2 . An advance in electronic publishing could make the book you are reading seem as dated as a silent film. Publishers hope to exploit the growing success of ebooks by releasing versions with added soundtracks and musical accompaniments(伴奏).

The noises in the first multimedia books include rain hitting a window in one of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales. Works by Oscar Wilde and Rudyard Kipling are also available. A Salman Rushdie story with an orchestral score (配乐) will follow this year. In America, works by Shakespeare and Jane Austin have already been released with music and background noise so that, for example, readers can hear tea cups hitting each other in Mr Darcy’s garden as they read Pride and Prejudice.

Supporters argue that sound effects are the next logical development for ebooks and will add excitement for younger readers. Critics, however, will argue that the noises will ruin the simple pleasure of enjoying the imagination required to read a book.

Caroline Michel, chief executive of the literary agency PFD, said the new generation of readers was used to multiple sensory input. She said, “Concentration now is such that people have split computer screens where they may be watching television and replying to an email at the same time. If that’s what the market wants then we should respond to the market.”

Booktrack’s sound effects work by figuring out the user’s reading speed. Each time you “turn” a page, the software reassesses where you have reached in the text and times the sounds to switch on accordingly. If the soundtrack is not in agreement with the words, a click on any word will re-set it.

Some authors fear a soundtrack could destroy the peace and quiet of libraries and ruin the pleasure of reading. David Nicholls, author of One Day, said, “This sounds like the opposite of reading. I have enough trouble reading an ebook because I’m constantly disturbed by emails and so I’ve given up on it for the time being.”

Stuart MacBride, the crime writer whose novel Shatter the Bones was an ebook bestseller, sells 18% of his books as electronic downloads. He said, “If I’m reading, I will do the noises in my head. I don’t need someone to tell me what cutting a tree sounds like. That would upset me.”