英語優美文章閱讀

　　提高英語的水平往往可以看一些英語的新聞和閱讀，還有英語的電視劇和電影，這樣可以很快的提高我們的英語口語，接下來小編給大家帶來英語新聞，需要的同學們可以看一看。

　　英語課外閱讀1

　　Cory Wilbur, a 25-year-old software engineer in Boston, never used to read much. He barelycracked a book in college and would read one or two a year on vacation, at most.

　　25歲的波士頓軟體工程師科裡•威爾伯Cory Wilbur之前閱讀量一直不大。上大學時就很少翻書，一年最多也就在放假時讀上一兩本。

　　But in the past year, he's finished 10 books, including Dan Brown's 'Inferno,' Walter Isaacson'sbiography of Steve Jobs and George R.R. Martin's fantasy series 'A Song of Ice and Fire.' Helistens to audio books in snippets throughout the day on his iPhone during his morning workout, on his 20-minute commute to work, and while he's cooking dinner or cleaning up. Before hefalls asleep, he switches to an e-book of the same story on his Kindle, and starts reading rightwhere the narrator left off.

　　但在過去一年，他“讀”完了10本書，包括丹•布朗Dan Brown的《煉獄》Inferno，瓦爾特•艾薩克森Walter Isaacson為史蒂夫•喬布斯Steve Jobs寫的傳記，還有喬治•馬丁George R.R. Martin的系列奇幻小說《冰與火之歌》A Song of Ice and Fire。早上鍛鍊的時候，20分鐘的上班路上，做晚飯或打掃衛生的時候，他一小段一小段地聽iPhone上的有聲書。入睡前，他改看同一個故事在Kindle上的電子書，從朗讀者停下來的地方接著開始閱讀。

　　'I fly through a lot more books than I used to,' Mr. Wilbur said.

　　威爾伯說：“我瀏覽的書比過去多多了。”

　　The digital revolution may have dealt a heavy blow to print, but it is boosting literacy in otherunexpected ways by fueling the explosive growth of audio books.

　　數字革命或許已給印刷業造成了沉重的打擊，但它推進有聲書的爆發式增長，通過其他意想不到的方式提高了人們的文化水平。

　　Once a static niche for aficionados renting clunky cassettes or CDs for their commutes, audiobooks have gone mass-market. Sales have jumped by double digits in recent years. Shifts indigital technology have broadened the pool of potential listeners to include anyone with asmartphone.

　　有聲書曾經是一種靜態、小眾的東西，供發燒友們租借笨重的磁帶或CD在上下班通勤時聽。現在它已經變得大眾化。近幾年其銷量實現了兩位數增長。數字技術的變化擴大了潛在聽眾群體，任何人只要有一部智慧手機，都是這個群體的一員。

　　At the same time, publishers are investing six-figure sums in splashy productions with dozensof narrators. Using the Netflix model, some audio book producers have even startedexperimenting with original works written exclusively as audio productions, ranging from full-cast dramatizations in the style of old school radio plays, complete with music and soundeffects, to young adult novels, thrillers and multipart science fiction epics.

　　與此同時，出版商投入六位數的資金製作由數十位朗誦者誦讀的豪華作品。一些有聲書製作商藉助Netflix的模式，已經開始試驗專為製作有聲作品而寫的原創作品，既有演員齊全full-cast、帶音樂和音效、按老式廣播劇風格製作的改編劇，也有青少年小說、驚險小說、科幻史詩系列等。

　　'It's one of the few times in history that technology has reinvigorated an art form rather thancrushing it,' said Max Brooks, author of the zombie novel 'World War Z,' which was released inMay ahead of the Brad Pitt movie in an elaborate new audio edition with 40 cast members, including Alan Alda, John Turturro, and Martin Scorsese. It sold 60,000 CDs and digital-audiocopies. 'Now, because there is such demand and the production value is so inexpensive, itopens the door for more creative storytelling.' he said.

　　殭屍小說《末日之戰》World War Z作者馬克斯•布魯克斯Max Brooks說：“技術非但沒有毀滅、反倒是復興了一種藝術形式，這在歷史上並不多見，有聲書便是其一。”今年5月，《末日之戰》在布拉德•皮特BradPitt主演的同名電影之前釋出了一個精雕細琢的有聲版，演員達40位，有艾倫•艾爾達Alan Alda、約翰•圖爾圖羅John Turturro、馬丁•西科塞斯Martin Scorsese等。這個版本賣出了6萬份CD和數字音訊。布魯克斯說：“現在有這種需求，生產成本又如此便宜，這就為更多故事的創作創造了條件。”

　　Digital innovation isn't just changing the way audio books are created, packaged and sold. It'sstarting to reshape the way readers consume literature, creating a new breed of literaryomnivores who see narrated books and text as interchangeable. Last year, the audio bookproducer and retailer Audible unveiled a long-awaited syncing feature that allows book lovers toswitch seamlessly between an e-book and a digital audio book, picking up the story at preciselythe same sentence.

　　數字創新改變的不只是有聲書的創作、包裝和出售方式，它也開始改變讀者消費文學的方式，培育了一批新的文學愛好者。在這些愛好者看來，朗誦圖書和文字圖書是互通的。去年，製作並零售有聲書的Audible公司釋出了人們期待已久的一項同步功能。利用這一功能，愛書人可以在電子書和數字有聲書之間無縫切換，撿起同一句話繼續閱讀，不差分毫。

　　So far, Audible, which is owned by Amazon, has paired some 26,000 ebooks with professionalnarrations. The company is adding more than 1,000 titles a month and aims to eventuallybring the number to close to 100,000.

　　到目前為止，身為亞馬遜Amazon旗下公司的Audible已將大約2.6萬種電子書搭配了專業朗誦。該公司一個月新推有聲書1,000多種，最終目標是推出接近10萬種。

　　'We're moving toward a media-agnostic consumer who doesn't think of the difference betweentextual and visual and auditory experience,' says Don Katz, Audible's founder and CEO. 'It's thestory, and it is there for you in the way you want it.'

　　Audible創始人、CEO唐•卡茨Don Katz說：“我們在接近一群無視介質、不去考慮文字、視覺、聽覺體驗之區別的消費者。”他說：“他們關心的是故事，而故事就在那裡，你想它是什麼樣子它就是什麼樣子。”

　　Audio books have ballooned into a $1.2 billion industry, up from $480 million in retail sales in 1997. Unit sales of downloaded audio books grew by nearly 30% in 2011 compared with 2010, according to the Audio Publishers Association. Now they can be downloaded onto smartphoneswith the tap of a finger, often for the price of an e-book.

　　有聲書已經從1997年4.8億的零售額膨脹為一個12億美元的產業。據有聲出版機構聯合會Audio PublishersAssociation資料，2011年網路下載有聲書銷售量較2010年增長了近30%。現在點一下手指就可以把有聲書下載到智慧手機上，價格常常跟電子書一樣。

　　Recorded books date back to the 1930s, when the Library of Congress created a 'talking books'program for the blind. The proliferation of the cassette deck in autos boosted their popularityin the 1980s. CDs followed, but sales plateaued as audio books failed to keep pace with otherforms of digital entertainment.

　　錄音圖書可上溯至20世紀30年代國會圖書館Library of Congress為盲人群體制作的一檔名叫“會說話的書”的節目。80年代汽車卡式磁帶座的繁盛促進了錄音書的流行。接下來是CD，但由於有聲書沒有能夠趕上其他數字娛樂形式的步伐，其銷量一直停滯不前。

　　These narrated books typically cost $50 or more $100 for Stephen King's lengthy 'TheStand', so devotees borrowed them from the library or rented them from mail-order serviceslike Books on Tape, which still exists as a unit of Random House and emphasizes unabridgedtitles for libraries and schools.

　　這些朗誦圖書的價格一般在50美元或以上史蒂芬•金Stephen King的長篇作品《末日逼近》The Stand售價100美元，所以愛好者從圖書館借，或者從Books on Tape這樣的郵購服務提供商那裡租。Books onTape仍然作為蘭登書屋Random House旗下公司而存在，側重於為圖書館和學校提供無刪節的版本。

　　Prices are much lower now, as production costs have plunged and demand has risen. Audiobooks can be bundled with an e-book for just a few dollars, downloaded as part of a monthlysubscription plan or bought individually for as low as $1.99 for a short story or as high as $69.99 for the Bible. An average downloadable audio book costs close to $20.

　　隨著製作成本下降、需求上升，現在有聲書的價格已經下降了很多。有聲書可以按幾美元的價格跟著電子書一塊兒購買，可以根據按月訂閱計劃下載，也可以單獨購買，便宜的1.99美元短篇，約合人民幣12元，貴的69.99美元如《聖經》，約合人民幣430元。可下載有聲書的價格一般為接近20美元約合人民幣123元。

　　'Everybody has an audio book player in their pocket at this point,' says Anthony Goff, vicepresident of Hachette Audio, where sales have jumped by 31% this spring over last. 'It makesthat much easier for the masses to try it.' Downloadable books made up some 60% of totalaudio unit sales in 2011, dwarfing CDs.

　　Hachette Audio今年春季的銷售額同比增長了31%。副總裁安東尼•戈夫Anthony Goff說：“現在誰的口袋裡都有一臺有聲書播放器。這使大眾嘗試有聲書容易多了。”2011年有聲書總銷售量裡面，可下載有聲書佔了60%左右，CD銷量相形見絀。

　　Audio book producers have been dramatically increasing their output. 13,255 titles came out in 2012, up from 4,602 in 2009, according to the Audio Publishers Association.

　　有聲書製作商一直在大幅度增產。據有聲製作機構聯合會資料，2012年出產的有聲書有13,255種，相比之下2009年的產量為4,602種。

　　Audio books are no longer viewed as just an ancillary product to print. Some audio publishersare now attempting to rebrand narrated books as a distinct medium from print, labeling themas 'audio entertainment.' A handful of such publishers have started dabbling in originalaudio content, hoping to demonstrate that recorded narratives can hold their own as originalworks of art.

　　有聲書不再被視為印刷書的輔助產品。現在部分有聲書出版商正在試嘗將朗誦圖書包裝成一種不同於印刷圖書的媒介，把它定性為“有聲娛樂”。這些出版商裡面，有幾家已經在開始試水原創有聲內容，希望以此證明，錄音書也可以作為原創藝術作品而獨立存在。

　　In the past five years, AudioGo has produced about 25 works exclusively for audio, including'Baseball Forever,' a remix of radio broadcasts of some of the top moments in the history ofbaseball, 'Dreadtime Stories,' a collection of original horror stories, and a series ofapocalyptic zombie stories. The company has also produced 10 full-cast productions thatresemble old fashioned radio plays, a nearly extinct art form. They hired actor Val Kilmer toplay Zorro in an audio dramatization titled 'The Mark of Zorro,' and recruited Stacy Keach, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer on TV, to voice the detective in an original Mike Hammeraudio book.

　　在過去五年，AudioGo製作了大約25種純音訊的作品，其中有棒球史上部分巔峰時刻的廣播解說串燒《永遠棒球》Baseball Forever;原創恐怖小說集《恐怖故事》Dreadtime Stories，以及一系列的末日殭屍小說。該公司還製作了10部演員齊全的作品，類似老式廣播劇這種幾乎滅絕的藝術形式。他們聘請演員瓦爾•基爾默Val Kilmer在一部名為“佐羅的面具”The Mark of Zorro的有聲改編劇裡面扮演佐羅，還聘請在電視劇《米奇•斯皮蘭版邁克•漢默》Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer裡面飾演男主角的斯塔西•基奇StacyKeach在一本邁克•漢默題材的原創有聲書裡面飾演漢默偵探。

　　Audible, the country's largest audio book producer and retailer, has been investing in originalworks as a way to showcase the dramatic potential of the form, and to provide exclusivecontent as HBO, Showtime and Netflix do in television. Audible has produced nearly 20 originalaudio books, mainly in fast-growing categories like mystery and science fiction. Audible, whichAmazon bought in 2008, runs a subscription service for millions of members, who listen to anaverage of 18 books a year. Plans range from $14.95 a month, for one book a month, to $229.50 a year, for 24 books a year. The pipeline needs to keep flowing.

　　Audible是全國最大有聲書製作商與零售商。它投資原創作品是為了展示這種形式的極大潛力，並像電視界的HBO、Showtime和Netflix那樣提供專屬內容。Netflix製作的原創有聲書已經接近20種，主要是懸疑、科幻等增長較快的類別。2008年被亞馬遜收購的Audible為數百萬會員開通了一項訂閱服務，這些會員一年平均聽書18本。訂閱計劃既有每月14.95美元約合人民幣92元、一月一本書，也有每年229.50美元約合人民幣1,400元、一年24本書。品種必須源源不斷地更新。

　　'If you run out of mysteries, people quit,' Mr. Katz said.

　　卡茨說：“如果懸念沒了，人們就會撤退。”