Should Writers Be Paid for Their E-books Lent by Libraries?
When libraries lend books to the public, authors and publishers receive remuneration from the Government under the Lending Rights schemes.
This year, the government has distributed almost a $ 22 million under these Public Lending Rights and Educational Lending Rights Schemes. For each book in public library collections creators receive $2.11 and publishers receive $0.52.
The amount that each claimant receives is often not very significant, with the majority of authors receiving between S100-500 annually, Still, a previous study has revealed that this remuneration constitutes the second most important source of income for creators from their creative work.
E-books, however, are not covered by these Lending Rights schemes.
One of the main reasons why e-books are not covered is that e-book lending is quite different from print book lending. In case of print books, authors and publishers are arguably losing on customers and revenues when libraries loan their books for free.Creators only receive $2.11 and publishers receive $0.52 for each book in public library collections.
At present, in the case of e-books, many publishers chose not to sell these books to libraries.
While publishers charge libraries high prices for e-books, writers complain that these amounts do not reach them. Publishing contracts often don't specify whether and how much authors receive for e-books sales or for e-lending.
| A．However,this is not the case when libraries lend e-books. |
| B．This may not be a big issue now, for e-books are minor in publishing. |
| C．Also, publishers assume get more profits from libraries where readers pay them more. |
| D．Publishing contracts often don't specify whether and how much authors receive for e-books sales or for e-lending. |
| E．Extension alone would do little if the current funds under the schemes were merely re-distributed from books to e-books. |
| F．For this reason, authors and publishers have been talking the Government into extending the Lending Rights Schemes to e-books. |
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【推荐1】According to Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier, reading aloud was a common practice in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Readers were “listeners attentive to a reading voice,” and “the text addressed to the ear as much as to the eye.” The significance of reading aloud continued well into the nineteenth century.
Using Charles Dickens' nineteenth century as a point of departure, it would be useful to look at the familial and social uses of reading aloud and reflect on the functional change of the practice. Dickens habitually read his work to a domestic audience or friends. In his later years he also read to a broader public crowd. Chapters of reading aloud also abound in Dickens' own literary works. More importantly, he took into consideration the Victorian practice when composing his prose, so much so that his writing is meant to be heard, not only read on the page.
Performing a literary text orally in a Victorian family is well documented. Apart from promoting a pleasant family relationship, reading aloud was also a means of protecting young people from the danger of solitary (孤独的) reading. Reading aloud was a tool for parental guidance. By means of reading aloud, parents could also introduced literature to their children and as such the practice combined leisure and more serious purposes such as religious cultivation in the youths. Within the family, it was commonplace for the father to read aloud. Dickens read to his children: one of his surviving and often-reprinted photographs features him posing on a chair, reading to his two daughters.
Reading aloud in the nineteenth century was as much a class phenomenon as a family affair, which points to a widespread belief that Victorian readership primarily meant a middle-class readership. Those who fell outside this group tended to be overlooked by Victorian publishers. Despite this, Dickens, with his publishers Chapman and Hall, managed to distribute literary reading materials to people from different social classes by reducing the price of novels. This was also made possible with the technological and mechanical advances in printing and the spread of railway networks at the time.
Since the literacy level of this section of the population was still low before school attendance was made compulsory in 1870 by the Education Act, a considerable number of people from lower classes would listen to recitals of texts. Dickens' readers, who were from such social backgrounds, might have heard Dickens in this manner. Several biographers of Dickens also draw attention to the fact that it was typical for his texts to be read aloud in Victorian England, and thus illiteracy was not an obstacle for reading Dickens. Reading was no longer a chiefly closeted form of entertainment practiced by the middle class at home.
A working-class home was in many ways not convenient for reading: there were too many distractions, the lighting was bad, and the home was also often half a workhouse. As a result, the Victorians from the non-middle classes tended to find relaxation outside the home such as in parks and squares, which were ideal places for the public to go while away their limited leisure time. Reading aloud, in particular public reading, to some extent blurred the distinctions between classes. The Victorian middle class defined its identity through differences with other classes. Dickens's popularity among readers from the non-middle classes contributed to the creation of a new class of readers who read through listening.
Different readers of Dickens were not reading solitarily and “jealously” to use Walter Benjamin's term. Instead, they often enjoyed a more communal experience, an experience that is generally lacking in today's world. Modem audiobooks can be considered a contemporary version of the practice. However, while the twentieth-and twentieth-first-century trend for individuals to listen to audiobooks keeps some characteristics of traditional reading aloud—such as “listeners attentive to a reading voice” and the ear being the focus—it is a far more solitary activity.
1. How did the practice of reading aloud influence Dickens's works?| A．He started to write for a broader public crowd. |
| B．He included more readable contents in his novels. |
| C．Scenes of reading aloud became common in his works. |
| D．His works were intended to be both heard and read. |
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
| A．Working place. | B．His/ Her own house. |
| C．Nearby bookstores. | D．Trafalgar Square. |
| A．Different classes stated to appreciate and read literary works together. |
| B．People from lower social classes became accepted as middle-class. |
| C．The differences between classes grew less significant than before. |
| D．A non-class society in which everyone could read started to form. |
| A．New reading trends for individuals. | B．The harm of modern audiobooks. |
| C．The material for modern reading. | D．Reading aloud in contemporary societies. |
【推荐2】I always loved jokes and cartoons. They can be serious as they point out the silliness in our lives, convey a wise message of wisdom and at the same time bring a smile. Sometimes there is little difference between a joke and life wisdom.
I started collecting jokes I received from different sources over a period of some 25 years. For the book I chose for an “Anglo-Saxon” collection. They are typical for the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Where are they from? Who wrote them?
The language of humor is not universal and translating into another language mostly does not work.
While at a first sight the book may not be interesting to Chinese readers, due to the cultural differences,
| A．Different cultures have a different understanding of what is “funny” |
| B．Generally speaking, nobody knows the original source |
| C．they wonder why there are so many about the Westerners |
| D．Worse, they start asking a million questions of the why and what and how |
| E．Maybe life is just a big joke |
| F．Most Chinese are totally unfamiliar with the Western world of jokes, they are puzzled or even shocked |
| G．it is a nice tool for our friends to learn about typical Western humor |
【推荐3】Though the Haskell Free Library and Opera House might not be as well-known as the Grand Canyon, it’s undoubtedly one of America’s most unique tourist attractions. Completed in 1904, the building is stationed directly between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, with the official U.S.-Canada borderline running right across the library’s floor.
Martha Stewart Haskell and her son, Colonel Horace Stewart Haskell, both Canadians, built the building as respect to Mrs. Haskell’s late husband, Carlos. The family hoped that citizens from both countries would use it as a “center for learning and cultural enrichment”, according to the official Haskell Free Library website.
The Haskell is divided between the two countries. While the library’s official entrance is on the U.S. side of the building, most of the books are on the Canadian side. The opera house is similarly split, with most of its seats in the U.S. and its stage in Canada. As Atlas Obscura reported, it is often said that the Haskell is the only library in the U.S. with no books, and the only opera house in the country with no stage.
Passports and other forms of identification aren’t required to cross from country to country in the library, though the Haskell’s website notes that the border inside the building “is real and it is enforced”. Visitors are expected to return to their side of the border after a visit. If they don’t, they risk possible detention and fines.
Even beyond the building’s unique position, library director Nancy Rumery told CTV News that Haskell staffers—Canadian and American alike—consider the institution to be like any other library in the world.
“We’re just trying to be the best library, and our community is made up of people from two different countries,” she said. “We don’t think of it in that big symbolic way that I think a lot of people do. These are all our neighbors and we do our very best to help them on their life-long learning journey.”
1. What can be learned about the Haskell Free Library?| A．It has a history of almost 100 years. |
| B．It runs across the U.S.-Canada border. |
| C．It can be compared to the Grand Canyon. |
| D．It is a well-known tourism site in Mexico. |
| A．To be in honor of Mrs. Haskell. |
| B．To donate books to the community. |
| C．To support the cultural needs of citizens. |
| D．To offer a relaxing environment for both countries. |
| A．A passport must be carried. | B．Border laws must be respected. |
| C．An ID card must be checked. | D．A personal photo must be taken. |
| A．The library takes on a symbolic meaning. |
| B．She hopes to offer the best service to the visitors. |
| C．She expects the library to be something different from others. |
| D．The library strengthens the ties between the bordering countries. |
【推荐1】One side effect of globalization and the related phenomenon of greatly increased mobility is that the traditional definition of “foreigner” has passed its sell-by date.
Is a European who has lived in China longer than in his home country, becoming fluent in the language and culture in the process, still a foreigner in China, or has he become more of a foreigner in his own home town? What about a Beijinger who did her schooling in Canada and then lived and worked in mainstream society there for another 20 years while raising a family, who has no intention of returning to China? Does she think and act like a foreigner? What do we mean by this label?
When I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, the faces you would see during a walk through a local shopping mall back in the 1960s and 1970s included almost none of Asian descent. Today the same malls are full of Asian faces, and a glance at the ranks of top scoring students in local schools reveals lots of Asian surnames.
To some extent, this is no great surprise in the American context, because America is a land of immigrants, and a cultural melting pot. Apart from the native American Indians, Americans are (or were), in some way, all foreigners anyway. Absorbing a large number of immigrants is an established pattern in American history.
In most places, the traditional foreigners were people who didn’t speak or read the local languages well, were unfamiliar with local customs and lifestyles, often engaged in relatively third-class work, and certainly not the type of people you would want your sons or daughters to marry. But, nowadays, a foreigner down the street may have better SAT scores than you did, or higher degree from a better university. He might also be your son’s or daughter’s next employer.
The traditional role models are getting mixed up, and it looks like this is just the beginning of a new chapter. Today, the whole thing has totally changed. It’s not about where people are from or what color their skins are. It’s about who they are, what values and skills they bring, and how they think.
1. By mentioning a European and a Beijinger, the author tends to tell us ______.| A．it’s no long proper to define foreigners according to their birthplaces |
| B．the label of foreigners can never be removed |
| C．most foreigners can do well in learning languages |
| D．it’s impossible for a foreigner to get recognition abroad |
| A．In 1960s and 1970s, Asians didn’t shop in Chicago. |
| B．Today, more and more Asian travelers like to shop in Chicago. |
| C．There are more Asian immigrants today than in 1960s and 1970s in Chicago. |
| D．Most Asian students do well academically in the schools in Chicago. |
| A．They didn’t have good command of the local languages. |
| B．It’s hard for them to marry local people. |
| C．They rarely got familiar with the local customs and lifestyles. |
| D．Most of them didn’t live at the bottom of the local society. |
| A．the term “foreigner” should be redefined |
| B．the term “foreigner” should no longer be used |
| C．there are no more foreigners in the world today |
| D．the term “foreigner” is not proper to define people |
| A．Globalization and mobility caused more and more immigrants. |
| B．The standards of defining “foreigner” have thoroughly changed. |
| C．America is a cultural melting pot. |
| D．Immigration is a global social phenomenon. |
【推荐2】After Alexander Pushkin was shot in a duel (决斗) in 1837, crowds of mourners formed in Saint Petersburg. When the wagon carrying the much loved poet’s body reached Pskov province, where he was to be buried, admirers tried to pull the vehicle themselves.
Today’s celebrity funerals tend to involve the public largely digitally rather than in person. But people are passionate all the same. In the past few months, grief has coursed around the Internet for Milan Kundera, and most recently, Michael Gambon. If you stop to think about it, such expressions of strong feelings for writers and actors are odd, even irrational.
Unlike other kinds of grief, this one is not rooted in personal intimacy (亲密关系). If you ever interacted with a cherished author, it was probably during a book tour when she signed your copy of her novel. Maybe you once locked eyes with a musician during a live concert and he smiled at you, but actually he did not even know you.
Objectively, sorrow makes sense when a star dies young or violently. Had she not died at 27, who knows what music Amy Winehouse would have added to her already impressive collections of work? The death of a long-lived and fulfilled artist, however, is far from the saddest item in an average day’s headlines. And while most ordinary people sink into oblivion, these celebrities live on in their output. Why, then, are these losses felt so widely and keenly?
One interpretation is that departed celebrities are merely the messengers. Part of your past —the years in which the musician was the soundtrack, the writer your ally (盟友) — can seem to fade away with them. The grief can be seen as a form of gratitude for the harmony and joy they supplied.
More importantly, the passing of an artist is an occasion for exchanges of ideas. In an atomized age, in which the default (默认) tone is critical, a beloved figure’s death is a chance to share positive feelings and memories with fellow admirers. These sad occasions are the parting gifts of these artists.
1. Why does the author mention Milan Kundera and Michael Gambon in paragraph 2?| A．To prove that celebrities’ funerals tend to attract wider public attention. |
| B．To illustrate why people express their sadness at the loss of those celebrities. |
| C．To demonstrate that people’s mourning for celebrities seems strange and unreasonable. |
| D．To show that people’s grief over celebrities’ death is ridiculous and impractical. |
| A．are upset | B．are desperate | C．are helpless | D．are forgotten |
| A．People won’t mourn for celebrities unless they have intimate relationships with celebrities. |
| B．It’s natural that people mourn for celebrities dying young but not for those long-lived ones. |
| C．People feel sad for the passing of celebrities because of the mental nourishment received. |
| D．People attend celebrities’ funerals, either in person or on the Internet, to express their loyalty. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. | C．Skeptical. | D．Concerned. |
【推荐3】If you analyze people’s actions, you will come to the conclusion that they all seek happiness. Every act is in fact a search for it, even if on the surface it doesn’t look so. Happiness is always the main target.
Going to the movies, eating in a restaurant and going to a party are all motivated by the desire to be happy. Who does not dream of a vacation in some fascinating locations, a new car, a new house, or the ideal match? All people daydream, and some even try to make their dream a reality. And why is that? In order to be happy!
Many people endanger themselves by climbing steep mountains, entering unexplored caves, or diving into the deep of the ocean in order to enjoy the few moments of happiness. A thief may steal because he loves the thrill of danger, or because he desires to have quick money to spend. He is actually looking for happiness, though in a perverted way.
Of course not all actions end in happiness. The motive is happiness, but the results do not always bring the desire. According to some spiritual traditions, we are spiritual beings in physical bodies. The spiritual part is always happy. Rather, it is happiness itself. But the physical body covers this happiness essence(本质). There is a constant desire to find out this happiness. This is the reason why happiness is constantly sought.
However, there is no need to search for happiness or to create it, or to have all kinds of outer experiences and actions in order to feel it. On the contrary, everything has to be dropped in order to experience it. Every technique, which helps to relax the mind and calm the rush of thoughts will lead to happiness.
1. From the first two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.| A．happiness is a daydream |
| B．it is very hard to analyze people’s actions |
| C．many things people do are to attain happiness |
| D．one should act carefully so as not to show his purpose |
| A．illegal | B．unfair |
| C．cautious | D．difficult |
| A．All actions don’t result in the expected happiness. |
| B．There is little awareness of the nature of happiness. |
| C．One’s physical body is controlled by his spiritual part. |
| D．People are so greedy that it’s hard to satisfy their desires. |
| A．Objective. | B．Favourable. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Disapproving. |
