在我小时候读的科幻小说里，阅读常常被某种更高效的获取知识的方式所取代。神秘的“磁带”会把知识直接载入大脑，就像把程序载入计算机一样。
In the science fiction books I read as a kid, reading had often been replaced by some more efficient way of acquiring knowledge. Mysterious "tapes" would load it into one's brain like a program being loaded into a computer.
这种场景在短期内不太可能实现。这不仅是因为很难制造出阅读的替代品，还因为即便有了替代品，它也是不够的。阅读关于某事物的内容不仅能让你了解该事物，还能教会你如何写作。[1]
That sort of thing is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Not just because it would be hard to build a replacement for reading, but because even if one existed, it would be insufficient. Reading about x doesn't just teach you about x; it also teaches you how to write. [1]
这重要吗？如果我们取代了阅读，还有人需要擅长写作吗？
Would that matter? If we replaced reading, would anyone need to be good at writing?
这之所以重要，是因为写作不仅仅是表达思想的一种方式，更是产生思想的一种方式。
The reason it would matter is that writing is not just a way to convey ideas, but also a way to have them.
一个优秀的作者不会仅仅是先思考，然后把思考的内容像录音整理一样写下来。优秀的作者几乎总是在写作的过程中发现新事物。据我所知，这种发现过程是无法替代的。与他人讨论你的想法是完善它们的好方法。但即使在讨论之后，当你坐下来写作时，你依然会发现新的东西。有一种思考，只能通过写作来完成。
A good writer doesn't just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing. And there is, as far as I know, no substitute for this kind of discovery. Talking about your ideas with other people is a good way to develop them. But even after doing this, you'll find you still discover new things when you sit down to write. There is a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing.
当然，也有一些思考是不需要写作就能完成的。如果你不需要太深入地钻研一个问题，不写也能解决。如果你在思考两件机械零件应该如何拼接，写下来可能帮不上什么忙。当一个问题可以被形式化描述时，你有时可以在脑子里解决它。但如果你需要解决一个复杂、定义模糊的问题，写下来几乎总会有所帮助。这反过来意味着，不擅长写作的人在解决这类问题时，几乎总是处于劣势。
There are of course kinds of thinking that can be done without writing. If you don't need to go too deeply into a problem, you can solve it without writing. If you're thinking about how two pieces of machinery should fit together, writing about it probably won't help much. And when a problem can be described formally, you can sometimes solve it in your head. But if you need to solve a complicated, ill-defined problem, it will almost always help to write about it. Which in turn means that someone who's not good at writing will almost always be at a disadvantage in solving such problems.
写不好就无法想得深，而读不好就无法写得好。我说的后一个“好”字包含两层意思：你必须擅长阅读，而且要阅读好的东西。[2]
You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things. [2]
那些仅仅想要获取信息的人可能会找到其他途径。但那些想要产生思想的人，却输不起这一步。
People who just want information may find other ways to get it. But people who want to have ideas can't afford to.
注
Notes
[1] 有声书可以为你提供优秀写作的范例，但听书对写作能力的提升不如自己亲自阅读来得大。
[1] Audiobooks can give you examples of good writing, but having them read to you doesn't teach you as much about writing as reading them yourself.
[2] 我所说的“擅长阅读”，并不是指掌握阅读的技巧。你不需要多么擅长从纸页上提取文字，而是要擅长从文字中提取意义。
[2] By "good at reading" I don't mean good at the mechanics of reading. You don't have to be good at extracting words from the page so much as extracting meaning from the words.