VOA慢速英语2009年-Economics Report - E-Books Hold Next Chapt

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The book industry is trying to get a good read on its future.

These days, instead of turning paper pages, many readers reach for handheld devices. These electronic readers not only store books to show on a screen, they can also read them out loud.
　
Jeff Bezos, founder¹ and CEO of Amazon.com, holding a Kindle²

This month, Amazon lowered the price of its Kindle reader by sixty dollars to just under three hundred dollars. The device can download books wirelessly³ from a store on Amazon's Web site. Most new releases and bestsellers cost nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. Newspapers, magazines and other services are available for a monthly charge.

Buyers of e-books get a good deal: Traditional hardcover books often cost around twenty-five dollars. But what about book publishers and writers? Their concerns about profits are like the ones voiced as the Internet began to change the music industry. Many e-books are already selling for ninety-nine cents.

Books printed on paper are easily shared and resold by anyone. But e-books can act more like computer software licensed⁴ only to the user who buys them.

And some Kindle users got a shock last week. They were surprised to find that copies of two books disappeared from their devices. These were ninety-nine cent versions of George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm."

Bloggers have had fun pointing out that "1984" is largely about censorship -- the suppression of information in a society led by Big Brother. Amazon explained that it did not have the rights to the books, so it erased⁵ them and returned the people's money.

This week, Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller, launched what it calls the world's largest e-bookstore. People can read the books on the Apple iPhone and other handheld devices and personal computers. They can also download over half a million books available free from Google. The Internet search company is putting books online that are no longer protected by copyright.

But last October, Google reached a one hundred twenty-five million dollar legal settlement to also make parts of some copyrighted books available. That deal with two groups of writers and publishers has raised competition issues. The Justice Department is now investigating. Also, the European Commission plans hearings in September on how European writers might be affected⁶.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts⁷ and podcasts of our reports can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

3 wirelessly   

不用电线的，用无线电波传送的

参考例句：

• I heard it on the wireless. 我是从无线电收音机里听到的。
• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio. 收音机里有许多无线电线路。

4 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

5 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句