苹果引发教育新革命

Apple has entered the textbook market. The tech giant introduced iBooks textbooks a couple of weeks ago when it announced its iBooks 2 platform.

几周前，苹果公司在iBooks 2平台的发布会上正式推出iBooks，此举表明这一科技巨头正式进军教科书市场。

They are digital books in a variety of subjects from astronomy to zoology taking in science, maths, history and geography.

电子教科书涵盖了从天文学到动物学等多种主题，包括科学，数学，历史和地理等科目。

Apple developed its iPad-based textbooks in conjunction with major textbook publishers. The company offers a collection of textbooks for high school students.

苹果同一些知名教科书出版商展开合作，研发基于iPad平台的教科书。目前苹果已经推出了一套高中电子教材。

Apple claims it offers a "new textbook experience" and suggests its interactive iBooks textbooks are "the next chapter in learning".

苹果表示将创造一场 “教科书新体验”，并暗示这种互动式的电子教科书将会“开启学习的新篇章”。

It sounds like good news for pupils and students. Think of it. No more carrying heavy backpacks full of textbooks. Every textbook you require can be stored on your iPad.

这听上去对于中小学生来说是个好消息。想想看，不用再背着装满课本的，沉甸甸的书包，因为所有书都可以储存在你的iPad里。

No more having to buy expensive textbooks which you will only use for a year or two and then sell or give away.

也不必再去买那些昂贵的课本，这些课本只能用一两年，之后不是卖掉，就是送人。

Of course there's a catch. You need to own an iPad and as you know, it is not cheap. You also need to buy digital textbooks, mostly priced each at $14.99 (94.74 yuan) or less.

当然凡事有利就有弊。你需要拥有一部iPad，众所周知其价格不菲。此外你还要买电子课本，大多数定价不高于14.99美元（合94.74元人民币）。

Textbook publishing was worth $8.7 billion in the US alone last year. Will digital books take over completely in education?

去年，单是美国的教科书出版业的市值就达到87亿美元。那么电子书将会彻底抢占整个教育市场吗？

Is learning going to evolve into something we do on an electronic tablet computer? You can appreciate the attractions.

我们正步入用平板电脑的学习时代吗？你可以感受到这其中的魅力所在。

Instead of boring old textbooks which are quickly out of date you can have an interactive learning experience.

随着那些无聊又陈旧的课本被迅速淘汰，你便可以体验到互动学习的乐趣。

You can play videos, examine geometrical problems in 3D, listen to music and commentary, make notes and mark passages electronically. You can also share stuff on social networking sites with fellow students.

你可以播放视频，利用3D来解析几何难题，收听音乐以及评论，在电子屏幕上记笔记，做文章注释，还可以与同学在社交网站上分享资料。