电子书-纸质书借阅时代的终结者?

Host: Entertainment is going digital. Music 2)succumbed first and fastest. Movies are now 3)rippable and downloadable to watch anytime, anywhere. And, after much 4)resistance, the 5)stubborn paper book is finally beginning to give itself over to the digital revolution. Last year 5% of the books bought in the US and UK were digital ones, a combination of audio books and e-books. Now that’s obviously small, but it is growing. Now libraries are beginning to offer so-called e-lending, something which started in the US and has made its way across the Atlantic. Now around a quarter of British libraries offer digital book 6)loans.
主持人：娱乐业正走向电子化。音乐是最先也是最快屈服的。如今电影可以在任何时间任何地点被拷贝和下载来看。而顽固的纸质图书，在作了长期的反抗之后，终于开始改变自己，参与到了电子图书的革命中来。去年，美国和英国售出的图书当中，有百分之五是电子书，包括有声书和电子阅读器。目前看来它显然只占很小的份额，但是却在增长中。现在，图书馆开始推出所谓的电子借阅方式，这种方式起源于美国，并且向大西洋沿岸国家席卷而来。如今英国有大约四分之一的图书馆提供电子书的借阅服务。

Fiona Marriott (Luton Library): We’ve noticed that, with e-books, we’re getting a new kind of customer in: people who felt that they were too busy to use the library before, or, for example, people who commuted into London every day who were too busy to come in in the evening or too tired, and I have at least two blind customers who are downloading their own audio books now. And they say that’s given them freedom, so that they can actually make their own choice without having to come to the library with a guide.
菲奥纳·马里奥特（卢顿图书馆）：我们注意到，有了电子书后，我们获得了一个新的用户群：以前总感觉太忙而没法使用图书馆的人们，或者比如说，曾经每天通勤于伦敦市，忙到晚上不能来图书馆又或者太疲惫的人们。而我至少有两位失明的用户现在正在下载他们自己的有声书。他们说这种方式给了他们自由，因此他们可以实实在在地做他们自己的决定而不必非得和向导一起来图书馆。

Host: Overdrive is the digital book 8)distributor used by 13,000 libraries worldwide. You can log on to your library through a web browser or using the 9)Smartphone 10)App, and then browse an on-line collection of books. When you see something you like, just click to download it. E-lending means your library is open 11)24/7. No money is spent on staff to issue books or return them to shelves, there are no damaged or lost copies, and there are no late returns.
主持人：Overdrive是全球一万三千座图书馆使用的电子阅读器经销商。你可以通过网络浏览器或者使用智能手机应用程序登录你的图书馆，然后浏览在线藏书。当你看到你喜欢的书时，只要点击下载就行了。电子借阅方式意味着你的图书馆是全年无休的。不用雇佣人员来发放书籍或者将其放回书架，不会有书籍损坏或者丢失，也不会有迟还的现象发生。

But surely there’s a bit of a logic problem with libraries loaning e-books. After all, if you want an e-book, you don’t physically have to go anywhere to get it. And you’re also not limited by how much stock there is. There’s always an 12)infinite number of copies of any text that you want to download. And that sounds much more convenient than having to pop down to your local library only to find that the one copy of the book they have is already out.
不过图书馆借出电子书的服务无疑还存在一点逻辑问题。毕竟如果你是想要一本电子书的话，你不用亲自去某个地方获取。你也不用受限于该书的库存量，你想要下载的任何内容都总会有无穷本在那里。比起你非得去一趟当地图书馆却发现他们所拥有的唯一一本已经借出去了，这种方式听起来要便利很多。

The first point doesn’t help the argument of those hoping to keep libraries open in this time of government spending cuts. If libraries did all their lending over the web, well, you wouldn’t need a physical library at all. And the second point about limitless copies for loan could mean that no one would ever need to actually buy a book at all. And that’s, understandably, worrying the book publishers.
在这个政府削减支出的时候，第一点（采用电子借阅方式）对那些希望让图书馆保持开放的人的观点毫无益处。如果图书馆全部采用网上借阅方式，那么，你将根本不需要一个实体图书馆。而第二点，关于不限制借出书的本数可能意味着没有人会真的去买一本书。那么理所当然地，这是让图书出版者们担忧的问题。