The Future of Publishing: E-publish or die?

The iPad and its kind are both good and bad for book publishers.

Like many other parts of the media industry, publishing is being     1     reshaped by the growth of the Internet. For years, e-books have     2     to cut sales of the old-fashioned kind. In response, publishers are trying to support their traditional business while preparing for a future in which e-books will represent a much bigger chunk of sales.

For some time, publishers have operated a “wholesale” pricing model with Amazon. This has enabled Amazon to set the price of many new e-books at $9.99. Amazon has     3     prices low in order to boost demand for its Kindle.

However, publishers are     4     that this may make consumers expect lower prices for all kinds of books. And they worry the downward trend will further cut their thin margins and make     5     bricks-and-mortar booksellers(实体书商)suffer more. Some in the industry even     6     that publishers will suffer a similar fate to that of music companies, whose fortunes disappeared when songs can be cheaply sold online. This is particularly     7     for publishers because digital margins are almost as thin as print ones.

Some publishers try delaying the     8     of electronic versions of new books for months after the print launch to increase print sales. Some are starting to build their own online target reader groups. Sourcebooks, a medium-sized publisher that has developed an online group     9     on poetry, found that book sales rose by 50% after poems had featured on the site.

The publishing firms that survive the tough transition will be those who use flexible     10     and learn quickly to think. Not all of them can turn that particular page successfully.

4 . For many students, maths and science have always been boring subjects, too bogged down (陷入困境) with technical details to ever be fun or exciting. Teachers have long tried a variety of strategies to get students excited about STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and maths.     1    

The use of robotics is on the rise in today’s world, and allowing students to play with robots and learn how they work can have huge benefits for them. Not only does it give them a head start in subjects like computer programming, maths and science, it can also develop an interest in careers students may have never considered before.

Robots Teach More Than Tech Skills

Robots are most often associated with technology and other STEM-related fields. However, playing with robots has educational benefits beyond simply learning to build and program the robots themselves. Robots can be used to develop problem-solving skills, get students working cooperatively and more.

One of the most popular uses for robots is in problem-based learning. In this learning model, students are presented with a problem they must solve.     2     This inspires creativity, critical thinking and cooperation which are important 21s-century skills.

Robots Help Students with Disabilities

Robots aren’t just for students who need a challenge.     3     Students with autism (自闭症), in particular, can react quickly to robots.

Students with autism who may shy away from interaction with a human being are more likely to open up to a robot, and the risk of failure or embarrassment in front of the robot is much lower.     4     Research into this possibility has already begun.

Robots are only going to become a bigger part of everyday life in the future. Using robots in the classroom is a proven way to get kids excited and increase learning.

5 . Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, a Vietnamese kid, would watch his parents play chess for hours on end. Before he was three years old, he asked them if he could join in. Expecting the pieces to end up on the floor, they let him play. Not for one minute had they imagined what would happen next. The boy not only set up the pieces correctly, but also began playing according to the rules. Within weeks he was _________ his parents. Within months he was playing in national games against _________ twice his age and twice his size. He became world under-10 champion in 2000 and was a grandmaster at 14.

For Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son’s parents, it was nothing short of a(n) _________. They were teachers who took home less than $100 a month combined. They had not trained their boy to be a chess prodigy (天才). _________, they hadn’t even taught him the rules of the game. For Nguyen, it just came naturally. No sooner had he started playing than he was able to _________ complex strategies.

How do child prodigies become what they are? The subject has been a constant source of mystery to both the public and scientists. These _________ children have been labeled as overly demanding, treated as money-making machines, and studied like lab rats. Rarely have they been understood.

Perhaps the key question is whether they are born or _________. Numerous studies have looked at inheritability of intelligence. Overall, they confirm that it can be _________through the generations of a family, but the studies do not confirm the link between intelligence and particular traits of prodigies. Prodigies are not smart in any general kind of way; they are able to master highly specific activities and skills. ‘I just see things on the board and know what to do.’ he said.

There is one thing that the experts are beginning to agree on, however: the importance of _________. Educator Wu Wutien says, ‘Prodigies are half born, half made.’ Only if they are in a(n) __________ home environment will their natural talents develop. When parents have a house full of books and interesting objects, read to their child from an early age, or take them to museums and places of natural beauty, these all stimulate the child.

10 . As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just now the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey.

Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries.

This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available.

Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors (前辈), even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles.

For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 per cent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two.

It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfillment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory (轨道).

Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist”. Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.