Table of Contents
BEST General Reading IELTS Test 182
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 182 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 182
READING PASSAGE – 3
A Library At Your Fingertips
A. A few years ago, at the height of the dotcom boom, it had widely assumed that a publishing revolution, in which the printed word would be supplanted by the computer screen, was just around the corner. It wasn’t: for many, there is still little to match the joy of cracking the spine of a good book and settling down for an hour or two of reading. A recent flurry of activity by big technology companies – including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo! – suggests that the dream of bringing books online is still very much alive.
General Reading IELTS Test
B. The digitizing of thousands of volumes of print is not without controversy. On Thursday, November 3, Google, the world’s most popular search engine, posted the first instalment of books on Google Print, an initiative first mooted a year ago. This collaborative effort between Google and several of the world’s leading research libraries aims to make many thousands of books available to be searched and read online free of charge. Although the books included so far has not covered by copyright, the plan has attracted the ire of publishers.
C. Five large book firms are suing Google for violating copyright on material that it has scanned and, although out of print, has still protected by law. Google has said that it will only publish short extracts from the material under copyright unless given express permission to publish more, but publishers has unconvinced. Ironically, many publishers are collaborating with Google on a separate venture, Google Print Publisher, which aims to give readers an online taste of books that are commercially available. The searchable collection of extracts and book information has intended to tempt readers to buy complete books online or in print form.
General Reading IELTS Test
D. Not to be outdone, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has unveiled plans for its own foray into the mass e-book market. The firm, which began ten years ago as an online book retailer, now sells a vast array of goods. No doubt piqued that Google, a relative newcomer, should impinge upon its central territory, Amazon revealed on Thursday that it would introduce two new services.
Amazon Pages will allow customers to search for key terms in selected books and then buy and read online whatever part they wish, from individual pages to chapters or complete works. Amazon Upgrade will give customers online access to books they have already purchased as hard copies. Customers are likely to have to pay around five cents a page, with the bulk going to the publisher.
E. Microsoft, too, has joined the online-book bandwagon. At the end of October, the software giant said it would spend around $200 million to digitize texts, starting with 150,000 that are in the public domain, to avoid legal problems. It will do so in collaboration with the Open Content Alliance, a consortium of libraries and universities.
General Reading IELTS Test
(Yahoo! has pledged to make 18,000 books available online in conjunction with the same organisation.) On Thursday, coincidentally the same day as Google and Amazon announced their initiatives, Microsoft released details of a deal with the British Library, the country’s main reference library, to digitize some 25 million pages; these will be made available through MSN Book Search, which will be launched next year.
F. These companies are hoping for a return to the levels of interest in e-books seen when Stephen King, a best-selling horror writer, published “Riding the Bullet” exclusively on the Internet in 2000. Half a million copies had downloaded in the first 48 hours after publication. This proved to be a high-water mark rather than a taste of things to come. While buyers were reluctant to sit in front of a computer screen to read the latest novels, dedicated e-book reading gadgets failed to catch on. Barnes and Noble, a leading American bookshop chain, began selling e-books with fanfare in 2000 but quietly pulled the plugin 2003 as interest faded.
General Reading IELTS Test
G. The market for e-books is growing again, though from a tiny base. According to the International Digital Publishing Forum, which collates figures from many of the world’s top publishers, in the third quarter of 2004, worldwide sales were 25% higher than the year before. Unfortunately, this only amounted to a paltry $3.2 million split between 23 publishers in an industry that made sales worth over $100 billion that year.
H. Both retailers and publishers reckon they will eventually be able to persuade consumers to do a lot more of their reading on the web. Some even hope they can become to online books what Apple’s iTunes is to online music. There are crucial differences between downloading fiction and downloading funk.
General Reading IELTS Test
I. So the commercial prospects for sellers of online books do not yet look very bright. They may get a lift from some novel innovations. The ability to download mere parts of books could help, for instance: sections of manuals, textbooks or cookery books may tempt some customers; students may wish to download the relevant sections of course books, or readers may want a taste of a book that they subsequently buy in hard copy. The ability to download reading matter onto increasingly in 2005, according to estimates.
Questions 27-30
For each question, only ONE of the choices is correct.
Write the corresponding letter in the appropriate box on your answer sheet.
27. A few years ago, it had widely thought that
A. people would read fewer ‘paper’ books.
B. companies like Amazon would go bankrupt.
C. the dotcom boom would soon end.
28. Publishers are unhappy with Google because
A. Google is only publishing extracts, not complete books.
B. they think Google is in breach of copyright.
C. Google is cooperating with leading research libraries.
General Reading IELTS Test
29. Amazon will
A. sell books that previously only Google sold online.
B. buy the copyright for many books it sells online.
C. allow people to buy only parts that they want to read from books.
30. It is clear that most readers if given the choice, prefer
A. ‘paper’ books.
B. reading from computer screens.
C. using dedicated e-book readers.
General Reading IELTS Test
Questions 31-35
Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each gap.
31. If companies publish books online that are not covered by copyright, they avoid ………….. .
32. The ………….. is very small but getting larger.
33. The ………….. expect that they will be able to convince more people to read online.
34. The ………….. has nothing similar to an iPod.
35. In Japan, most of the publications sent to mobile phones are ………….. .
Questions 36-40
Do the statements on the next page agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE – if the information in the text agrees with the statement
FALSE – if the information in the text contradicts with the statement
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this
General Reading IELTS Test
36. Books that has out of print has not covered by copyright law.
37. Amazon began by selling books online.
38. Microsoft signed a deal with the British Library on the same day as Google and Amazon made their announcements.
39. Barnes and Noble published Riding the Bullet online.
40. The ability to sample a book online before buying it might help sales.
General Reading IELTS Test
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
General Reading IELTS Test
ANSWERS
27. A
28. B
29. C
30. A
31. LEGAL PROBLEMS
32. MARKET FOR E-BOOKS
33. RETAILS AND PUBLISHERS
General Reading IELTS Test
34. BOOK WORLD
35. MANGA COMIC BOOKS
36. FALSE
37. TRUE
38. FALSE
39. NOT GIVEN
40. TRUE
General Reading IELTS Test