Last Post* for Britain's Card Habit?

　　One of Britain's few distinctive contributions to world culture may be doomed, according to a survey that suggests holiday postcards are being emailed and texted into extinction. More than half of the 1,000 holiday-makers interviewed said they had decided to send fewer cards, turning instead to their electronic rivals. A quarter of the respondents dismissed postcards as old-fashioned and slow to arrive. A further 14% admitted that thinking of something to fill the space was too challenging, compared with a call home. Although officially invented by a Hungarian, Emanuel Herrmann, in 1869, the idea of illustrated cards was taken up with most enthusiasm in Victorian Britain, joining Gothic architecture and landscape gardening as fields in which the country excelled. "If the British postcard did become extinct, we would lose for ever something of great importance to the nation," said Chris Mottershead of Thomson Holidays, which commissioned the poll. He was backed by Marie Angelou of Sussex University, who has investigated the importance of sending and receiving postcards. "Postcards are nothing like phone calls, instant texting and direct photo shots via the mobile," she said. "All these are useful, practical devices, but postcards offer something else, something additional that is not mundane and simply functional, but imaginative and personal. They can evoke the real atmosphere of your holiday in a way that nothing else can do. They're also for more than a moment--with some people adding them to collections built up over years and years." Postcard-collecting, or deltiology, is third only to coins and stamps in Britain's allied tradition of collecting things. The country's uniquely postcard-related achievements include the invention in 1902 of the "divided back". With the address taking up half of the writing area, brief postcard scribbles became the precursor to today's cryptic text messages.

　　一项调查显示，节假日明信片正在被电子邮件和手机短信赶向绝路，这意味着英国对世界文化为数不多的独特贡献之一可能遭到灭顶之灾。接受采访的1000名度假者中有一半多说自己已经决定少寄点儿卡，转而借助电子通讯工具来传情达意。1/4的受访者对明信片不予考虑，认为它又过时、到得又慢。此外，14%的人承认要想出点儿东西来填满卡上的空白实在太困难了，相形之下还是打个电话回家来得容易。带图画的卡片是在1869年由匈牙利人埃曼纽尔·赫尔曼正式发明的，但这个点子是在维多利亚时代的英国才得到了最热烈的欢迎，并与哥特式建筑、庭院设计一起成为了英国的强项。 汤姆森假日公司委托进行了此次调查，该公司的克里斯·摩特谢德说：“如果明信片在英国绝迹，我们就永远失去了一种对这个国家无比重要的东西。” 苏塞克斯大学的玛丽·安格鲁对收发明信片的重要性进行了研究，她也支持摩特谢德的看法。她说：“明信片和电话以及通过手机瞬间发送的文字和照片完全不同。那些东西也很实用，但明信片会带给我们一些别的东西。它们不同寻常，也不只是有用，其中体现了想象力和个性。它们能带来真正的节日气氛，这是别的东西做不到的。 它们也不是转瞬即逝的事物——有些人会收藏它们，年复一年。”英国的收藏传统根深蒂固，而明信片是仅次于硬币和邮票的第三大收藏对象。英国在明信片方面有一些独特的成就，1902年发明的“背面分割明信片”就是其中之一。由于地址占据了一半的书写区域，明信片背后的文字变得简短而潦草，由此为今日含糊不清的手机短信开了先河。

　　Remarks：下次收到贺卡的时候，别忘了在心里说声谢谢——愿意花时间“想出点儿东西来填满卡上的空白”的人真的是越来越少了。

　　Notes:

　　*last post：尽头，末路。英国军队在夜间会吹两次熄灯号（post），之后灭灯就寝，因此last post的原意可能是“最后一次熄灯号”，引申为“末路”。