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  3. Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are

Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are

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问题     Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are causing heartache. Libraries know they need digital wares if they are to remain relevant, but many publishers are too careful about piracy and lost sales to co-operate.
    Among the big six, only Random House and HarperCollins license e-books with most libraries. The others have either denied requests or are reluctantly experimenting.
    Publishers are wise to be nervous. Owners of e-readers are exactly the customers they need: book-lovers with money—neither the devices nor broadband connections come cheap. If these wonderful people switch to borrowing e-books instead of buying them, what then?
    Electronic borrowing is awfully convenient. Unlike printed books, which must be checked out and returned to a physical library miles from where you live, book files can be downloaded at home. Digital library catalogues are often browsed at night, from a comfortable sofa. The files disappear from the device when they are due.
    Awkwardly for publishers, buying an e-book costs more than renting one but offers little extra value. You cannot resell it, lend it to a friend or burn it to stay warm. Owning a book is useful if you want to savour(品尝)it repeatedly, but who reads "Fifty Shades of Grey" twice?
    E-lending is not simple, however. There are lots of different and often incompatible e-book formats, devices and licences. Most libraries use a company called OverDrive, a global distributor that secures rights from publishers and provides e-books and audio files in every format. Yet publishers and libraries are worried by OverDrive’s market dominance, as the company can increasingly dictate fees and conditions.
    Library boosters argue that book borrowers are also book buyers, and that libraries are vital spaces for readers to discover new work. Many were cheered by a recent Pew survey, which found that more than half of Americans with library cards say they prefer to buy their e-books. But the report also noted that few people know that e-books are available at most libraries, and that popular titles often involve long waiting lists, which may be what inspires people to buy.
    So publishers keep adjusting their lending arrangements in search of the right balance. Random House raised its licensing prices earlier this year, and HarperCollins limits libraries to lending its titles 26 times. Hachette is engaged in some secret experiments, and the others are watching with held breath. In Britain the government will soon announce a review of the matter. The story of the library e-book is a nail-biter.
By "a nail-biter"(Line 5, Para. 7), the author suggests that______.
选项 A、it’s urgent for libraries to cooperate with publishers
B、publishers have many secret experiments to conduct
C、it’s impossible for publishers to distribute e-books to libraries
D、many problems about e-book lending need to be solved
答案D
解析 语义理解题。本题考查对“a nail-biter”的理解。末段前两句指出，出版商们通过调整借阅策略以寻求平衡。兰登书屋在今年早些时候提高了授权费；哈珀科林斯把图书馆出借的次数限制在26次以内。最后两句提到，英国政府很快会宣告一项相关审核，图书馆与电子书的故事还在紧张地进行着。由此推知，父于电子书借阅还有很多问题有待解决，故答案为D)。A)“图书馆需要尽快与出版商合作”，作者没表明此观点，故排除；B)“出版商有许多秘密实验要进行”，由末段第二句可知，进行某些实验的只有阿歇特图书出版集团，其他出版商均在观望，故排除；C)“出版商不可能将电子书经销给图书馆”，作者没有表述此观点，反而鼓励两者合作，故排除。
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大学英语六级

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