[F] More quickly than almost anyone predicted, ebooks are emerging as a serious alternative to the paper kind. Amazon, comfortably the biggest ebook retailer, has lowered the price of its Kindle ereaders to the point where people do not fear to take them to the beach. In America, the most advanced market, about one fifth of the largest publishers sales are of e books. Newly released blockbusters may sell as many digital copies as paper ones. The proportion is growing quickly, not least because many bookshops are closing.
[G] They are doing some things right. Having watched the record companies impotence after Apple wrested control of music pricing from them, the publishers have managed to retain their ability to set prices. But they are missing some tricks. The music and film industries have started to bundle electronic with physical versions of their products—by, for instance, providing those who buy a DVD of a movie with a code to download it from the internet. Publishers, similarly, should bundle e books with paper books.
D→1→2→3→E→4→5
Passage 3
Directions: For question 1—5, choose the most suitable paragraphs from the list A—G and fill them into the numbered boxes to form a coherent text. Paragraphs C and F have been correctly placed.
[A] Fifteen years ago Vincent Bolloré, a French industrialist, decided to get into the business of electricity storage. He started a project to produce rechargeable batteries in two small rooms of his family mansion in Brittany. “I asked him, ‘what are you doing? and I told him to stop, that it wouldn t go anywhere,” says Alain Minc, a business consultant in Paris who has advised Mr Bolloré for many years. Fortunately, he says, Mr Bolloré continued.
[B] The real aim for Mr Bolloré, however, is to showcase his battery technology. His group has developed a type of rechargeable cell, called a lithiummetal polymer (LMP) battery. This is different from the lithiumion batteries used by most of the car industry. Mr Bolloré believes fervently that his batteries are superior, mainly because they are safer. Lithiumion batteries can explode if they overheat—which in the past happened in some laptops. Carmakers incorporate safety features to prevent the batterys cells from overheating.
[C] The city of Paris will cover most of the cost of the stations, but Mr Bolloré will pay an estimated 105m to supply his design of “Bluecar” vehicles and their batteries. He will bear a further 80m a year in running costs. The citys estimates for how popular the new service will be are highly optimistic, said a recent study by the government. Autolib could make 33ma year for Mr Bolloré, according to the study, but it could easily just breakeven or lose as much as 60mannually. Autolib will also be the first time the group has operated in a big consumerfacing business where it will be held directly responsible for problems such as vandalism or breakdowns.
[D] Going up against the rest of the car industry may seem quixotic. Before he won Autolib, Mr Bolloré says, people may well have thought he and his team were mad to venture into such a new area. But they underestimated his groups knowledge of electricity storage, he maintains. And if the growing number of electric cars on the road does lead to safety concerns over batteries, then Mr Bollorés LMP technology could move from the margin to the mainstream—provided, of course, they pass their test on the streets of Paris.
[E] “Being a family company means we can invest for the long term,” says Mr Bolloré, who has spent 1.5 billion on battery development
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