Mass market paperbacks, which have been declining for years anyway, will probably disappear, as will hardbacks for mysteries, thrillers, "romance fiction," etc.

无论如何，大众市场的平装书已经衰落多年，且可能会消失，就像神秘小说、惊悚小说、“浪漫小说”等的精装书一样。

In the US, it's claimed that ebooks are now outselling many hardbacks.

在美国电子书销量超过了很多精装本。

He put those hardbacks on the shelves just for show; he never read them.

他书架上那些精装书不过是为了撑场面，从来没看过。

We decided that hardbacks would prevail over paperbacks unless the paperbacks contained marginalia30.

我们决定有硬皮精装本的就不留平装本的，但平装本上有批注的则另当别论。

Amazon last week announced sales of ebooks on its US site had outnumbered hardbacks for the first time, stunning casual observers, even if it had not been entirely unexpected in the trade.

上周亚马逊声称其在美国市场售出电子书的数量第一次超越了精装书，这震惊了漫不经心的观察家，但在行业内部这事并不是完全出人意料的。

Those who are particularly keen to get their hands on a copy of a new book, for instance, may be willing to pay a higher price for it, which may explain the persistence of expensive hardbacks.

比如那些特别热衷于获得版权书的人会愿意支付较高的价格。这可以解释坚持买昂贵精装书的现象。

Just a year earlier hardbacks had been worth more than three times as much as e-books, according to the Association of American Publishers. Amazon now sells more copies of e-books than paper books.

据美国出版商协会统计，仅仅一年之前精装书的销量还是电子书的三倍，但现在亚马逊售出的电子书拷贝要多于纸质书。