In the early times, the music industry was terrified of taping (用磁带录音), thinking that customers would just copy music, or record from the radio. But that never really happened, at least not enough to cause any real hardship to anyone in the music business.

The same argument arose over technologies like MiniDiscs and recordable CDs. But the thing that terrified the music industry more than anything else was the arrival of services like Napster, which allowed people to share music over the Internet without costing them anything. The music industry was shocked; it saw people exchanging (交换) digital copies that didn’t degrade (削弱) the quality with each transfer, something that stopped tapes being a huge threat.

But it wasn’t the Internet that killed the music industry. In fact, everything is still looking optimistic for many musicians. Taylor Swift has had a good year, and her latest album is likely to make her very wealthy indeed. There is always going to be public demand for music.

However, the technology will simply destroy the record company. The reason is simple. Record companies are a man in the middle that simply doesn’t need to exist anymore. The same way we buy our flights direct, and do our shopping online and have things delivered from Amazon instead of going to a local shop. We have always been willing to enjoy cost reductions at the expense of the middleman, and the record companies are that kind of middleman.

What does the record industry offer? Well, surprisingly little these days. It used to be the case that record companies would go and find new talents. Of course this still happens, but more likely is that an artist will be discovered by the public through YouTube, or even from friends on Facebook or Twitter. Record companies also used to have an important role in producing the music. But countless artists are making their own way through software or any of the other amazing music apps, without any help from the record companies.

Bad Things About Cell Phones in School

Giving your schoolchild a cell phone has a very positive effect. 【小题1】 However, at school especially in the classroom, cell phones cause a lot of problems.

The Internet capabilities (联网功能) of phones will make students absent from their tasks. 【小题2】 In addition to sending text messages, smartphones have email and Internet capabilities. All of these features will distract (使分心) children from their tasks at hand.

【小题3】 The most common means by which the whole class distraction happens is when a cell phone rings during the middle of a class, attracting students’ attention towards the noise. A student with a cell phone may also encourage others to play the game on his cell phone or share information that comes up on the Internet.

The use of phones may contribute to the students’cheating in the exams. Students can take advantage of cell phones’ Internet capabilities to look for answers to questions for tests for which they haven’t studied. Having a palm-sized computer may give students the chance to cheat in exams. 【小题4】

Using a phone may reduce children’s social behavior. If a student has a cell phone, particularly one with an Internet connection, it must reduce his necessity to socially communicate with others. 【小题5】

   Nowadays, I acknowledge that a revolution has occurred. That much has been ___ by having hand-held iPads or smart phones that allow us not only to communicate while on the _____ but also to reserve parking spaces, get weather reports, and _____ tell us where, at any given moment, we are standing on the planet Earth.

But I must acknowledge a _____. Conversation used to be surprisingly _____ to start. When I took a seat next to someone on a train, bus, or plane, the first thing I would do was _____ the person. Once the ice had been broken, the following chat _____ erupt naturally.

Time has changed, and the change has been _____. Recently, while I was _____ a long distance bus, I couldn't help but notice everyone was staring at their ______, clicking. I found an empty seat next to a middle-aged man and said "Morning" to him. He threw me a ______ and said "Morning". Then he returned to his ______. So I left him in his world.

I miss the ______ conversations with fellow travelers. One never knows what will be ______, and in fact, sometimes how ______ it will be. I was once on a ______ traveling from Iceland to Denmark. I noticed an old man looking out over the North Sea. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said. He turned to me,______, and we were soon chatting away. _____ I told him that I didn't know how I was going to get from the port in Denmark to my destination city. He ______,"Of course you know. I have a car and I'm going to ______ you there. "

   I was a paperboy — well actually, the first papergirl in Seattle. When I was 12, I took my way into a job delivering (投递) The Seattle Times. I remember the boss looking this _______ girl over and telling me I had a week to _______ I could do it.

So after school, I would _______ over to the hut down the street, pick up my bundles, lift them onto the back of my _______ and ride my route. Sunday morning papers were too _______ for me to carry. I tried, and it took me three hours to _______ them as I had to keep coming back to reload. So, my mother volunteered to get up at 5:30 am and drive me around. She _______ herself to my employment.

What I learned as a _______ was to find out where each of my customers wanted their papers. I didn’t just throw them on their lawn (草评)._______ they wanted papers on their porch, or mailbox or inside the gate, that was where they got them. When a ________ went out of town, he would tell me and I would make sure that the papers didn’t ________ up to attract thieves. In return, I got big ________.

Somewhere the paperboys are ________ by modern services. We put our orders into online forms that then tell a service that ________ a guy in a truck to throw the papers onto the lawn.

The people that run and own newspapers have the ________ to deliver news to us in a large number of forms, and we should be able to get it any way we want. We should be able to ________ for the form we want it ________, including how it is distributed. I would ________ pay to have a papergirl or paperboy deliver the ________ on the right day in the right way, and I would tip for that privilege.

Let’s bring back the paperboy and with it ________ employment for our children.