12. Speak on the topic “Publishers and Publishing”.

UNIT 2

History of Publishing

(Part 1)

A. Discussion. Think of possible answers to the following questions. Share your opinion with the group.

1. What do you know about the history of publishing?

2. When was printing invented?

3. Who is Johannes Gutenberg? What is he famous for?

4. Is printing useful? Why or why not?

B. Writing.

Add your ideas to the beginning of the sentence “Printing has become very popular because…”. Read them aloud.

C. Topic Vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases below.

to be responsible for smth – быть ответственным за что-л.

impact – влияние, воздействие

• to im'pact (on) – оказывать воздействие

close interplay – тесное взаимодействие, сотрудничество

technical innovation – техническое нововведение, новшество

to promote – продвигать, поддерживать, содействовать

to depend on (upon) – зависеть от чего-л.

invention – изобретение

literacy – грамотность

to spread – распространять

limitation – ограничение

to fix – закреплять, фиксировать

achievement – достижение, успех

craft – ремесло; механизм, приспособление

to be at the heart of – быть в основе чего-л.

mass-producing – производство в большом количестве, выпуск массовой продукции

to pursue – преследовать

to go hand in hand – находиться в тесной (взаимной) связи

Make up sentences using these words and phrases

D. Read and translate the text.

Text 2

The activity of publishing has grown from small beginnings into a vast and complex industry responsible for the dissemination of cultural material. Its impact upon civilization is impossible to calculate.

The history of publishing is characterized by close interplay of technical innovation and social change, each promoting the other. Publishing as it is known today depends on a series of three major inventions – writing, paper, and printing. It also depends on the spread of literacy.

Before the invention of writing, perhaps by the Sumerians in the 4^th millennium BC, information could be spread only by word of mouth, with all the accompanying limitations of place and time. Writing was originally regarded not as a means of disseminating information but as a way to fix religious formulations or to secure codes of law, genealogies, and other socially important matters, which had previously been committed to memory.

The invention of printing transformed the possibilities of the written word. Printing was first invented in China in the 6th century AD in the form of block printing*. The invention of printing in Europe is usually attributed to Johannes Gutenberg in Germany about 1440–50. Gutenberg's achievement was not a single invention but a whole new craft involving movable metal type, ink, paper, and press. In less than 50 years it had been carried through most of Europe, largely by German printers.

Printing in Europe is inseparable from the Renaissance** and Reformation***. It grew from the climate and needs of the first, and it fought in the battles of the second. It has been at the heart of the expanding intellectual movement of the past 500 years. Possibilities of printing for mass-producing written matter were evident. The church, the state, universities, reformers, and radicals were all quick to use the press. Not surprisingly, every kind of attempt was made to control and regulate such a “dangerous” new mode of communication. Freedom of the press was pursued and attacked for the next three centuries. By the end of the 18th century a large measure of freedom had been won in Western Europe and North America. The mechanization of printing in the 19^th century and its further development in the 20^th, which went hand in hand with increasing literacy and rising standards of education, finally brought the printed word to its powerful position as a means of influencing minds and societies.

(adapted from Encyclopædia Britannica)

* block printing – (полигр.) ксилография (гравюра на дереве)

** the Renaissance – the period in Europe from about 1400 to about 1600, when the art, literature, and ideas of the ancient world, especially ancient Greece, began to be studied again, causing new interest and new activity in all these subjects. The Renaissance affected most of western Europe, but it is connected especially with Italy, and famous artists of this period include Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

*** the Reformation – a period of religious changes in the 16^th century in Europe, which led to the start of the Protestant churches. These changes were started by the German priest Martin Luther, and in England the Reformation was strongly supported by king Henry VIII.