Book sales soar as French lockdown eases

Book sales soar as French lockdown eases

法國逐步解封 圖書銷量飆升

【摘要2020.6.8.自由】◎陳成良

Book sales in France have soared since the country began to ease its lockdown, rocketing more than 230 percent in a week, a survey showed Monday.

一項調查週一指出，自從法國開始放寬封鎖令，境內圖書銷量也飆升，在一週內激增逾230％。

A study for the trade weekly Livres Hebdo found that from May 11 to 17 bookshops did a roaring trade, with readers desperate to stock up while public libraries remained shut.

根據貿易週刊「圖書週刊」（ Livres Hebdo）所做的調查，5月11日至17日書店銷量大增，因為讀者在公共圖書館仍持續關閉的情況下，拚命購買書籍囤積。

Many French bookshops had partially reopened in the last weeks of the country’s strict eight-week confinement for takeaway or click and collect sales.

在為期8週嚴格居家令的最後幾週，法國許多書店已局部重新開放，提供外帶或線上預定、再到店取貨的服務。

Even so, overall, sales were 60 percent down compared the corresponding period in 2019.

即使如此，總體而言，銷售額還是比2019年同期下降60％。

Despite the proliferation of online reading groups during the lockdown, the French publishing industry has been badly hit, with publishers claiming that revenues have dropped by 80 percent.

儘管在疫情封鎖期間電子書讀書會激增，但法國出版業仍受到嚴重衝擊。出版商聲稱，這段時間的營收下降80％。

新聞辭典

rocket：動詞，迅速上升；迅速成功，一舉成功。例句：House prices in the north are rocketing.（北部的房價正在飛漲。）

desperate：形容詞時，亟欲得到，不達目的不罷休的，其後常接不定詞（即to+原形動詞）或介系詞for。例句：He is desperate to save the old woman.（他亟欲救助這名老婦。）

proliferation：名詞，激增。例句：Small businesses have proliferated in the last ten years.（小企業在過去10年間大量湧現。）