IELTS Reading 練習 書店的衰退（含題目+詳解）

The Decline of Bookshops

For much of the twentieth century the high-street bookshop was a fixture of British and American towns, supplying both the casual gift-buyer and the dedicated reader. By 2010, however, the trade was visibly in retreat. In the United Kingdom, the number of independent bookshops fell from roughly 1,890 in 1995 to fewer than 870 by 2016, a decline of more than half in two decades. Similar patterns appeared in the United States, where the chain Borders Group, once the country's second-largest bookseller, closed all 642 of its stores in 2011.

The most often-cited cause is online competition. Amazon, founded in 1994 as an online bookseller before diversifying into almost every other retail category, was able to offer a far wider range of titles, undercut the high-street price by a wide margin and ship within days. Independent shops, with shelf space for perhaps thirty thousand titles at most, simply could not match the inventory or the price. The arrival of the e-book and dedicated reading devices such as the Kindle from 2007 added a second pressure: even when a customer wanted to read tonight, they no longer needed to leave the house.

Yet the picture is not uniformly bleak. After bottoming out around 2016, the number of British independent bookshops has slowly grown again, reaching close to 1,070 by 2023. Owners credit a number of factors: a generation of readers who actively prefer printed books to screens; the rise of the bookshop as a cafe and event venue rather than a pure point of sale; and renewed interest in supporting local businesses after the pandemic. The largest chains have not recovered, and the e-book share of total book sales has plateaued at around 20 per cent rather than continuing to rise as some commentators predicted in 2010.

The high-street bookshop, in other words, has not been killed by the internet so much as transformed by it — surviving by being something a website cannot easily replicate.

1. The number of UK independent bookshops fell by more than half between 1995 and 2016.
2. Borders Group was the largest bookseller in the United States before its closure.
3. E-books now account for the majority of total book sales.
4. Independent UK bookshops have begun to increase in number again since 2016.

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. According to the passage, a key reason high-street shops could not compete with Amazon was:

- A. they refused to sell new authors - B. they had limited shelf space and higher prices - C. they did not stock e-books - D. they closed earlier in the evening

1. The writer's overall view of the high-street bookshop is that it:

- A. has been destroyed by online retail - B. has been transformed rather than killed - C. will return to its 1990s peak within a decade - D. has been replaced entirely by cafes

Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

After 2007, dedicated reading devices such as the (7) ______ added a new pressure on physical bookshops. The number of British independent shops has since recovered, partly because owners now treat the shop as a (8) ______ rather than a pure point of sale. The e-book share of total book sales has (9) ______ at around 20 per cent.

1. TRUE Supporting sentence: "the number of independent bookshops fell from roughly 1,890 in 1995 to fewer than 870 by 2016, a decline of more than half". The figures and "more than half" match exactly.

2. FALSE Supporting sentence: "the chain Borders Group, once the country's second-largest bookseller". Second-largest, not largest. The statement contradicts the passage.

3. FALSE Supporting sentence: "the e-book share of total book sales has plateaued at around 20 per cent". 20 per cent is a minority, not a majority. Direct contradiction.

4. TRUE Supporting sentence: "After bottoming out around 2016, the number of British independent bookshops has slowly grown again". "Slowly grown again" matches "begun to increase".

5. B — they had limited shelf space and higher prices Supporting sentence: "Independent shops, with shelf space for perhaps thirty thousand titles at most, simply could not match the inventory or the price". Both factors are explicit.

6. B — has been transformed rather than killed Supporting sentence: "The high-street bookshop ... has not been killed by the internet so much as transformed by it". Direct paraphrase.

7. Kindle Supporting sentence: "dedicated reading devices such as the Kindle from 2007". Single-word answer; the question already provides "reading devices".

8. cafe and event venue / event venue Supporting sentence: "the rise of the bookshop as a cafe and event venue rather than a pure point of sale". Two-word phrase ("event venue") fits the limit; "cafe and event venue" is over the limit.

9. plateaued Supporting sentence: "the e-book share of total book sales has plateaued at around 20 per cent". Single-word answer, exact match.