47 題至第 50 題:
“I can’t identify any popular literary trend that didn’t originate online,” says Jo Lusby of Penguin China. Although
e-readers are still scarce, the Internet has greatly affected reading habits. Chinese people increasingly read books on
phones, tablets and laptops. People under 30, who are most likely to own such devices, are the most avid readers, says
Eric Abrahamsen, a Beijing-based publishing consultant.
The result has been an outpouring of mass-market fiction, written (and read) on websites, not in print. Five years ago
Internet publishers were typically informal, back-room outfits, but Shanda, an online gaming company, seized the
commercial opportunity and now owns most of the literary sites. It sells subscriptions by the chapter or book, by the week
or month. Online novels start at around five yuan ($0.80) compared with 30 yuan for an average printed volume.
Some of the newly popular online genres, such as romance, exist everywhere. Others could be termed fiction with
Chinese characteristics. Some of this online material makes it into book form. Print sales, dominated by the country’s 580
state-owned publishing houses, are now worth 44 billion yuan ($7 billion), but growth has slowed from 10% a year in
2007 to around 5%, according to Yang Wei of OpenBook, a market-research firm. Like many online starts-ups, Shanda is
not yet making money out of Web books, although revenues are growing.
The Internet has also changed the way that books are promoted. China has relatively few bookshops so cultural
networking sites such as Douban.com have proved good at targeting new readers. Few writers make much money, online
or in print. The handful of stylish novelists who do have become celebrities. Han Han, a 29-year-old novelist turned
racing-car driver, has a popular blog. Mr. Han rose to fame cleverly tweaking the authorities without running foul of the
censors. Today’s edgy writers, such as Murong Xuecun, can steer around the censors with their online writing, then make
necessary cuts in their print editions. Most authors give the censors no trouble. They know where the line is drawn. 【題組】48 According to the passage, which of the following dominates printing sales in China?
(A)OpenBook (B)Penguin China
(C)Shanda (D)State-owned Publishing Houses
Print sales, dominated by the country’s 580 state-owned publishing houses, are now worth 44 billion yuan ($7 billion), but growth has slowed from 10% a year in 2007 to around 5%, according to Yang Wei of OpenBook, a market-research firm.