Quote:
Originally Posted by pacerier
Does it mean that 食べている間に本を読んだ and 食べる間に本を読んだ are both acceptable and they mean the same thing ?
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They do but they are not exactly how native speakers would phrase the actions. The more natural way of saying it would be:
「食べながら本を読んだ。」 or
「本を読みながら食事をした。」
Your sentences actually give one the impression that you read all of a (rather thick) book while eating a meal. Mine are simply saying that you performed two actions simultaneously ---eating and reading.
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Examples of 「～～する間」.
「田中はすごい。オレが２５メートル泳ぐ間にアイツは 最低でも５０メートルは泳げると思う。」
This sentence would sound very wrong and unnatural if 「泳いでいる間」 were used. It is because the speaker is saying this hypothetically. The two guys have actually never swum side by side to compete.
As a baseball fan, I always hear announcers say something like:
「レフトの小林がもたつく間に二塁走者の前田がラクラ クとホームに帰ってきました！」
= "Second-base runner Maeda scores easily while left-fielder Kobayashi fumbled the ball."
In this sentence, one can use 「もたついている」 as far as gramamr is concerned, but if one did, it would not sound nearly as professional or exciting to the listener. Notice that the better announcers would pronounce the 「間」 as 「かん」 rather than as 「あいだ」.
「瞬き（まばたき）する間に君はいなくなった。」
= "You were gone while I blinked."
One cannot use 「瞬きしている間」 because it only takes a fraction of a second to blink.