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  3. Despite student requests, digital options and congressional intervention, the tab for textbooks keeps growing in what is now an

Despite student requests, digital options and congressional intervention, the tab for textbooks keeps growing in what is now an

admin2012-10-30  65
问题     Despite student requests, digital options and congressional intervention, the tab for textbooks keeps growing in what is now an $ 8 billion industry. Prices are so high that some college students are trying to get by without purchasing the required books.     Why is something so fundamental as the price of a school book so difficult to control? Although college registration has increased in the past 10 years, textbook sales have been dropping. Not surprisingly , publishers and authors will do whatever they can to maintain profit levels. So, for example, as sales of used books have increased, prices for new books have climbed.
Compared to printed texts, e-books cost less to produce, yet they don’t change the bottom line dramatically. For one thing, they are sold separately to each user, eliminating used books and shared copies. And they require hardware, which students or schools must purchase and maintain. There are also indications that many students still prefer printed books. This is likely to change over time, but that means e-books must be introduced gradually.
    College bookstores profit from sales, as do some professors who make students buy books they have written. Also, teachers seem too willing to require new, "revised" editions of textbooks, even though the changes could be the least. In doing so, they wipe out the market for used copies.
    A congressional advisory committee identified several factors that cause prices to rise. The most damaging is that the primary choosers of books are not the primary users; that is, teachers usually select the books, but students pay for them. Second, students often are resigned to increases in prices because they are generally hostage (不由自主的人) to professors’ selections. Interestingly, many European schools demand lower prices from publishers. The committee discovered that one popular economics textbook cost $ 126 in the U. S. but $76 in Great Britain.
    A good first step in controlling college book costs would be for schools to comply with the law. Another would be for administrators to insist that teachers avoid ordering new editions that offer only cosmetic changes.
    Ultimately, wider use of electronic formats will loosen the grip of a few large publishing companies , leading to greater competition and presumably lower prices. Meanwhile, colleges and universities should wake up to the fact that the best way to avoid having $ 200 books is to stop requiring students to buy them. A new chapter in textbook pricing can’t be written quickly enough.
According to a congressional advisory committee, the rise of book prices mostly results from
选项 A、the region where books are sold
B、the use of electronic books
C、the publishers who provide new versions
D、the fact that teachers choose textbooks
答案D
解析 事实细节题。本题考查图书涨价的主要原因。由定位句可知，在引起书价上涨的因素中，最重要的一个是选择书的人并不是主要使用书的人，一般情况下都是教师而非学生去选择书，故D)正确。A)“书的销售区域”、B)“电子书的使用”和C)“提供新版本的出版商”在原文中并未提到，可排除。
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大学英语四级

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