Right now, I am looking at a shelf full of relics, a collection of has-beens, old-timers, antiques, fossils. Right now I am looking at a shelf full of books. Yes, that's right. If you have some spare cash (the going rate is about $89) and are looking to enhance your reading experience, then I highly suggest you
consider purchasing an e-reader. E-readers are replacing the books of old, and I welcome them with open arms (as you should).
If you haven't heard of an e-reader and don't know what it is, then please permit the following explanation. An e-reader is a device that allows you to read e-books. An e-book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed
book, e-books can also be born digital. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an electronic version of a printed book," but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent.
So now you know what an e-reader is. But you still may be wondering why they put printed books to shame. E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space, are environmentally friendly, and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not.
E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space. The average e-reader can store thousands of digital books, providing a veritable library at your fingertips. What is more, being the size and weight of a thin hardback, the e-reader itself is relatively petite. It is easy to hold and can fit in a pocketbook or briefcase easily. This makes handling ponderous behemoths such as War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Les Misérables a breeze. Perhaps the only drawback to the space-saving aspect of an e-reader is that it requires you to find new things to put on your shelves.
In addition, e-readers are superior to books because they are environmentally friendly. The average novel is about 300 pages long. So, if a novel is printed 1000 times, it will use 300,000 pieces of paper. That's a lot of paper! If there are about 80,000 pieces of paper in a tree, this means it takes almost 4 trees to make these 1000 books. Now, we know that the average bestseller sells about 20,000 copies per week. That means that it takes over 300 trees each month to sustain this rate. And for the super bestsellers, these figures increase dramatically. For example, the Harry Potter book series has sold over 450 million copies. That's about 2 million trees! Upon viewing these figures, it is not hard to grasp the severe impact of printed books on the environment. Since e-readers use no trees, they represent a significant amount of preservation in terms of the environment and its resources.
Finally, e-readers are superior to books because they provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not. The typical e-reader allows its user to customize letter size, font, and line spacing. It also allows highlighting and electronic bookmarking. Furthermore, it grants users the ability to get an
overview of a book and then jump to a specific location based on that overview. While these are all nice features, perhaps the most helpful of all is the ability to get dictionary definitions at the touch of a finger. On even the most basic e-reader, users can conjure instant definitions without having to hunt through a physical dictionary.
It can be seen that e-readers are superior to printed books. They save space, are environmentally friendly, and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not. So what good are printed books? Well, they certainly make nice decorations
Questions
1) As used in paragraph 1, it can be inferred that "relics,” “has-beens, old-timers, antiques, fossils" are all words that describe something
A. ancient
B. useless
C. outdated
D. pathetic
2) The tone of the author can best be described as
A. shrewd
B. conniving
C. persuasive
D. authoritative
3) According to the author, e-books
I. were all once printed books
II. may be "born digital"
III. are able to display images
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
4) As used in paragraph 3, which of the following describes something that has been "put to shame"?
A. A dog is left outside on a frigid, dreary winter night.
B. Team A defeats Team B in a humiliating rout.
C. Martha is caught stealing at the mall and is arrested in front of a crowd of
curious bystanders.
D. The machine has countless moving parts and Dustin has trouble assembling
it.
5) A thesis statement is a sentence that clearly describes what the author plans to discuss. Based on this information, which of the following sentences from the passage is the thesis statement?
A. If you have some spare cash (the going rate is about $89) and are looking to
enhance your reading experience, then I highly suggest you consider
purchasing an e-reader.
B. E-readers are replacing the books of old, and I welcome them with open arms
(as you should).
C. An e-reader is a device that allows you to read e-books. An e-book is a book-
length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and
produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other
electronic devices.
D. E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space, are
environmentally friendly, and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed
books do not.
6) Based on its use in paragraph 4, it can be inferred that petite belongs to which of the following word families?
A. jubilant, euphoric, playful
B. compact, diminutive, little
C. cute, attractive, charming
D. light, airy, spacious
7) Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Les Misérables are all
A. authored by Europeans
B. dense and impenetrable
C. timeless classics
D. awkward or unwieldy
8) As used in paragraph 5, which is the best synonym for sustain?
A. maintain
B. allow
C. enforce
D. yield
9) Which of the following, if true, would present the biggest challenge to the author's argument set forth in paragraph 5?
A. Books are not made only from whole trees, but from wood chips and forest
waste as well.
B. The natural resources required to read an e-book on an e-reader are greater
than the natural resources required to make a printed book.
C. The results of a recent survey show that people who read e-books are more
likely to be distracted during their reading and remember less of the book.
D. Although the printing of the extremely popular Harry Potter book series had
significant environmental impact, the Harry Potter movie series cost almost
no trees to make and was also very well-liked.
10) According to the author, which of the following reading tips and tools are offered by the e-reader?
I. line spacing customization
II. the ability to quickly jump to the end of a book
III. access to an online thesaurus at the touch of a finger
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
11) Which of the following best describes the organization of this passage?
A. introduction, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, conclusion
B. history, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, conclusion
C. advertisement, background, introduction, supporting paragraphs, examples,
conclusion
D. introduction, background, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs,
conclusion