Why Textbooks Are Here to Stay
教材会继续存在的原因
Textbooks represent an 11 billion dollar industry, up from $8 billion in 2014. Textbook publisher Pearson is the largest publisher — of any kind — in the world.
教科书是一个价值高达110亿美元的产业，2014年时其产业价值为80亿美元。教材出版商培生(Pearson)是世界各类出版商之首.
It costs about $1 million to create a new textbook.
打造一本全新的教材需花费约100万美元。
A freshman textbook will have dozens of contributors（编著者）, from subject-matter experts through graphic and layout（布局） artists to expert reviewers and classroom testers.
一本新生教材将需要十几位撰稿人，从题材专家到插图排版设计师，从审查专家到课堂测试员。
Textbook publishers connect professors, instructors and students in ways that alternatives, such as open e-textbooks and open educational resources, simply do not.
教材出版商将教授、老师和学生连接到一起，这是替代性选择——如开放式电子教科书和开放式教育资源——所做不到的。
This connection happens not only by means of collaborative development, review and testing, but also at conferences（会议） where faculty regularly decide on their textbooks and curricula for the coming year.
这种连接不仅通过合作开发、审查和测试的方式实现，而且还形成于那些全体教师定期决定来年教科书和课程的会议上。
It is true that textbook publishers have recently reported losses, largely due to students renting or buying used print textbooks.
的确，教材出版商近期公布了亏损状况，这很大程度上是由于学生租书或者购买二手纸质教材导致的。
But this can bechalked up（归咎于） to the excessively high cost of their books — which has increased over 1,000 percent since 1977.
但这有可能是因为高昂的课本价格，从1977年以来，课本价格已经上涨了10倍以上。
A restructuring of the textbook industry may well be in order. But this does not mean the end of the textbook itself.
教科书产业的重组很可能势在必行，但这并不意味着教科书的终结。
While they may not be as dynamic（具有活力） as an iPad, textbooks are not passive or lifeless. For example, over the centuries, they have simulated（模拟） dialogues in a number of ways.
教科书虽然不像平板电脑一样具有活力，但也并不是被动或毫无生气的。比如说，过去的几百年以来，教科书一直以多种方式模拟对话。
From 1800 to the present day, textbooks have done this by posing questions for students to answer inductively（归纳地）. That means students are asked to use their individual experience to come up with answers to general questions.
从1800年至今，教科书都是通过提出问题，让学生做出归纳性回答的这种方式来实现这一点的。这意味着学生们被要求用自己的个人经验来回答一般性问题。
Today's psychology texts, for example, ask: "How much of your personality do you think you inherited（遗传）?" while ones in physics say: "How can you predict where the ball you tossed（扔的） will land?"
例如，当今的心理学课本会问：“你认为自己的个性有多少是遗传的？”而物理教材则会问：“你如何预测自己扔的球会落在哪里？”
Experts observe that "textbooks come in layers, something like an onion."
专家指出，“教科书是一层一层的，就像洋葱一样。”
For an active learner, engaging with a textbook can be an interactive experience: Readers proceed at their own pace. They "customize（定制）" their books by engaging with different layers and linkages.
对于主动学习者而言，阅读教科书是一种交互式体验，读者可以按照自己的节奏进行阅读，通过接触不同的层面和内在关联，他们使课本成为了“定制”的产物。
Highlighting, Post-It notes, dog-ears and other techniques allow for further customization that students value in print books over digital forms of books.
荧光标记、便利贴、书页折角和其他小手段让进一步定制得以实现，而这正是学生更看重纸质书而不是电子书的原因。
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