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The transformation of the book industry 出版业的转型 DURING the next few weeks publishers will release a crush of books, pile them onto deliverylorries and fight to get them on the display tables at the front of bookshops in the run-up toChristmas. It is an impressive display of competitive commercial activity. It is alsoincreasingly pointless. 在接下来的几周内，出版商们会发行一大批书，将它们堆在发货车上，然后竭尽全力赶在圣诞节购物狂潮来临之前将这些书摆在各个书店靠前的展台上。这种竞争激烈的商业活动给人以深刻的印象，然而这种做法也正逐渐失去它的意义。 More quickly than almost anyone predicted, e-books are emerging as a serious alternative tothe paper kind. Amazon, comfortably the biggest e-book retailer, has lowered the price of itsKindle e-readers to the point where people do not fear to take them to the beach. In America,the most advanced market, about one-fifth of the largest publishers sales are of e-books.Newly released blockbusters may sell as many digital copies as paper ones. The proportion isgrowing quickly, not least because many bookshops are closing. 电子书正迅速地成为传统纸质书籍的替代品，比所有人预想的还要快。稳坐最大的电子书销售市场宝座的亚马逊公司将其Kindle阅读器的价格降到了人们将它带到沙滩上玩坏也不心疼的地步。在美国这个最发达的市场，那些最大的出版商约五分之一的销售额来自于电子书。新出版畅销书的电子版同纸质书一样卖得火热。电子书所占的比例在迅速地扩大，尤其是在如今许多书店都面临倒闭的时候。 | 
