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You know, back in the 40s and 50s, the original standard television had a 4 to 3 width to height ratio.
你知道，上世纪四五十年代时，电视屏幕的标准长宽比本来是4：3。
That shape was chosen to be a slight rectangle, but still mostly square, thus having the maximal screen area for the given dimensions.
这个形状虽是长方形，但仍然很接近正方形，因此在给定的维度下实现的面积最大。
And that's still the ratio on many TVs and computer monitors in today's homes.
今天的许多电视电脑仍然沿用了这一比例。
The problem is, hardly anybody today treats video content in a 4 to 3 ratio.
问题是，现在几乎没人还看4：3的视频了。
See, this whole problem started when people wanted to watch movies from the theater in the comfort of their own homes.
看吧，当人们想在自己家中欣赏和在影院效果一样的电影时，问题就来了。
Movie screens are considerably larger than our home television.
银幕的尺寸比电视大得多。
More important, the screen is completely different rectangle, and can't mathematically fit on our TV screens without manipulation.
更重要的是，银幕用的是完全不同的长方形，这样的尺寸很难不经调整就直接被搬上电视屏幕。
A typical TV is one and a third times wider than it is tall. Some movie screens could be up to three times as wide as it is tall.
通常，电视屏幕的长宽比是4：3。有些电影的长度可以达到宽度的三倍。
So what're we gonna do to make it fit? Well, we have all kinds of options.
那怎样才能让它们匹配呢？唔，选择还是很多的。
Well, we could squeeze and stretch and mangle everything on to the screen, to make it all fill up, and everyone would look ridiculously thin and compressed.
我们可以压缩和拉伸，把所有内容都塞进屏幕，让屏幕被画面完全覆盖，但是画面上的人就会显得特别瘦，看起来像被压扁了一样。
The good news is the sound would be just fine.
好消息是，声音和画面还是匹配的。
Although I don't think people would be too happy about that option, particularly the actors in the movie.
不过我不知道人们会不会满足于这个方式，尤其是电影的演员们。
We could just cut a chunk of the original movie like a cookie cutter and just see that frame of the movie.
我们也可以像用模具切面片一样从原版电影中截一块，并以此作为框架。
The problem with that would be that people and objects would be speaking from off the screen, or even worse, they might be cut in half.
这么做的问题是，说话的人可能被挡在了屏幕之外，更糟的是，他们可能被切掉一半。
Some movie editors use what's called the "pan and scan" technique to allow the full height of the TV screen to be used, but pick and choose what section of the original movie should be shown on your screen thus eliminating the annoying cutting of people.
一些影片编辑使用一种叫“平移与扫描”的技术来充分使用电视屏幕的宽度，可以选择电影的哪一部分应该出现在电视屏幕上，这样就能避免经常把人像剪开了。
Imagine that job, staring at a 4 to 3 hole watching movies all day, deciding for everyone which piece of the screen is the most important part for people to see.
想像一下这份工作：从4：3孔开始，整天就看电影，并决定画面的哪一部分是观众一定要看的。
