短文二
The earliest printed book we know today appeared in China in the year 868 and metal type was in use in Korea at the beginning of the fifteenth century, but it was in Germany around the year 1450 that a printing press using movable metal type was invented.
已知最早的印刷書(shū)籍于868年在中國(guó)出現(xiàn)。十五世紀(jì)之初朝鮮就使用了金屬印刷。1450年德國(guó)發(fā)明了使用金屬活字的印刷機(jī)。
Capitalism turned printing from an invention into an industry.
資本主義將印刷從一項(xiàng)發(fā)明發(fā)展為一項(xiàng)產(chǎn)業(yè)。
Right from the start, book printing and publishing were organized on capitalist lines.
書(shū)籍印刷從開(kāi)始就由資本家組織。
The biggest sixteenth-century printer, Plantin of Antwerp, had twenty-four printing presses and employed more than a hundred workers.
十六世紀(jì)最大的印刷業(yè)大亨是安特衛(wèi)普的普蘭廷，他擁有二十四臺(tái)印刷機(jī)，雇傭了超過(guò)一百名工人。
Only a small fraction of the population was literate, but the production of books grew at an extraordinary speed.
只有一小部分人受過(guò)教育，但書(shū)籍產(chǎn)量飛速增長(zhǎng)。
By 1500 some twenty million volumes had already been printed.
到1500年印刷了約兩千萬(wàn)卷書(shū)籍。
The immediate effect of printing was to increase the circulation of works that were already popular in a handwritten form, while less popular works went out of circulation.
印刷的直接影響下，手寫(xiě)版就已經(jīng)流行的書(shū)籍得到更多傳播，不那么流行的作品卻不再傳播。
Publishers were interested only in books that would sell fairly quickly in sufficient numbers to cover the costs of production and make a profit.
出版商只在意那些賣得很快很多的書(shū)籍，以此抵消成本，賺取利潤(rùn)。
Thus, while printing enormously increased access to books by making cheap, high-volume production possible, it also reduced choice.
因此，印刷使得低成本大量制造書(shū)籍有了可能，由此極大提高了人們獲取書(shū)籍的機(jī)會(huì)，不過(guò)也減少了選擇。
The great cultural impact of printing was that it facilitated the growth of national languages.
印刷術(shù)對(duì)文化的一大影響在于促進(jìn)了本土語(yǔ)言的發(fā)展。
Most early books were printed in Latin, but the market for Latin was limited, and in its pursuit of larger markets the book trade soon produced translations into the national languages emerging at the time.
早期印刷的大多是拉丁文書(shū)籍，但拉丁文書(shū)籍的市場(chǎng)有限，為了獲取更大的市場(chǎng)利益，圖書(shū)業(yè)立刻生產(chǎn)當(dāng)時(shí)興起的本國(guó)語(yǔ)言譯本。
Printing indeed played a key role in standardizing and stabilizing these languages by fixing them in print, and producing dictionaries and grammar books.
通過(guò)印刷品中修正語(yǔ)言，以及生產(chǎn)字典和語(yǔ)法書(shū)籍，印刷確實(shí)在語(yǔ)言的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化和穩(wěn)定化中起了關(guān)鍵作用。
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
請(qǐng)根據(jù)你剛剛聽(tīng)到的對(duì)話回答問(wèn)題12至問(wèn)題15。
12. What happened in Germany around the year 1450?
問(wèn)題12：1450年德國(guó)發(fā)生了什么?
13. What does the speaker say about the printer, Plantin of Antwerp?
問(wèn)題13：關(guān)于印刷大亨安特衛(wèi)普的普蘭廷，說(shuō)話者說(shuō)了些什么?
14. What was the immediate effect of printing?
問(wèn)題14：印刷的直接影響是什么?
15. What was the great cultural impact of printing?
問(wèn)題15：印刷對(duì)文化的巨大影響是什么?
