pancake people 煎餅人

With the development of the Internet and other sources of instantaneous information, many people strive to gain at least a working knowledge of many different subjects. They are so-called pancake people, they no longer concentrate their energies on one area of interest, but instead choose to spread themselves thinly over a large area. As a result, a new generation of pancake people have essentially1 become the proverbial jacks2 of all trades, but masters of none.

伴隨互聯網和各種信息途徑的進步，不少人都力求在每個不同范圍都至少獲得一些基本的操作常識。他們就是所謂的煎餅人，他們不再將精力專注于某一個有興趣的范圍，而是讓我們的關注點淺淺地散布在一個非常大的范圍。由此，新一代的煎餅人就真的成諺語里說的門門通，門門松了。

The term pancake people is largely seen as a negative commentary on the current age of instantaneous information. The ability to access even the most obscure information in a matter of seconds may be seen as a positive social development on one level, but it can also cause some people to become less inclined to delve3 more deeply into one particular subject of interest. As a result, a generation of overloaded4 pancake people may become more obsessed5 with popular culture and less interested in the larger arc of human history.

在目前這個即時信息年代，煎餅人這個詞非常大程度上被看作是一個貶義詞。在幾秒內獲得稀缺信息的能力可能是社會進步積極的一方面，但同時也會讓一些人不想深究某一個有興趣的主題。結果，這一代信息過量的煎餅人或許會對時尚文化過分沉迷，而對人類歷史的更廣泛范圍卻鮮有興致。