[00:01.96]Topic 2

[00:03.81]Will Electronic Dictionaries Kill Printed Dictionaries?

[00:07.93]Many people today prefer to use electronic dictionaries

[00:11.98]rather than printed ones,

[00:13.66]because electronic dictionaries are much lighter

[00:16.53]and smaller and easier to be taken everywhere.

[00:20.08]Some people worry that printed dictionaries

[00:22.54]may disappear one day.

[00:24.29]But I believe that electronic dictionaries

[00:26.67]will not kill printed ones.

[00:29.05]First, printed dictionaries are much

[00:31.23]cheaper than the electronic ones.

[00:34.09]Many students, who use dictionaries most often,

[00:37.22]can hardly afford an expensive electronic dictionary.

[00:41.14]Therefore, the printed ones are exactly what they need.

[00:44.76]Second, scholars prefer printed dictionaries

[00:47.53]to electronic ones.

[00:49.09]Holding a thick, heavy dictionary

[00:50.71]is what a teacher used to do,

[00:53.15]and I believe that they will like to keep this habit.

[00:56.94]Third, only the printed dictionaries

[00:59.06]can be collected into libraries

[01:01.55]or be put on our private bookshelves.

[01:04.16]We may use an electronic dictionary very often,

[01:07.08]but we will never collect it,

[01:08.89]since it's designed to be used, not to be collected.

[01:12.56]Of course electronic dictionaries

[01:14.43]will be more popular in the future,

[01:16.73]because they are really convenient.

[01:18.97]But the printed ones are still needed

[01:21.27]and will not be replaced.

[01:23.38]The two kinds of dictionaries

[01:24.77]are just complementary to each other.