英式英语口语复习分享，这是BBC电台为非母语英语爱好者们开设的每周系列节目，每期节目只有6分钟。在这6分钟里两位主持人会用简单的语言一起讨论一个有趣的小知识，其中穿插着对高级词汇的讲解，帮助听众扩展知识面和词汇量。
Neil
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil...
Alice
... and I'm Alice. Sorry, wait a minute Neil. I'm just finishing this book.
Neil
Alice
Last page... nearly there... ohh - fantastic book!
Neil
Well I'm glad you enjoyed that. I'm glad you finished your book there Alice! We're talking about books in today's programme. What was it you were reading there?
Alice
No, never mind Neil. It's not your kind of book. You wouldn't like it.
Neil
How do you know?
Alice
Well, I just think you might read something a little more intellectual.
Neil
Oh I see... Well we are talking about the kinds of books people read and what they say about them today.
Alice
Yes. Perhaps you read the works of a famous writer - the classics - Charles Dickens, Shakespeare.
Neil
People will think you are an intellectual. You can show off by reading these books - the classics.
Alice
Or perhaps you read popular novels or romantic fiction - a light easy read.
Neil
When you go on holiday - maybe to the beach - what kind of books do you read? And what do you read when you're going to work?
Alice
We're going to hear part of a BBC interview with David Adshead from the Commuter Book Club. A commuter travels to work by bus, train or here in London, The Tube, a train that goes all over the city, mostly underground.

Neil
And Alice as usual, we have a quiz question. Are you ready?
Alice
Yes, absolutely.
Neil
OK. It's about classic book sales. So these days are people buying...
a) more classic books?
b) the same number of classic books?
c) fewer classic books than they used to?
Alice
Oh that's an interesting one. Tricky to guess but I'm going to say c) fewer classic books.
Neil
OK, well, let's find out the answer at the end of the programme. But now, here is David Adshead from the Commuter Club. What kind of book does he say people usually take with them to the beach?
INSERT
David Adshead, Commuter Book Club
People often think that, you know, traditionally you take a light easy read for the beach and on the train, um, you maybe read something very different.
Interviewer
... if only to show off.
David Adshead
Exactly, to appear to others to be more intellectual. But actually, what we find in this is that it really comes down to the individual - what they like to read and actually we've seen this summer a lot of the book sales - summer reads is generally lighter books, easier to get on with, to take away on holiday - but the big retailers have seen a shift actually - people moving sort of slightly higher brow, taking away more classic books. Sales in that way have increased.
Neil
David Adshead from the Commuter Book Club there. He says that people usually - traditionally - take a light, easy read to the beach or on the train.
Alice
Yes. He says these books are easier to get on with. David says that it really comes down to the individual - each person is different. But he says that there has been a shift - a change - in what people read.
Neil
Yes, he says that the shops that sell books - that's the retailers - say the books people are buying are more highbrow - the classics, as we were talking about.
Alice
Absolutely. Highbrow books are read by intellectuals or perhaps the people who read these books are just showing off.
Neil
Yes, maybe they are. Well I wonder if these people have read any books by Fiona Harper. She writes romantic novels - that's stories about love.
Alice
Light reading - not highbrow. She was also at this interview about the Commuter Book Club.
Neil
Now, do commuters read her romantic novels on the Tube?
Alice
Well here is novelist Fiona Harper talking about how she writes her romantic novels. She wants people to not stop reading her stories once they start - she wants them to be hooked.
INSERT
Author Fiona Harper
I think what it comes down to most of the time is you just want to write a really good story because if you write a good story then hopefully people are hooked, they'll keep turning the pages and..
Interviewer
And do you wonder whether they are reading them on holiday? I mean presumably, they're more likely to read your stuff on holiday than when they're sitting on the Tube being looked at by lots of other people. I don't know.
Author Fiona Harper
Possibly, although with the advent of e-readers, you can read anything you like and no one knows - or on your phone - no one knows what you're reading.