Apple has entered the textbook market. The tech giant introduced iBooks textbooks a couple of weeks ago when it announced its iBooks 2 platform.

几周前，苹果公司在iBooks 2平台的发布会上正式推出iBooks，此举表明这一科技巨头正式进军教科书市场。

They are digital books in a variety of subjects from astronomy to zoology taking in science, maths, history and geography.

电子教科书涵盖了从天文学到动物学等多种主题，包括科学，数学，历史和地理等科目。

Apple developed its iPad-based textbooks in conjunction with major textbook publishers. The company offers a collection of textbooks for high school students.

苹果同一些知名教科书出版商展开合作，研发基于iPad平台的教科书。目前苹果已经推出了一套高中电子教材。

Apple claims it offers a "new textbook experience" and suggests its interactive iBooks textbooks are "the next chapter in learning".

苹果表示将创造一场 教科书新体验，并暗示这种互动式的电子教科书将会开启学习的新篇章。

It sounds like good news for pupils and students. Think of it. No more carrying heavy backpacks full of textbooks. Every textbook you require can be stored on your iPad.

这听上去对于中小学生来说是个好消息。想想看，不用再背着装满课本的，沉甸甸的书包，因为所有书都可以储存在你的iPad里。

No more having to buy expensive textbooks which you will only use for a year or two and then sell or give away.

也不必再去买那些昂贵的课本，这些课本只能用一两年，之后不是卖掉，就是送人。

Of course there's a catch. You need to own an iPad and as you know, it is not cheap. You also need to buy digital textbooks, mostly priced each at $14.99 (94.74 yuan) or less.

当然凡事有利就有弊。你需要拥有一部iPad，众所周知其价格不菲。此外你还要买电子课本，大多数定价不高于14.99美元（合94.74元人民币）。

Textbook publishing was worth $8.7 billion in the US alone last year. Will digital books take over completely in education?

去年，单是美国的教科书出版业的市值就达到87亿美元。那么电子书将会彻底抢占整个教育市场吗？

Is learning going to evolve into something we do on an electronic tablet computer? You can appreciate the attractions.

我们正步入用平板电脑的学习时代吗？你可以感受到这其中的魅力所在。

Instead of boring old textbooks which are quickly out of date you can have an interactive learning experience.

随着那些无聊又陈旧的课本被迅速淘汰，你便可以体验到互动学习的乐趣。

You can play videos, examine geometrical problems in 3D, listen to music and commentary, make notes and mark passages electronically. You can also share stuff on social networking sites with fellow students.

你可以播放视频，利用3D来解析几何难题，收听音乐以及评论，在电子屏幕上记笔记，做文章注释，还可以与同学在社交网站上分享资料。

The book is dead; long live the tablet computer.

传统课本短命，平板电脑万岁。

But wait a minute. Not so fast. Let's consider the evolution of learning. Thousands of years before books, man was depicting hunting scenes on the walls of caves.

但先等一下，别这么快！我们先回顾一下学习的演变过程。在书籍出现前的数千年里，人类一直都是在洞穴的墙壁上描绘捕猎场景。

As early as 2700 BC Egyptians were converting papyrus into thick forms of paper or parchment ready to receive markings from reed pens.

早在公元前2700年，埃及人便开始把纸莎草纸改进为较厚的纸张或是羊皮纸，以便用芦苇制成的笔记录文字。

In the Middle Ages in Europe monasteries became centers of learning. While some monks ploughed and grew crops, brother monks laboriously copied and illustrated bibles by hand on vellum or parchment.

到了中世纪的欧洲，修道院成为学习中心。当一些僧侣耕种农作物时，另一些同伴卖力地在牛皮纸或羊皮纸上抄写圣经，并手绘插画。

China developed printing, using signs cut into wooden blocks. Books were printed rather than written out by hand. Every candidate for the civil service boned up on Confucius' precepts in printed form.

之后，中国利用篆刻木块制成字体模板发明了印刷术。至此书籍已可印刷出版而并非手工抄写。所有文官的候选人都要用功研读印刷成册的孔子训词。

In 1273 a handbook for Chinese farmers and growers of raw silk was printed, according to Geoffrey Blainey, writer of A Very Short History of the World. Soon 3,000 copies were in circulation, at a time when the same task would have called for a year's labor by a monastery full of Italian monks writing out the books by hand.

《世界简史》的作者杰弗里?布莱尼表示，1273年，一本为中国农民和养蚕者编写的印刷手册问世。不久，便有3000本书流通于世。当时，若是同样一本书，则需要一间修道院里所有意大利僧侣花费一年时间才能抄写完。

The great leap forward in learning came thanks to the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz in Germany was perhaps the first European to print a book using not only a printing press but also metallic type.

人类学习历史上的一大飞跃要多亏了印刷机的问世。来自德国美因茨市的约翰内斯?古滕贝格可能是第一位不仅使用机器印刷，还使用金属字块来印刷书本的欧洲人。

His techniques were copied and adapted. Thanks to the printing press, cheap books were possible.

他的技术被广泛采纳应用，因为有了印刷机，书本才会变得这么便宜。

And the rest, as they say, is history. Will Apple revolutionize learning? That remains to be seen.

常言道，剩下的事情地球人都知道了。那么苹果会引领一场学习的变革吗？让我们拭目以待吧！