When Gutenberg printed his first books he had no intention that they should be portable. They were made, after all, to compete with very weighty （and often chained）illuminated manuscripts. The idea that you could walk around with a book did not come until l500 when Aldus Manutius stumbled upon this revolutionary?and liberating¹?notion. The first paper?light newspaper(Johann Caroluss The Relation in Strasbourg）did not follow until l609. In the computer world the same revolution?from heavy main frame to near weightlessness?is well under way. ?

Today s portables seem miracles of design and power. But, even as far as they have come, compare them with the ultra?light, ultra?cheap, ultra high quality information?bearing attributes of paper, the only problem is that the information on paper cannot be updated. Imagine a piece of electronic paper which could typeset itself by means of remotely fed data. The key elements of such an entity² are already a reality at the Massachusetts Instltute of Technologys（MIT） Media Laboratory, enabling the prospect³ of portable information devices which are essentially⁴ weightless and omnipresent. The key breakthrough, which will start to be seen widely in l998, is a new type of ink： electronic ink. This magical stuff can be coated on to any surface, but, unlike normal ink, it can be electronically set. It is instantly changeable, erasable⁵ and resettable⁶. The ink itself, a polymer material, is not expensive and requires no electronic power to maintain its image. ? This spells the beginning of the end of the published book. The conventional publishing industry is already dying. Books, magazines and newspapers have reached a plateau of sales in America of about＄100 billion a year. Sales of fiat⁷?panel displays, the basis of all notebook computers and the super?thin screens which are beginning to populate our desktops⁸, are growing rapidly with sales approaching ＄30 billion, but such screens are still heavy, very expensive and power?hungry. Electronic ink enables the two worlds, conventional publishing on paper and electronic information displays, to be merged⁹. ?

This radical¹⁰ change coincides happily with another： the exponential growth of our ability to store information electronically at a rapidly dwindling¹¹ cost. The arrival, that is, of compact data storage. Consider this. One book consumes about 1 Mb of data in a conventional, uncompressed form. But squeeze the data into a compact form, and a disk drive the size of a credit card holds 350 books.?



Questions:

?1. Who is the first person noted¹² that books could be protable?

??______? ?______? ?_______? ?______? ?______?

??______? ?______? ?_______ ?______? ?______?.

?2. Electronic paper can solve the problem that ?______? ?______? ?______? ?______? ?______??______?

?______? ?______? ?______? ?______?.

?3. “Prospect of portable information devices” refers to ?______? ?______? ?______? ?

______? ?______? ______ ?______? ?______? ?______? ?______?.

?4. What results in the ending of the published book?

??______? ?______? ?______? ?______? ?______?

??______? ?______? ?______? ?______? ?______?.

?5. According to the 3rd Para, it is inferred that the coventional publish

ing

industry will disappear ?______? ?______ ?______? ?______? ?______??______? ?______? ______? ?______? ?______.





答案部分

短文大意

?文章以便携式书籍的出现为引子，指出在电脑领域，也正进行着一场从沉重的主机计算机

到几乎无重量的便携式电脑的革命。文章告诉我们，电子纸的出现，尤其是随着电子进入

应用的实际问题：电子墨水得以突破后，使传统出版业遭到危机，最终会带来出版业的变革，传统的出版物与电子信息显示合为一体。



?1.【参考答案】Aldus Manutius

?【解题技巧】 正确理解句子内容是本题的惟一出路。

?【详细解答】 本文问的是谁最早提出书可以便携这一观念。文中第一段第三句话：The idea that you could walk around with a book not come until 1500 when Aldus Manutius stumbled…notion,句中，this revolutionary—and liberating—noti

on,指的即是“they should be protable”因而，Aldus Manutius是最早提出这一观点的人。

?2.【参考答案】the information on paper cannot be updated

?【解题技巧】 通过比较得出结论是本题的捷径。

?【详细解答】文中第二段出现了：Imagine a piece of electronic paper which could

typeset itself of romotely fed data：电子纸可通过遥控数据排版。而在这句话的前面

，是有关纸的评价：the only problem is that the information on paper cannot be u

pdated.这样一比，电子纸与普通纸的区别就很明显了，而电子纸的功能恰恰是普通纸所做

不到的，答案由此而来。

?3.【参考答案】electronic paper

?【解题技巧】 通过上下文，找出指代的内容是本题的关键。

?【详细解答】本题问的是：便携式信息装置指代什么。对于这样的问题，一定要联系上

下文，在第二段中，只要能发现 a piece of electronic paper,such an entity与protable imformation devices 的逻辑关系，便不难发现，这段话想说明的正是：由于麻省理工学

院的多媒体实验室将电子纸的实践问题得以解决，才使用电子纸的前景乐观，因此，答案为

electronic paper.

?4.【参考答案】the breakthrough of electronic ink

?【解题技巧】 通过段与段之间承上启下的关键问题找出答案。

?【详细解答】 第三段的首句：This spells the beginning of the end of the published book.本题的问话其实就是这句话的变形。由于这句话处于承上启下的位置，那么“this”所指，必然在上面一段出现。第二段中指出：The key breakthrough,…is a new type of ink.这就说明，在电子纸实践将随着电子墨水的突破而有所发展，之后，又用了相当的篇幅介绍电子墨水的特性。因此，是电子墨水的突破使电子纸获得实质的进展，而这将导致书籍出版的结束。回答本题时，仍要尽可能运用文中原有的词汇。

?5.【参考答案】conventional publishing on paper and electronic information

displays are merged

?【解题技巧】 运用段落中已知的信息去推测。

?【详细解答】这是一个典型的推理型的问题。这种问题往往涉及几句话甚至整段话的内

容。第三段一开始指出：传统出版业正在走向灭亡，虽然平板显示器的销售突飞猛进，然而

，它的本身也存在着明显的缺限。而电子墨水的出现，可以使这两件各有所长的东西构成合

理的结合成为可能。根据这段话，我们可得知：传统出版物若消失，必然在两者结合之时。

回答这个问题时，也应尽量使用句子的原话：conventional publishing on paper and electronic information displays,to be merged.而稍作变形。

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