to print good books, in paperback,
平装书的理念就是印刷平装好书
so they’d be cheaper than hardbacks.
以便比精装书更便宜
That revolution quickly spread to America with Pocket Books and other competitors.
这一变革同口袋书和其他竞争者一起迅速传到了美国
But it wasn’t just about cheap paper and tiny, mass market size books.
但是问题不仅是便宜、小巧以及较大的市场份额
Distribution was key.
书的分销才是关键
Suddenly, cheap books flooded dime stores, newsstands, and gas stations.
一夜之间，便宜的书大量涌入折扣商店、报摊和加油站
Crime writers like Mickey Spillane became huge stars.
米基·斯皮兰 等犯罪小说作家成了巨星
Just look at this guy.
看看这家伙
He’s an author.
他是个作家
The books started out seedy.
平装书开始如野草般增长
Popular Library published stuff like Silence in Court! and Devil Take Her.
大众图书馆出版社出版了《法庭肃静》、《魔鬼缠身》之类的书
But respectable stuff trickled in too,
一些广受尊重的书也加入了进来
occasionally with sexy covers, like this shirtless Great Gatsby.
有时候还带着性感封面，比如这个上身裸露的盖茨比
Paperbacks became mainstream quickly.
平装书迅速成为市场的主流
By 1961, the New York Times was calling it “The Paperback Revolution.”
到1961年，《纽约时报》甚至称这一变化为“平装书革命”
They said paperbacks weren’t just for “sex, sadism and the smoking gun.”
他们称平装书不仅仅是“性感，性虐狂和确凿的证据”
The books were actually being used...in schools.
平装书其实已经进入了学校
That’s where To Kill A Mockingbird comes in.
《杀死一只知更鸟》就是这个时候出现的
Remember that book, The Hangman’s Whip?
还记得《刽子手的鞭子》这本书吗
Popular Library published that,
大众图书馆出版社出版的
and in 1962 they also put out the mass market paperback for To Kill A Mockingbird.
1962年该出版社也推出了《杀死一只知更鸟》的平装本
Paperbacks were finally coming into their own.
平装书的时代终于到来
And To Kill A Mockingbird had perfect timing.
而且《杀死一只知更鸟》出现的实际刚刚好
Teachers had a cheap, popular, respectable book.
老师们用起了便宜、受欢迎而且受人尊重的书
And throughout the 60s, paperback publishers thought of education as El Dorado.
整个60年代，平装书出版商们都把教育当成了黄金国
El Dorado’s a mythical city of gold, in case you forgot.
黄金国就是传说中的黄金之城，万一你要是忘了的话
Margins on mass-market paperbacks were small,
销量巨大的平装书利润很小
so publishers made money by selling huge numbers.
所以出版商们都靠薄利多销来赚钱
Paperbacks sold a lot of copies worldwide.
平装书在世界各地都卖得很好
5 million. 11 million. And on and on and on.
500万册，1100万册，越来越多越来越多
That’s why To Kill A Mockingbird is so famous.
这就是为什么《杀死一只知更鸟》会这么出名的原因
And you get the sense Harper knew it, too.
你会觉得哈珀本来也知道这事
When Lee died,
李去世时
her estate almost immediately said
她的财产继承者几乎是马上出来宣布
they would discontinue the mass market version of the book.
他们将不再卖这本书的平装本
Even if you think the paperback revolution made the book overrated,
即便你觉得平装书革命让这本书有点被人们高估了
it’s still kind of sad.
想想还是让人有点伤感
These books, these cheap paperback,
这些书，这些便宜的平装书
kinda hard to read mass-market books —
大众书读起来有点困难
they're worth more than their price.
它们的价值还是超过它们的价格的
Maybe they shouldn’t be killed.
或许不应该让它们消失
“Mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy.
知更鸟除了给我们唱歌意外什么也没做啊
They don’t eat people’s gardens, don’t nest in the corncribs.
它们没有来糟蹋我们的花园，也没有在我们的仓房筑巢啊
They don’t do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.”
除了把它们的心声唱给我们听，它们什么也没做”
This video is actually the first in a series we're doing about Overrated icons.
本期视频其实是我的经典被高估系列的第一期
You can look down below for our Facebook page where we have more videos
视频下方有我们Facebook的链接，那里有更多
and articles and all sorts of other stuff about things that might be just a little overrated.
关于那些可能被高估了一点点的作品的视频、文章以及其他所有相关的内容
