Last week Amazon announced Word Runner, a new tool for reading Kindle books.
上周亚马逊发布了Word Runner这款阅读Kindle电子书的新工具。
Word Runner is a software update that shows one word at a time, instead of words, sentences and paragraphs on one page.
Word Runner是一款软件更新程序，它每次只显示一个单词而不是一页文字。
Amazon says Word Runner was developed to make reading faster. By seeing one word at a time on the screen, you will not lose your place on the page. Amazon says Word Runner may help you to focus on what you are reading.
亚马逊表示，开发Word Runner是为了让阅读更快。通过每次只观看屏幕上的一个单词，你就不会丢失自己在该页面的阅读进度。亚马逊表示，Word Runner也许可以帮助你专注于你所阅读的内容。
You can control your reading speed at a pace of 100 to 900 words per minute. A bar at the bottom of the screen lets you set the speed that works best for you.
你可以把阅读速度控制在每分钟100到900字。屏幕底部的控制条可以让你设定最适合你的阅读速度。
You can increase the speed to train yourself to read faster or force yourself to focus on the text. You can slow down the speed for text that is difficult to understand.
你可以提高速度来训练自己阅读得更快，或者强迫自己专注于文字上。你也可以调低难以理解的文本的速度。
You can flip between Word Runner and seeing all of the words on a page on your screen.
你可以在Word Runner和阅读满屏文字之间切换。
Opinions about Word Runner are mixed. Carmen Blyth, Ph.D., and a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL), says Word Runner is not optimal reading.
人们对Word Runner的意见不一。作为ESL老师的卡门·布莱思博士表示，Word Runner并非最佳的阅读选择。
"Good readers don't read one word at a time. The brain predicts what is coming next and skips the unnecessary words," she says.
她说，“好的阅读者不会一次只看一个单词。大脑会预测下文并跳过不必要的文字。”
Dividing "information one word at a time doesn't allow you to retain the info necessary to make sense of what you are reading, as we can only hold four pieces of info in our short-term memory at any one time – in this case it would be four words!"
把信息划分为每次一个单词无法让你保留必要信息来理解所阅读的内容，因为我们每次只能把四条信息保存在短期记忆里，在这种情况下就是四个单词。
In the Kindle Forums at Amazon, a commenter called CB Retriever says, "Thanks, but that absolutely will not work for me as I too do lines and blocks of text at a time - I think the last time I read word by word was back when I was learning to read."
在亚马逊的Kindle论坛上，一位名为CB Retriever的评论者表示，“谢谢，但是它绝对不适合我，因为我每次阅读一大段文字，我想我上次逐字阅读还是在我刚学习阅读时。”
Len Edgerly, business journalist and host of The Kindle Chronicles podcast, had a chance to try out Word Runner. In his podcast, Edgerly said that Word Runner is "a dramatically different way to read."
莱恩·埃杰利（Len Edgerly）是Kindle历代记播客的商业记者和主持人，他获得了试用Word Runner的机会。埃杰利在播客中表示，Word Runner是一种完全不同的阅读方式。
"If you want to shake up your mind and your eyes a little, you might do a little word running for a few pages or even for just a few minutes, and then switch back. I love it because it's one of these innovations that the team at Kindle just keeps throwing at us. "
“如果你想获得心灵和眼球的震动，你可以用Word Runnner阅读几页文字，或者甚至只是几分钟时间，然后再切换回来。我喜欢它，因为它是Kindle团队不断提供给我们的创新之一。”
Word Runner will work on some English language Kindle books in the Kindle app for Android and on Fire tablets.
Word Runner将会应用于Kindle安卓版应用程序以及Fire平板电脑里的一些Kindle英文电子书。
Here is a video from Edgerly showing how Word Runner works:
以下是来自埃杰利的一则展示Word Runner如何工作的视频：
Dynamic Pacing
动态调速
Word Runner uses a feature called "Dynamic Pacing" to adjust the speed around complicated words.
Word Runner采用动态调速的特性来调整复杂单词的速度。
Dynamic Pacing automatically slows the speed of Word Runner for complicated words, punctuation, and paragraph breaks. It makes changes based on the natural rhythm of your reading.
动态调速自动降低Word Runner显示复杂单词、标点和分段符时的速度。它是根据你阅读的自然节奏来进行调整。
Brake
暂停键
You can pause Word Runner by tapping the pause button, called Brake.
你可以通过点击名为Brake的暂停键来暂停Word Runner。
Brake lets you move words forward and backward. You can go back and re-read words using Brake.
Brake键允许你把文字前进或倒退，你可以使用Brake键退回去重新阅读文字。
Availability
可用性
According to Amazon, Word Runner will be available soon for some English-language books on the Kindle app for Android devices and on Fire tablets.
根据亚马逊所言，Word Runner很快就能用于Kindle安卓版应用程序以及Fire平板电脑中的一些英文电子书。
Word Runner will work with select English language Kindle books from Amazon sites in all countries, says an Amazon representative.
亚马逊公司的代表表示，Word Runner将适用于来自亚马逊全球网站的一些特定的Kindle英文电子书。
Amazon has not yet said whether Word Runner will be coming to the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad.
亚马逊尚未言明Word Runner是否会应用于iPhone和iPad版本的Kindle应用程序。
You can find out more about Word Runner and watch a video at the Amazon Word Runner page.
你可以在亚马逊Word Runner网页上查看更多关于Word Runner的内容并观看视频。
Your Thoughts
你的看法
What do you think of Word Runner? Do you think it will be a useful tool to help you read faster? Would you like reading one word at a time on your screen? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.
你对Word Runner有什么看法？你认为它能帮助你更快的阅读吗？你是否喜欢在屏幕上一次只阅读一个单词？请在下面的评论区分享你的看法。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)