E-Books

By Paul Thompson
Broadcast: August 6, 2003
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about a revolution in technology that could change the way many people read books. We tell about electronic books and what they could mean for the future.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
For a few minutes, let us imagine that it is two o'clock in the morning. You can not sleep. You get out of bed and walk into the room where you keep your computer. You turn on the machine and slowly the blue light of the screen becomes brighter. You link your computer with the Internet communications system.
Moments later you learn that you have no electronic mail. So you take a minute to read most of the world news. There seems to be nothing of interest. Then you remember reading about something called electronic books, or e-books. Maybe that might be interesting.
You have the computer search for the word “e-book”. Immediately your computer and the Internet find a great many choices. You go to a Web site that offers free electronic books.
A list of electronic books appears. Many were written by the man who may be the most famous writer in the English language -- William Shakespeare. As you look at the list of his works you see “Henry the Fifth.”
You choose this famous play. And, there on your computer screen are the words of William Shakespeare. You begin to read:
 “O for a Muse¹ of fire, that would 1)ascend² The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And 2)monarchs to behold⁴ the swelling⁵ scene! Then should the 3)warlike Harry⁶, like himself, Assume the port of Mars⁷; and at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds⁸, should 4)famine, sword and fire Crouch⁹ for employment.
But pardon, and gentles all, The flat unraised spirits that have dared …”
VOICE TWO:
Within a few hours, you have read “Henry the Fifth.” Best of all, it cost you nothing. You have your computer save the Internet address of the free electronic book Web site. Soon you are off to sleep with dreams of the great play you have read.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The story we just told is not from the future. It is happening today. If you do not want to read the plays of William Shakespeare, you could read thousands of other electronic books. Perhaps we should explain just what an electronic book is. It is a book. But it appears on a computer screen, not printed on paper. E-books are not a new idea, but they are becoming more important, more interesting and easier to find.
VOICE TWO:
You can find free e-books many places on the Internet. One of the oldest and most successful Internet web sites is called “Project 5)Gutenberg.” Its name honors German printer Johannes Gutenberg. He invented modern printing during the fourteen-hundreds.
Project Gutenberg was the idea of Michael Hart. In Nineteen-Seventy-One, he was a computer scientist working at the University of Illinois. The university provided him with a large amount of money and a huge modern computer to use for his experiments.
Michael Hart decided¹⁰ that the computer could be used to hold famous and important books. He decided that these would be free to anyone in the world who could link to the project with a computer. The first important document Mister Hart placed in the computer was the American Declaration¹¹ of Independence.
VOICE ONE:
Since then, Mister Hart has been joined by hundreds of people who give their time to help place important books on the Internet.
The idea is to bring information, books and other materials to the general public in a way that most people can easily search for read and use.
More than six-thousand Project Gutenberg electronic books are now on the Internet. And they cost nothing to read. Anyone with a computer can copy them on to paper, or make an electronic copy to keep in their computer. It does not matter if you live in India, Japan, the United States, Italy or China. If you have a computer, you can link with Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg also offers many of its books in fifteen different languages.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
We have told about the thousands of free e-books you can find with your computer. These books are most often offered for free because they no longer carry the legal protection called a copyright. Copyright protection makes it illegal to sell, print or publish a person's work without the permission of the writer and publisher. Books still under copyright protection can be found on the Internet, too. But you have to pay for them.
Many companies sell electronic books on the Internet. You pay for them with your credit card number. Then you can electronically move your new book to your computer. Two of the book companies that offer e-books are Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.
VOICE ONE:
For example, Barnes and Noble is offering many e-books this summer. They include the very popular book about an American racehorse, called “Seabiscuit” by Laura Hillenbrand. This e-book costs about eight dollars. The company is also selling Senator¹² Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book, “Living History.” This e-book costs seventeen dollars.
Amazon-Dot-Com also sells many e-books, including another best-seller, Dan Brown's “The Da Vinci Code.” That e-book costs twelve dollars. Amazon also sells many kinds of science fiction books, including the popular “Star Trek¹³” series. It also sells study guides which provide information about books and writers. And the company sells e-documents. The most popular ones are about computers, education, leadership, business and jobs.
You can also find e-books on other serious subjects. For example, a company called “Science Week” sells e-books about cancer research, 6)neurobiology, chemistry, and many more subjects.
VOICE TWO:
You need a computer that can link to the Internet to read an e-book. For some books you may also need special computer programs that help deal with e-books. These programs make the electronic information easier to copy and read. Two of these computer programs are Microsoft's Reader and Adobe¹⁴ e-Book Reader.
The companies that make both programs offer them for free. Several companies that offer e-books have special links that lead to these e-book reader programs. It only takes a few moments to copy these helpful programs to your computer.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Many people do not like the idea of sitting in front of a computer to read a book. They like paper books better. You can easily take a paper book with you everywhere you go. For example, you can take it outside on a nice day and read it under a tree or while lying on a large chair.

However, you can not take most computers outside on a nice day. So several companies have now made it possible to move an e-book's information from your computer to a small electronic device that can be carried anywhere.
The device is called an e-book appliance or e-book reader. It has a small screen about the same size as a page in a small book. Many of these devices hold as much as ten-thousand pages of information.
That is the same as about ten large books. The more costly¹⁵ e-book readers also can play music, show photographs from an e-book and do other useful things.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
E-books may become even more popular in the near future. For example, a college student who begins a new school year usually must buy a book for each class. In the future, a trip to the bookstore might not be necessary.
In a few minutes, the student could copy to his or her computer all the necessary books and other written material for each class.
The student would also be able to copy books and class information into the small e-book reader that he or she carries to class. In the future, the use of e-books could change education on all levels. Many experts say the e-book revolution has already begun.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. Our studio engineer was Suleiman Tarawaley. Shakespeare's “Henry the Fifth” was read by Shep O'Neal. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program in Special English on the Voice of America.

注释：
1) ascend [E5send] v.攀登，上升
2) monarch³ [5mCnEk] n.君主
3) warlike [5wC:laik] adj.战争的，好战的，尚武的
4) famine [5fAmin] n.饥荒，（古）饥饿，严重的缺乏
5) Gutenberg [5^u:tnbE:^] n.古腾堡（Johannes, 1400-1468, 德国活版印刷发明人）
6) neurobiology [7njuErEubai5ClEdVi] n.神经生物学

1 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

2 ascend   

vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上

参考例句：

• We watched the airplane ascend higher and higher.我们看着飞机逐渐升高。
• We ascend in the order of time and of development.我们按时间和发展顺序向上溯。

3 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

4 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

5 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

6 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

7 Mars   

n.火星，战争

参考例句：

• As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
• He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。

8 hounds   

猎狗，猎犬( hound的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The huntsman was whipping in his pack of hounds. 猎人正在用鞭子把他那群猎犬赶到一处。
• The hunter has twenty more hounds. 那猎人有二十几条猎狗。

9 crouch   

v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏

参考例句：

• I crouched on the ground.我蹲在地上。
• He crouched down beside him.他在他的旁边蹲下来。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 declaration   

n.宣布，宣告，宣言，声明（书），申报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• At the recent convention a declaration was adopted.在最近举行的大会上通过了一项宣言。

12 senator   

n.参议员，评议员

参考例句：

• The senator urged against the adoption of the measure.那参议员极力反对采取这项措施。
• The senator's speech hit at government spending.参议员的讲话批评了政府的开支。

13 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

14 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。

15 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。