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  3. Bookstores are disappearing in cities and town, both big and small, while online sellers like Amazon, e-readers and other evolvi

Bookstores are disappearing in cities and town, both big and small, while online sellers like Amazon, e-readers and other evolvi

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问题         Bookstores are disappearing in cities and town, both big and small, while online sellers like Amazon, e-readers and other evolving technologies threaten both physical books and the brick and mortar venues. The following article is discussing the prospects of physical bookstores. Read it carefully and write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should:
        1. summarize briefly the article’s main idea;
        2. give your comment.
        Two of the world’s largest bookstore chains—Barnes & Noble and Borders—are in danger of being forced into bankruptcy; their plight raises the broader question of whether bookstores will survive in any significant number.
        There are two clear threats, both Internet-related, to the bookstore. The newest is the e-book, in which the contents of a book are transmitted over the Internet to an electronic reader owned by the book’s buyer. No bookstore is involved. Slightly older is the sale, as opposed to the delivery, of a book online; Amazon is the principal seller in this market. No bookstore is involved unless Amazon doesn’t have the book in inventory.
        A possible third threat is diminished appetite for books. It seems that the amount of entertainment and instruction available online is so great that online substitution for reading books must have reduced the demand for them. At the same time, however, the demand for books should be stimulated by the fall in cost when books are bought online, cutting out the middleman—the bookstore.
        It seems inevitable that the number of books sold through bookstores will plummet. Books bought through bookstores are more costly not only in price (to cover the costs of the bookstore), but also in customers’ time—the time required to travel to and from the bookstore, find the book one wants to buy, and complete the purchase. The only offsetting advantages of the bookstore are the opportunity it provides for browsing and the fact that the customer can see and handle the book before buying it. But these advantages are offset to a considerable extent (doubtless more than offset, for many customers) by the use by online sellers of artificial-intelligence programs to recommend books to their customers, by the much vaster inventory of an online seller like Amazon, by ease of search, by the reader reviews that the seller presents, and by the seller’s ability to allow customers to look inside the online book before ordering it, much as if he were leafing through a printed book in a bookstore.
        At present fewer than 30 percent of all books are bought online (either in hard copy or as an e-book), This figure is estimated to grow to 75 percent within a few years. Very few bookstores will have enough customers to survive if bookstore sales fall from 70 percent to 25 percent of all book sales, except those bookstores specializing in out of print books—whose customers will largely be online. In time, moreover, with more and more publishing electronic, there will be fewer and fewer "out of print" books.
        As technology continues its forward march, online booksellers will find it increasingly feasible to duplicate and indeed improve on the point-of-sale services that bookstores offer. Bookstores will decline, and perhaps vanish when the current older generation, consisting of people habituated to printed books (as to printed newspapers), dies off. Yet this may well represent genuine economic progress, just as department stores and supermarkets represent progress though they cause the demise of countless small retailers.
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答案 Customer Centricity Is the Future of Physical Bookstores In discussion about the somber prospect of physical bookstores, the article states that these bookstores are imperiled by three threats: the rise of online book sellers, the adoption of e-books and diminished interest in books. Sales of online bookstores and e-books are expected to grow significantly within a few years, imposing tremendous pressure on physical bookstores, large or small. It is not surprising that the author of the article see the brick-and-mortar bookstores difficult to maintain their operation. However, I would rather support the positive transformation than claiming the demise of physical bookstores as I believe, also explained by the article, the driving force behind those threats is us, the customers. Given the advances in digital technology that undo the conventional advantages of brick-and-mortar bookstores, no one will argue that consumers can buy books without a physical bookstore. An e-book offers the customer experience of easy access and convenience, and in most cases, a lower price. All these indicate that the plight of physical bookstores is rooted in the changes of customer expectations and demands. To address this plight, physical bookshops have to provide service in a customer centric way. For one thing, they must improve the experience of buying books. A bookstore, for example, can incorporate a bar or cafes on the top floor, or many other ways to encourage customers to linger longer and spend more. For another, a bookstore should embrace books of all forms: rare, second-hand, digital, self-printed and so on, offering option of buying printed books or e-books in-store. To survive and thrive, bookstores must go all out to acquire, engage and retain its customers. In short, the future of physical bookstores lies in customer centricity, so it is high time for physical bookstores to figure out what customers expect and how to address it.
解析         材料开篇以最大的两家实体书店所面临的困境引出话题——实体书店是否走向没落。
        第二、三段总结了实体书店面临的三大威胁，前两个是和互联网相关的电子书（e-book）和网店销售（sale of a book online），第三个是读者对书籍的兴趣下降（diminished appetite for books）。第四段介绍了实体书店在价格（price）和时效性（time）方面都处于劣势，且其本身的优势如可实时浏览（browsing）也正在被网店的人工智能项目所取代（are offset）。最后两段用数据呈现出实体书店衰亡的现状，最后指出在在高科技不断进步的形势下，大量小型零售商将面临消亡的厄运，但这很好地说明了经济的发展（represent genuine economic progress）。
        由以上分析可知，材料的论点是实体书店必然走向没落。
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