2. 外语
  3. Electronic Reading Devices A)More than 550 years after Johannes Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Bible on paper and vellum(羊皮

Electronic Reading Devices A)More than 550 years after Johannes Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Bible on paper and vellum(羊皮

admin2014-09-30  28
问题                     Electronic Reading Devices
A)More than 550 years after Johannes Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Bible on paper and vellum(羊皮纸), new technologies as revolutionary as the printing press are changing the concept of a book and what it means to be literate. Sound, animation and the ability to connect to the Internet have created the notion of a living book that can establish an entirely new kind of relationship with readers.
B)As electronic reading devices evolve and proliferate(激增), books are increasingly able to talk to readers, quiz them on their grasp of the material, play videos to illustrate a point or connect them with a community of fellow readers.
C)The Master of Rampling Gate, a novel by Anne Rice published in 1991 as a paperback, illustrates some of the possibilities. The out-of-print title was given new life in March, when it was reissued in digital form by Vook(a mash-up of "video" and "book"), an Alameda start-up selling titles for iPad and iPhone. As a $ 4.99 application sold through iTunes store, the title comes with video interviews with Rice and others and links to Web pages that elaborate on events and places in the story within the text.
D)Vook has published more than two dozen titles. The videos and other digital features are designed to "project the emotion of the book without getting in the way of the story," said Brad Inman, Vook’s chief executive and a former real estate columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. "We want to revive the passion for traditional narrative. Multimedia could be a catalyst for spawning more reading."
E)Tim O’Reilly, whose O’Reilly Media in Sebastopol, Calif. , is at the forefront of designing and distributing digital books over the Internet and on mobile devices, said technology has the power to "broaden our thinking about what a book does. "
F)In addition to displaying pages from a book, digital e-readers can read them aloud, opening up a literary trove for the blind and the visually impaired who have long had only a thin selection of audio and Braille books to choose from. "You now have the ability to make a book talk," said George Kerscher, head of the Digital Accessible Information System Consortium in Zurich, Switzerland. Kerscher, who studied computer science at the University of Montana and is blind, has spent two decades lobbying publishers to make books more accessible to visually impaired readers.
G)Digital technology is also transforming reading from a famously solitary experience into a social one. The newest generation of readers—the texting, chatting, YouTubing kids—has run circles around the traditional publishing process, keeping its favorite stories alive online long after they’re published. At online fan communities for popular fantasy series like Harry Potter and Twilight, young enthusiasts collaborate on new story lines involving monsters, ghosts and secret crushes.
H)On Textnovel. com, thousands of cellphone-toting authors write novels via text message, one or two sentences at a time. Aspiring writers can sign up on the free site and begin writing, either from phones or computers. Readers can follow the stories online or receive a text every time their favorite author adds a plot twist. Shannon Rheinbold-Gee tapped out her 85 000-word thriller about teenage werewolves(狼人)in just under five weeks using the Textnovel site. The former middle-school teacher figured she had no chance of getting a traditional publishing deal. It did. The book, 13 to Life, won Textnovel’s first annual contest and earned its author a three-book contract with the prestigious St. Martin’s Press, including a $ 10 000 advance.
I)Textnovel, which is funded by contributions from its own members, is just one example of how the Internet has become fertile ground for creative amateurs. On Scribd. com, writers and digital pack rats(收藏杂物的人)are building a huge exchange meet for written works of every length, many of which once existed on paper. Visitors can browse digital versions of novels and nonfiction books—some by established authors, others by complete unknowns—along with recipes for spinach calzones and 1950s-era manuals for building transistor radios, nearly all of which is free.
J)As in many places online, free content is the rule. Writers who are intent on making money will have to find creative ways to attract readers and build an audience. As the YouTube of books, Scribd provides a virtual printing press for budding writers and a community of potential readers. The company gets most of its revenue by selling advertising on the site.
K)The proliferation of amateur content poses a difficult problem for publishers, who must find a way to make a profit in a sprawling marketplace increasingly filled with free content. "We’ve pretty much reached the point where the supply has now shifted to infinite," said Richard Nash, former head of Soft Skull Press, a small New York publisher. "So the next question is: How do you make people want it?" Part of the answer may be found on Goodreads. com, a digital library and social networking site where millions of members can log in and chat about any book they want, including many that will never see print.
L)Lori Hettler of Tobyhanna, Pa. , runs one of the largest book clubs on Goodreads, with nearly 7 000 members from all over the globe. Discussions can go on for hundreds of messages, with readers passionately championing the club’s latest selection.
M)A recommendation by Hettler can help little-known authors find an audience. Her recent picks include M. Clifford’s The Book and D. H. Haney’s Banned for Life, both self-published efforts. "Word of mouth goes a long way," Hettler said. "Once I review a book for one guy, he usually has someone he would like me to read, and then that guy has someone he would like me to read.. . It’s this wonderful, endless cycle. "
N)Whereas printed texts often are linear paths paved by the author chapter by chapter, digital books encourage readers to click here or tap there, launching them on side journeys before they even reach the bottom of a page. Some scholars fear that this is breeding a generation of readers who won’t have the attention span to get through classics like The Catcher in the Rye, let alone Moby-Dick.
O)"Reading well is like playing the piano or the violin." said the poet and critic Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. "It is a high-level cognitive ability that requires long-term practice. I worry that those mechanisms in our culture that used to take a child and have him or her learn more words and more complex syntax(句法结构)are breaking down. "
The rapid growth of amateur content brings a difficult problem for publishers, who must find a way to make a profit in a market full of free content.
选项
答案K
解析 同义转述题。定位句指出，激增的业余内容给出版商带来一个难题：他们必须在充斥着免费内容的市场中找到赚钱的方法。定位句意思与题干意思一致。题干中的rapid growth是对定位句中proliferation的同义转述，故答案为K)。
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