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from the list (A-I) for each gap. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
There is an example at the beginning.
Will E-books be the Books of the Future?
A few years ago, nobody could have imagined buying a whole dictionary or
encyclopaedia on CD-Rom – but we do now, and it’s a booming business. Are e-books set
to take over from the printed word? Well, some multimedia companies are predicting that,
in a few years’ time, production of newspapers and magazines will have been halved, as we
will be turning to our computers to get the latest news. But how do people feel about
reading their daily newspaper, or even their favourite novels, on their computer screens? 0 E
It is certainly a question that we are going to have to think about soon. Technology
produces new products every day and the publishing industry is already showing great
interest in the future of the e-book. 1 …
As for e-books, despite the fact that an e-book that you can carry about with you is still
more expensive than an ordinary book, researchers claim that soon e-books will become
much cheaper than paper versions, and will be much more popular.
2 … Steven King, the best-selling writer of horror books, posted his newest short story
on the Internet and it sold more copies in its first days than many of his printed novels had.
3 …
Well, is this really the end of the book and the newspaper? I doubt it, and it seems that
even Steven King agrees. Despite his success on the Internet, he does not seem to think
anything can replace the book! This is partly because, although we like to think that
technology is capable of anything, it isn’t. At least, not yet! 4 … It took 25 hours for
Associated Press to download Steven King’s story. This is because lack of band width
makes it very slow to send material, especially pictures, over the Internet. Even though
work is constantly being carried out to solve this problem, demand for the Internet is
increasing too fast for scientists to keep up. What is more, it takes much longer for us to
read on the net. 5…
There is another problem, too, which has nothing to do with technology. People
simply prefer paper. It doesn’t matter how many books, magazines or newspapers are
produced – we never stop buying them. It seems that we like the feel of books and
magazines – we like to put them in our bags or pockets and take them out on the bus or the
train on the way to work. We like to sit and read in the park or on the beach.
6 … How many of us would exchange what we have now – a row of books in a
bookcase, or a pile of magazines on the coffee table – for a row of little screens? For many
of us, the idea of Sunday morning without a cup of coffee and a pile of newspapers is
impossible.
Nevertheless, e-books have become as widely available as printed ones, and many of
us changed our minds.
7 … Publishers will be delighted to cater for those who prefer to use a screen, but
paper lovers shouldn’t worry, as the printed page will undoubtedly keep its place in our
lives. There is even news that MIT will have come up with a compromise soon – a system
where we can tell our computers what we want to read, and then they will print our own
personal newspaper for us. The difference will be that we will only have to read about
things which interest us. Just think – if you hate the business section, you don’t have to
order it. If you dislike tennis, you can request only the football results. It sounds like this
could be good news for everyone!
A First of all, the Internet is slow.
B Many newspapers are already online; and you can read them on screen at home, or even
on your mobile phone.

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