There is a certain inevitability that ebook saleshave now overtaken paperback sales on Amazon sUS site. Amazon s Kindle 2 is so light and so cheapthat it s easy to see why people have rushed to buyit. Though I m still not keen on the design of the Kindle, it is a vast improvement on itspredecessor and certainly tolerable. Beyond the device itself, Amazon has done a great jobof rolling out Kindle apps, ensuring that people like me-who have an iPad but not a Kindle-canstill join in the fun. Once you re into the Kindle ecosystem, Amazon locks you in tightly-just asApple does with its iTunes/ iPod ecosystem. It s so easy to buy from Amazon s store and thebooks are so cheap that it s not worth the effort of going elsewhere.
While I remain opposed to Amazon s DRM -indeed, I m opposed to DRM onany ebooks-I have to admit that the implementation is so smooth that most Kindle userswon t care at all that their ebooks can t be moved to other devices.
The ebook trend is nowhere near peaking. Over the next five years we can expect to seemore and more readers move away from printed books and pick up ebooks instead. But I don tthink that will mean the death of the printed book.
There are some who prefer printed books. They like having shelves filled with books they veread and books they plan to read; they like the feel of the book in their hands and the differentweights and typefaces and layouts of different titles. In other words, they like the physical formof the book almost as much as the words it contains.
I can sympathise with those people. As I wrote earlier this week, my ideal situation would befor publishers to bundle ebooks with printed ones-in much the same way that film studiosbtmdie DVDs with digital copies of films. There s no reason to think that lovers of printed bookswill change their minds. There will undoubtedly be fewer of them as time goes by because morepeople will grow up with ebooks and spend little time with printed ones. However, just as thereare people who love vinyl records, even if they were born well into the CD era, therewill still be a dedicated minority who love physical books.
Since there are fewer of these people, that will mean fewer bookshops and higher prices forprinted books but I don t think the picture is entirely bleak. There is scope for smaller printruns of lavishly designed printed books and bookshops aimed at book lovers, rather than theStieg Larsson-reading masses. With mainstream readers out of the printed book market, booklovers might even find they get a better experience.
◆1. What can be inferred from Paragraph One?
A.Most people buy Kindle 2 mainly because of its low price.
B.The author of the passage is a loyal customer of Apple products.
C.Amazon s Kindle 2 surpassed Kindle 1 in designing.
D.The sales of ebook outnumbered those of paperback in the U. S.
◆2. According to the passage, the reason why the author opposes to Amazon s DRM is that______
A.ebooks can only be purchased on Amazon. com
B.Kindle books are not compatible with other electronic reading devices
C.once implemented, ebooks can t be transferred to other equipments
D.ebooks installed on Kindle 2 can t be edited freely
◆3. It can be learned that the trend of ebooks______
A.will come to stop any time soon
B.will reach the summit in the near future
C.will meet its heyday when printed books die
D.has already reached its peak
◆4. Why does the author believe that the surging sales of ebooks won t mean the death ofthe printed book?
A.Because a minority will stick to their love of printed books.
B.Because the majority of book lovers won t change their minds.
C.Because people always hold nostalgic feelings towards printed books.
D.Because people will return to the printed books as time goes by.
◆5. According to the author, which of the following is TRUE about the future of printedbooks?
A.They will be bundled with ebooks.
B.They will no longer be available in the market.
C.They will be sold in small quantity and high quality.
D.They will be redesigned to cater to the masses.
【参考答案】
1.C)。本题考查对第一段的理解。定位句指出“尽管我还是对Kindle的设计提不起兴趣. 但较之第一代确实有了相当大的改进，还是非常不错的”，即Kindle 2在设计上要优于Kindle l，故答案为 C)。
2.c)。本题考查作者对亚马逊的数字版权管理持反对态度的原因。定位句提到“我不得不承认安装过程实在是太便捷了，以至于大多数Kindle用户并不 介意电子书无法安装到其他设备上”，由此可知，电子书一旦安装后，不可以在其他设备上再次使用，C)中的transfer，equipments分别对应 定位句中的move和devices，故为答案。
3.B)。本题考查电子书的发展趋势。定位句提到，电子书的发展趋势正在无限接近顶峰。换言之，电子书的发展趋势很快就会接近顶峰，故B)为答案。
4.A)。本题考查作者认为电子书不会造成纸质书籍消亡的原因。定位句提到“然而，正如有些生活在CD时代却依然热爱黑胶唱片的人一样，会有少数人仍然坚定地爱着纸质书”，由此可知，仍有一部分人会坚持购买纸质书籍，故答案为A)。
5.C)。本题考查纸质书的发展趋势。由定位句可知，面向大众群体的斯泰格拉尔森式阅读将被淘汰，取而代之的是针对爱书者而设的装帧精美、数量不多的印刷本和书店。C)中的small quantity和better quality分别对应原文的smaller print，lavishly designed，故为答案。
