Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are

admin2017-12-19  31

问题    Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are causing heartache. Libraries know they need digital wares if they are to remain valuable, but many publishers are too wary of piracy and lost sales to co-operate. A-mong the big six, only Random House and HarperCollins license e-books with most libraries. The others have either denied requests or are reluctantly experimenting. In August, for example, Penguin will start a pilot with public libraries in New York.
   Electronic borrowing is awfully convenient. Unlike printed books, which must be checked out and returned to a physical library miles from where you live, electronic book files can be downloaded at home. Digital library catalogues are often browsed at night, from a comfy sofa. The files disappear from the device when they are due(which means no late fees, nor angst about lost or damaged tomes).
   E-lending is not simple, however. There are lots of different and often incompatible e-book formats, devices and licences. Most libraries use a company called OverDrive, a global distributor that secures rights from publishers and provides e-books and audio files in every format. Some 35 million titles were checked out through OverDrive in 2011, and the company now sends useful data on borrowing behavior to participating publishers. Yet publishers and libraries are worried by Over-Drive’ s market dominance, as the company can increasingly dictate fees and conditions.
   Publishers were miffed when OverDrive teamed up with Amazon, the world’ s biggest online bookseller, last year. Owners of Amazon’ s Kindle e-reader who want to borrow e-books from libraries are now redirected to Amazon’ s website, where they must use their Amazon account to secure a loan. Amazon then follows up with library patrons directly, letting them know they can "Buy this book" when the loan falls due.
   So publishers keep tweaking their lending arrangements in search of the right balance. Random House raised its licensing prices earlier this year, and HarperCollins limits libraries to lending its titles 26 times. Penguin plans to keep new releases out of libraries for at least six months, and each book will expire after a year. Hachette is engaged in some secret experiments, and the others are watching with bated breath. In Britain the government will soon announce a review of the matter. The story of the library e-book is a nail-biter.
OverDrive’s market dominance makes publishers and libraries feel anxious because______.

选项 A、OverDrive protects rights from publishers
B、OverDrive offers e-books and audio files
C、OverDrive borrows useful data and sends them
D、OverDrive raises licensing prices and conditions

答案D

解析 细节题。根据题干关键词OverDrive’s market dominance定位到第三段。由该段最 后一句“因为OverDrive公司可以提高授权费用和条件,所以这家公司的市场占有率让 出版商和图书馆担忧”可知,题目中的because和raises licensing prices分别是原文as和 increasingly dictate fees的同义替换,故D项为正确答案。A项“OverDrive公司保护出版 商的版权”和B项“OverDrive公司提供电子书和音频文件”虽然符合文意,但不是题干 所找的原因。C项“OverDrive公司借有用的数据并输出”是对原文第三段倒数第二句的 曲解,也不是题干所找的原因。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/xQBZ777K
0

最新回复(0)