Arrr! Here Come the Pirates|啊！海盗来了

Arrr! Here Come the Pirates

by Eryk Smith

First it was music. Then it was movies. Now, pirates are going for books.

　　Back in the good old days, customers bought books at bookstores. If someone enjoyed a book, he or she would probably lend it to a friend to read. They might even have bought a second or third copy to give as gifts on special occasions. _(1)_ They pay electronically and then download them to reading devices. Within seconds, people are happily enjoying the latest books by their favorite authors.

　　The problem is that once a book has been converted into any kind of e-reader format, it can easily be uploaded to illegal file-sharing sites. _(2)_ Just like what happened with the movie and music industries, book publishers are now feeling the pinch. No one knows exactly how much money publishers are losing because of piracy. _(3)_

　　As a solution, companies could try to track down every individual who illegally downloads books and sue them. _(4)_ Another idea is that publishers could offer e-books at significantly cheaper prices and hope that this encourages people to pay for a legal download. _(5)_ The invention of e-books has made selling various kinds of publications easier than ever before, but publishers now understand that it's both a blessing and a curse.

(A) It doesn't take long to learn how to download e-books illegally, and millions of people are doing it every day.

(B) The prices of books have risen over the years.

(C) Everyone agrees that it's a lot and it's a problem that's unlikely to go away anytime soon.

(D) It's hard to say if this strategy will work because anything that is free is still much cheaper than a bargain.

(E) Today, however, many people purchase e-books from websites.

(F) Considering this means millions of people, this option isn't very practical.

 

啊！海盗来了

最早是音乐。接着是电影。如今盗版找上了书本。

　　在过去的美好时光中，消费者都在书店里买书。假如有人很喜欢这本书，他们可能会把它借给朋友看。他们甚至有可能为了特别的场合而多买第 2 本甚至第 3 本当成礼物送给朋友。然而时至今日，许多人会从网站上购买电子书。他们以电子方式付款，然后将电子书下载至阅读装置。不到几秒钟，大家就可以愉快地享受自己喜爱作家的最新著作。

　　问题是一旦某本书被转换成任何一种电子书的阅读格式，就很容易被上传到非法的资源共享网站。学会非法下载电子书并不用花太久的时间，而且每天都有数百万人在做这件事。就如同发生在电影及音乐产业上的情形一样，书籍出版商现在感到处境很艰难。没有人确切知道这些出版商因为盗版损失了多少钱。但大家都会同意那是笔很大的数目，而且这个问题不太可能会马上消失。

　　为了解决这个问题，企业可以尝试去追查每个非法下载书籍的人，并对他们提出控告。但有鉴于这个方法可能牵涉到几百万人，这个选择可能不是很实用。另一个点子是出版商可以用非常便宜的价格来供应电子书，希望此举能鼓励大家付钱合法下载电子书。这个策略是否行得通还很难说，因为免费的东西还是比特价品更便宜。电子书的发明已经使得销售各种出版物比以往容易得多，但是现在出版商明白这项发明是福也是祸啊。

答案： 1.   E   2.   A   3.   C   4.   F    5.   D

电子书是一种传统纸质图书的替代品，它必须透过特殊的阅读器，以电子文件的型式透过网络链接下载至一般常见的平台，例如个人计算机、笔记本电脑、甚至是 PDA、手机等。其特点有三：推行无纸化、多媒体的整合应用以及数据内容的丰富性。（数据源：维基百科）